Not Just a Repurposed Snorkel Mouth Piece

When I first started thinking about the design of a surfing mouth mount for my GoPro, I was in Bali with my wife and kids on a 5 month sabbatical from real life. The days were spent having fun in the water with my wife and kids, enjoying Bali, making new friends and of course surfing as much as possible and getting photos and videos so that down the road we would remember it.

@beefsofficial - Catch Surf

Once I got back and got together with Greg, one of the first designs we tried was repurposing a snorkel mouth piece as the "Bite". We quickly decided we didn't like the feel, the breathing or the ability to talk when we had it in our mouth. The quest to "make something better, that has never been made before" was on. 

@coastalbrandon

We put so much time in on the design. We wanted a timeless part that was a mount that the more you used it the more you would appreciate the design and function. When we were doing the preliminary design and research we had surfers, dentists, orthodontists, mouth guard manufacturers, 3D printing gurus, CAD designers and more weighing in on the design and how best to make the fit, feel and utility what we wanted.

@RyanHipwood

We wanted it to be so much more than that first snorkel mouth piece that we had tried and knew everyone else was going to use because "it worked" We wanted something that was a lot better than something the was chosen just because it was easy and "it worked". After nine generations of 3D printed prototypes that went around the world, we had the design that checked out on all our design parameters. Fit, feel, customization, breathability, duck dive performance, switching from mouth to hand mid wave performance, the ability to talk with it in, the ability to paddle hard with it in with being able to keep the mount in your mouth with only having to apply minimal pressure, the ability to use it out of the water as a handle and as a tripod or hook and the ability to fold it and put it in your pocket when not in use.

Michi Prado

It ended up taking us 6 months longer than we thought to get the Grill Mount in stores because we were such picky bastards on design and quality control.  We wanted the seam on the side as small as possible because the the super slight bump, had us worried for when you've been in the water for three or four hours and your hands are really soft and that "nothing" bump suddenly feeling like a razor on your now soft hands. That one change that the factory said was going to be four days turned into three weeks. 

Chris Hauswirth

Anyway... judging from the feedback from surfers, bodyboarders, travelers, SUP'ers, brands, team managers, contest pros, photographers, athletes, stores, distributors and everyone else, the time we spent to make a timeless mount was worth it. 

@CoastalBrandon 

Thanks for taking our Grill Mount with you on your adventures around the world.

Ken and Greg.

Chris Hauswirth

What Happen When You Fall On Your Face - Does It Rip Your Teeth Out?

When we started prototyping the Grill Mount we went with an international test crew consisting of Tom Butler, Keoni Watson, Keoni Jones, Raph Bruhwiler and Ryan Hipwood as well as numerous other big wave surfers and freesurfers to be our prototype enjoyers and destroyers. We tested in Hawaii, Indo, Bali, Australia, Portugal, France and Tahiti because we figured they could put the Grill Mount through it's paces in those places and test it as hard as they could possible test it. They said when they crashed on their face on the face, they didn't even notice it was there because it didn't move due to the solid connection between their molars and the mount as well as the stiff poly carb construction. Due to the molded mouth guard style fit that is custom fit to your teeth, on a stiff spine that holds your camera, the way it locks into your teeth and doesn't flex, it keeps it away from your chin, keeps it from ripping your teeth out and keeps the mount from coming out. The lack of flex also keeps your footage smoother. Check a Grill Mount out, you'll be stoked on the difference hell men, engineering, science, orthodontists, 7 generations of 3D printed prototypes and almost year of prototype testing make to the final product. 
Ken

Chris Monroe... testing.

Explanation For The Delay In Shipping Your Grill Mount

Originally the Grill Mount was supposed to be shipping the first week of July but we underestimated how picky we were when it came to quality control. Have been the recipients of less than awesome products in the past, we didn't want to be the guys sending out something that we weren't totally stoked on.  We hoped that our customers would understand that our desire for a part as perfect as we could make it would overcome the disappointment at receiving the Grill Mount so much later than originally promised.

It's been an adventure that's for sure. As it's our first product we wanted to make sure that we had it as perfect as possible. The mold that had to be made was rather complex as other than where you bite, there isn't really a straight line on the Grill Mount. It wasn't a big deal when we were 3D printing each part and then taking them to Hawaii to test. We did find out though that "No straight lines" makes for a harder mold build and as we found out, a bit of room for different issues.

The first batch had an issue with the polycarbonate arms bending up when the EVA was overmolded onto the polycarbonate. The heat from the molten EVA was changing the way the polycarb flexed.

Once we fixed that, the next issue was that the EVA over molding has to match the finished size of the polycarbonate. As the finished size can vary due to the shrinkage that happens as  the polycarb sets, the mold for the EVA had to be adjusted to make it mate up perfectly.

The third batch had a slight issue with shrinkage in so far as it wasn't shrinking as much around the nut as was forecast so we had to adjust the mold there. While the mold maker was adjusting the mold for that we had them fix the seams and injection mark to make them as small as possible so there would be as little "edge seam sharpness" to bother your hand when it has gone soft from being in the water for hours and hours.

We are pretty sure that this batch that is due to arrive the end of August has everything nailed and we can finally ship you our pride and joy.

We're picky bastards and we apologize. It's been driving us as nuts as I'm sure our delays have been driving you nuts. I know from talking to more than a few you that a lot of you are waiting for for your Grills for an epic Mentawai session. Hopefully the Grill Mount can make it onto your trips so you get the magic moments you are looking for to back up a lifetime of stories down at the pub and around the campfire.

