# Raven's take on the animatronic raven



## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Hi boils & ghouls! I just popped in to give you a peek at my animatronic raven's progress, and a rough idea of how it's done. I finished up early today, and took the rest of the afternoon off so I had a little time to play. Pls. bear with me, as this is going to be a long winded thread due to the fact that I'm working on several different projects at the same time and splitting my time between them. Since I've been putting off a trip to the hardware store for needed supplies to finish my obelisk (I'm going tonight, I promise! ), I've put a couple of evenings in on the raven and here's where I'm at:


Probably the most physically difficult part of the build for most people, will be the servo tray. Which also serves as the backbone of the build itself, so it needs to be rather durable, but also lightweight. Aluminum is your friend here, serving both needs handily. Not to mention, it has a couple of other endearing qualities: easy to work with, and not very stressful on 
tooling. 


I chose to use a scrap piece of 3" x 1/8" sidewall box tubing I had laying around. You could use thinner 1/16th inch, but I really wouldn't recommend it due to the torque of the servos which may induce a twist to the frame while moving. Also, I have to note: This can all be done with relatively simple hand tools. You really don't have to have anything more than a Dremel, a few small files (jewelers files are incredibly useful here), a jigsaw, & a drill. 


In point of fact, the only tool I used not on that list, was substituting a die grinder in place of the Dremel. It makes material removal a bit faster is all.  











Just in case anyone thinks it's plastic...nope, aluminum.  Sorry for the blurriness of the pic, I didn't see it until after I'd painted the tray. :/ Btw, instead of buying expensive etching solutions for promoting paint bond to aluminum. Simply hose down the aluminum w/ EZ-Off (or a similar) oven cleaning spray. Leave it for 15 minutes, rinse, dry, and it's ready for paint. 










Servo's in place with vibration dampers. 




























Now I'm off to machine & attach the universal joint, and begin fabbing the servo linkage bracket.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

...and just that quickly, the neck bones connected to the back bone 



















Instead of going the expensive route with the ServoCity U-joint, I opted for a pair of RC truck slider axles (with U-joints as seen in the photo) which ended up being 4 for the price of one of ServoCity's version. Drilled out the splines, used a length of 1/4" i.d. brakeline, then sleeved it with a small brass tube (sourced from an old broken extendable pick-up magnet) for a nice interference fit. Total cost for the neck joint, about $4.00 per, roughly. The big upside, is now I have 3 more U-joints for other neat little ideas. 

Need's a little touch up on the paint, nbd. 

Edit/ Touch up's are finished!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Alright, because I have to get some hardware to mount the servos (which I could've sworn I already had), we'll move on to the raven's body. I chose the Cawlin' Crow instead of the Greenhead because it already includes a weatherproof speaker built into the body, a big plus in my book. Yes, it's a slight shortcut on my part, but it also allows more versatility with mounting the raven in places where a separate speaker would be visible. Additionally, it's a pretty decent sounding speaker w/ a rear resonance chamber. 



Step one: Applicable if you use an Edge Cawlin' Crow decoy like I am, then you will need to separate the beak halves (cutting off the lower half of the beak). An Exacto or scalpel is indispensable here! If you use the Greenhead Aggressive Caller decoy which has an open beak, you will only have to cut the backside away. The Cawlin' Crow on the otherhand, has a closed beak, and it will need to be manually cut away from the top half. 













Step two: OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!! 













Step three: Put out his eyes!  10mm translucent red with red tinted lenses are what I chose for this project because even when they are off, they look pretty scary. First things first, heat up a small piece of steel wire/piano wire/etc, and push it through the center of the eye. This serves as a guide to keep the drill bit from walking about and destroying the object of your affections. Use a 3/8" bit, and carefully center the bit on the hole you just made in the eye. 3/8" is ever so slightly smaller than 10 mm, so the LED will sit in behind the hole, leaving the rounded lens portion barely protruding. Looks very realistic imo. Drill slowly through, then trim the flashing with an Exacto or scalpel. Whichever you have handy.










Step three (Cawlin' Crow only): Drill out the pop rivets in the bottom that hold the sound module/battery pack in place and remove it. The speaker is connected via a plug that is easily accessible through the neck after you've lopped off his head. Or when you pull the sound module out, just unplug it then. I'm putting mine aside to use with another prop later on. 












