You guys were right, it was the baud rate. But I have to credit tech support for their quick response. They even beat you guys with a reply. I'm impressed and in the future will not take anybody elses bad experience with tech support as gospel. It's up and moving but the does a baud rate of 2400 sound right?

I think mine was even higher. It was the maximum allowed on my board.

But as long as it's working, you're good!

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Living as if every day were Halloween!

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I just wanted to chime in real quick here... This thread is the reason I joined the Halloween Forum... What a fantastic job you're doing on the 3 axis skull! I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to use many of your ideas and see what I can come up with also. I'll be sure to share any info as well. This is my new favorite site!

This will actually be my first animatronic project. I've already received my threaded rod (1/2" outside diameter), rod end (1/2" inside diameter) from McMaster. I'm going to see if I can make it work with the larger components. I also just ordered a Pirate Skull like yours, but haven't received it just yet.

I was just tearing apart on old CD-Rom drive and found an interesting little motor/screw-drive combination... Maybe I can find some way to use that for the left and right eye movement somehow? It's nice and compact. Has anyone else considered using CD-Rom parts for their animatronics? I think this one only requires 9volts.

If not, I can always use normal servos.

Glad to have inspired you. This thread is a result of me being inspired by others here and their work.

Have never thought of using the parts from a CD rom drive, but it sounds do-able. You should be able to use larger components without any trouble. Please post pics and let us know how it is coming along.

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Living as if every day were Halloween!

HalloweenBobsHaunt.com

Also, as an FYI to you all. I have stumbled on a neat little site for renting specialty videos. It works similar to NetFlix, but is focused more on educational videos. Subjects include welding, sculpting, molding and casting, Special Effects, etc... it is SmartFlix dot com. The titles are usually about $9.99 to rent, but considering that most of the titles are between $20-$50 and up when purchasing, it's a bargain.

I wanted to learn about the casting and molding just in case I need to create a custom piece out of clay or wood, but want to cast it in resin, or be able to reproduce more quantities.

Sorry to be a Board Hog.... Here's a picture of the CDROM drive motor I mentioned....

If you are doing a skull you already have a servo controller. You will save yourself a lot of time and effort if you stick with servos. Servo City has some very small ones in sub-micro catagory. check out http://www.servocity.com/html/hs-55_sub-micro.html
or http://www.servocity.com/html/hs-45h...m_feather.html either one should be able to move the eyes without any problem.

just a note: if any one needs a Beveled Washer, look here. this would work for the top and they are made of super hard rubber and should work great. I know they make a teflon one to an any size but Ill have to look for it.

just a bit of info that might help some one out they also make Beveled metal grommets too will look for likes


http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/51...t-washers.aspx

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:...es.com/catalog

http://sth2.com/Z-car/cone-washer.jpg

google Cone Washer

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DON MEW
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Bob-
Any chance on you posting a template for that new bracket you made? It's the one that holds the rod end...
Thanks!

I will try to make a template for the bracket. They are all mounted and inside skulls now, but I'll see what I can do.

Sorry I didn't see this posting until now.

I have just made a new video showing all 4 skulls doing the song together.

It is going up on YouTube. I'll post the link as soon as it's up there.

__________________
Living as if every day were Halloween!

HalloweenBobsHaunt.com