The photos in this post are from the first three batches. The final ones are even better.

Anyway... to make a long story short, we don't want to send any thing out that isn't as perfect as we can make it because we want you to experience awesomeness. You have our deepest apologies at the length of time it's taken to get the Grill Mount to you.


Ken and Greg

How 3D Printing Let Us Create a Perfect Mouth Held GoPro Surf Mount

Keoni Watson is a big wave legend and our rep in Hawaii. He's also the Vissla and Catchsurf Rep. He's a rabid snowboarder so he fits right in with our crew. We couldn't have created the Grill Mount without him. He named it as well. Here he is testing a 3D printed prototype with Freesurf photographer Sean Reilly.

3D Printing let us sculpt the Grill Mount so that by the time we got to the final version, the 7th generation, the Grill Mount fits perfectly in your mouth and hand. Other than where your GoPro mounts to the Extra Beef Camera Mount, and where the heat moldable EVA is attached to the Grill Mount, I don't think there is a straight line on the mount. 

That's what we mean by sculpted. We'd imagine it in Illustrator, draw it in Solidworks, and then print it and go surfing and test it. 

The ability to take millimeters off the design here, add a millimeter there until it was exactly what we wanted, was what made the Grill Mount fit so well in your mouth and hand. It's by sculpting we got the fit and feel perfect where the mount rests between your fingers when you paddle and duckdive while filming your friends.  

The other good thing about 3D printing was we "had" to go to Hawaii to test each round of prototypes and our crew of pro surfers had to test each round in Bali, Pohnpei, Tofino and Australia to make sure the design changes did what we wanted, felt like we wanted and that the Grill Mount worked like we hoped, but in the real world.

It's amazing how 3D printing allows you to fine tune your creation so that when you build it you are stoked that it's as perfect as you can make it. We didn't just print it on any 3D printer, we partnered up with Camosun Technology Access in Victoria, BC to make our ideas real. From Illustrator to Solidworks to printing. Their lab has incredible $250,000 Stratasys Fortus 400 MC 3D printers that let us get the feel and function and material as close to the final product as humanly possible. I think in the end before we pressed "Go" we printed well over 100 prototypes. It took us longer than we thought to get the GoPro Surf Mount we now called the Grill Mount dialed but we know that once you try it, you'll feel where the time was spent.

3D printing is also great for letting you try ideas that never again see the light of day because they didn't work like we'd hoped, but at least we tested it so that when you get your Grill Mount you know that we've taken the design as far as possible then brought it back to what works and now you're getting the ultimate GoPro Surf Mount.

Super tech, super tested, super light, super rugged, multi functional and super dope. Order yours from ProStandard.com. All that tech is only 29.95. 

Keoni Jones at Rocky Point

Keoni Jones has been a big part of making the Grill Mount awesome. Here he is testing Grill Mount version number 7 - the final product. The first production parts hit the beach June 21st. Pre order at www.ProStandard.com and get free shipping.

Rocky Point with Keoni Jones

Keoni Jones has been testing the 3D Printed protoypes for about a month now on the north shore of Oahu and is stoked. The Grill Mount hits the beach in about 2 weeks. Get ready! Here's a quick screen grab.

Greg The Assembly Robot for distributors and team / testers

Greg - AKA - The Assembly Robot, has been busy all week putting together the final samples of the 3D printed prototypes for all our distributors and our friends/testers in Hawaii and Bali. Keoni Watson, Keoni Jones and his brothers, Jaymo and Sean Reilly are killing it on testing.













How could you not love science. All week Greg has been fooling around with 3D Printers, lasers to cut the EVA, and all kinds of high tech stuff that makes us look really smart. Now we just have to mount the lasers on the shark in the office and it's on!
We've printed three colors now. White, Black and Red.

Keoni Jones testing.

Keoni Jones Joins the Pro Standard Team

Keoni Jones the 22 year old North Shore ripper has joined the Pro Standard team as an athlete, product tester and all around good guy. Follow @keonibalonii on Instagram to stay in tune with what he's up to. We're stoked to have Keoni on the team and we are going to have a lot of fun together getting photos and clips to get you stoked.

Pre-Order your Grill Mount

New photo for the Pro Standard Facebook page. Keoni Watson at a spot on some island, somewhere cool. That's all I'm gonna say. GoPro surf photo. Pre-order your Grill Mount today at www.prostandard.com
Shot by Sean Reilly

Hey! This thing is a tripod too!

The Pro Standard Grill Mount is in Mexico being tested with older model GoPro cameras to make sure they are good to go... anywhere.
Hey! This thing's a tripod too!

The Pro Standard Website is Live! Get Stoked!

The Pro Standard website is now live. Get stoked!
Check out the many uses of the Grill Mount. Our first product arrives mid June so get your pre-order in and we will ship you one of the first ones built.
Like the best bands, you can say you knew us when.

A Day So Good, You Want To Feel It, Not Just Remember It

I suck at a lot of things, but I'm really glad that I don't suck at riding pow. I love those days at Powder Mountain Catskiing and Heliskiing in Whistler when the snow is so insane, the crew is so awesome, the sun is out and the day is so damn good that you actually let and want yourself to get sunburnt so that for the next five days or so, you don't just remember the day, you can still feel it. The Camp of Champions is like that too I guess, Maybe that's why campers and me get burnt so often every summer. My Pro Standard worked awesome as well.