...and that's all for tonight folks.


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## VinceMacPaul (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks Raven. High quality build. Please keep us posted.


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Looks great!
Maybe some day I'll try to experiment with servos. Looks cool!


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

I've always wondered how this is done! Thanks


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## Mr.Fright (Aug 5, 2011)

Looks great allready!!!

How are you gonna controll the servo's?


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## jimmyzdc (Sep 19, 2007)

Perfect! Thanks so much for doing this. This will help all of us aspiring for this prop this year. I just picked up a drill press and some new metal drill bits. So I'm ready to start getting the parts and servos to start this bad boy. Subscribing to this thread!

For the angle aluminum was the size 2"x2" -- 3" inches in length? I think 2"x2" is the largest I can pick up at Home Depot.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks for the kind comments everyone! Happy to be of service  



@ Mr.Fright: I am using a Polulu Micro-Maestro, although in retrospect I would've been better served with the Mini-Maestro instead. HiRez indicated (after my order had already shipped unfortunately), that the Micro-Maestro is incapable of triggering an mp3 player board (like the Sparkfun boards) without being connected to a computer via the USB connection. For me, it's not an issue as he'll be sitting on top of my entrance columns, in which a computer will be controlling other FX. However, to be fully independent of a computer aside from initial programming duty, I would recommend the Mini-Maestro instead. 




@ Jimmyzdc:  No worries, the actual physical size of my servo tray is 2" H x 1.5" W x 4.25" L (5.8 cm H x 3.8 cm W x 10.8 cm L). I'd suggest for most, going a little larger than my dimensions. Mostly due to the fact that I have a lot of experience machining metal, and the aluminum being very soft (at least, in the stock that you'll find at local hardware stores. Alloy 2023, I believe) makes it rather difficult to work with, with respect to how thinly I machined the sides on mine. So, I'd add at the very minimum .25" (6.5 mm roughly) to all of those measurements for less experienced persons.


Albeit, my personal reasoning is that I would prefer to keep the price tag down as low as possible, and so I am going to much larger lengths to ensure that it is as light as I can make it (Preventing the need for high torque servos, which would hike the build cost by quite a bit). All without compromising structural integrity. 


I'd recommend going to a welding fab shop to source the aluminum. They will typically have much better inventory than what is available at the home improvement stores. In which case, I'd suggest T-5056 Aluminum stock. 



Hope that helps you guys out.  Feel free to voice any questions you might have.


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## jimmyzdc (Sep 19, 2007)

Just for information...whats the difference between the types of aluminum? Is there a chart somewhere that talks about the different types?

Thanks


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

It is just a measure of what specific elements are added to the aluminum for changing the properties of the material. eg: Some alloys are great for machining purposes, and terrible for welding. (Some aren't weldable at all), some have better surface hardness but are prone to cracking due to brittleness. Etc, etc. It's a give & take compromise situation w/ metal alloys/super alloys. It's more or less a subject that would take an entire book to contain the entire subject, and I'd be best off in just pointing you in the direction of the available info.  

In any case, it's not something to stress over too heavily for an application like this. As we aren't going to be anywhere near stressing the metal, and ease of working is the key factor here. 

http://www.aerospacemetals.com/aluminum-distributor.html

Edit/ I forgot to include; that the reason for suggesting T-5056 is that it is more suitable out of the extrusion for machining w/o the hassle of precipitating, and further still it is more resistant to oxidization.

http://144.206.159.178/FT/718/554365/14238742.pdf


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## sumrtym (Aug 16, 2008)

Looking forward to as much detail as you can provide, including programming. This is something I'd like to try one day but haven't ever done any servo or animatronic work so I'm a bit apprehensive. I'm wondering, what can you get by with for powering one of these? For example, would it be possible to get power requirements down to using a small battery of some sort, be it typical batteries or an RC vehicle battery? 

I'm envisioning the possibility of one day tying one of these into a scarecrow costume.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

I'd imagine that higher mA/h rated sub-C battery packs probably could power it for a while, but it's something that would require testing. The controller only draws a maximum of 40 mA or less (Mini-Maestro); but the servos otoh, can draw up to 1.5 A peak (per) under heavy load, dependent on the specific type used. I would surmise it would be more apt to build a custom series parallel configured pack, which wouldn't be an inexpensive add on at all with 2x as many batteries used. Albeit as I said before, I'd test it first for run time on a off the shelf high mA/h pack first (something on the order of 1800+ mA/h), then add a second in parallel if needed. 


Now, as far as the idea for using this with a costume. One suggestion I have is changing materials to something even lighter than aluminum. Specifically, I would go w/ 6k twill weave carbon fiber for the angle, and a carbon rod for the neck. Because, as it sits so far mine is weighing in at approximately 3 lbs already, and that will increase by the time this is finished. Sitting, and more appropriately moving, on your shoulder for a few hours would be somewhat taxing at 5 or so pounds. Even with CF, it won't be a large reduction in weight, but any little bit helps for your intended application. 


Also, be advised that the speaker is loud enough to where I'd consider a little hearing protection on the side that it sits on, given appropriate amplification (it's a 10.8 ohm speaker, but also pretty sensitive. So plan accordingly). Just a couple of heads up for your planning stage.  


As for the programming, check out this page @ Polulu. http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1352/resources I'd suggest dl'ing the manual and program for familiarization. I'll post my code when completed, but I've not even begun to get to that point just yet.


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## sumrtym (Aug 16, 2008)

Raven's Hollow Cemetary said:


> Now, as far as the idea for using this with a costume. One suggestion I have is changing materials to something even lighter than aluminum. Specifically, I would go w/ 6k twill weave carbon fiber for the angle, and a carbon rod for the neck. Because, as it sits so far mine is weighing in at approximately 3 lbs already, and that will increase by the time this is finished. Sitting, and more appropriately moving, on your shoulder for a few hours would be somewhat taxing at 5 or so pounds. Even with CF, it won't be a large reduction in weight, but any little bit helps for your intended application.
> 
> 
> Also, be advised that the speaker is loud enough to where I'd consider a little hearing protection on the side that it sits on, given appropriate amplification (it's a 10.8 ohm speaker, but also pretty sensitive. So plan accordingly). Just a couple of heads up for your planning stage.


Oh, I was thinking at the top of a stalkaround. That solves the sound loudness by an ear problem, and with a good backpack frame design the weight shouldn't be much of a problem either. Just one idea, although I'd like to use one standalone as well.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

sumrtym said:


> Oh, I was thinking at the top of a stalkaround. That solves the sound loudness by an ear problem, and with a good backpack frame design the weight shouldn't be much of a problem either. Just one idea, although I'd like to use one standalone as well.



Sounds great to me  I'd definitely go with the Cawlin' Crow decoy in your case, the internal speaker is a big plus in my book, and would be super handy for your scarecrow build. .


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## bradg896 (Apr 5, 2006)

I am absolutely thrilled to see this build detail! I've have wanted to build one of these ravens for a while now, but really didn't know where to start. If I could make one request with hat firmly in hand, would it be possible to list dimensions ( plate dimensions, hole placement and size, "spine & neck" shaft length, etc) for those of us who are going to build one exactly like this? That said, this is great and I for one, sincerely appreciate your efforts!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

bradg896 said:


> I am absolutely thrilled to see this build detail! I've have wanted to build one of these ravens for a while now, but really didn't know where to start. If I could make one request with hat firmly in hand, would it be possible to list dimensions ( plate dimensions, hole placement and size, "spine & neck" shaft length, etc) for those of us who are going to build one exactly like this? That said, this is great and I for one, sincerely appreciate your efforts!



Thanks! I'd be happy to accommodate your request, except for the fact that I've gone past the point where it's feasible to disassemble the servo tray to plot detailed measurements (aside from external dimensions). I've already sleeved all of the servos harnesses together, and it was too much effort & materials to throw away. Unfortunately, I'm a shoot from the hip type when it comes to complex projects. Usually that means as soon as an idea comes to full fruition, I'm already putting it into action. Sorry about that.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Here's where I'm at currently. This is not a totally necessary step, but I very much prefer to protect the wiring whenever possible. Providing strain relief, and additional abrasion protection in a moving prop/device is an near necessity imo. Since I do a lot of work in my business on custom built computers, I have a rather large amount of sleeving lying around. So I made use of it 




























I also started fabricating the legs & upper pivot reinforcement. I will be trimming the lower legs a bit for proper scale before this is done, I am quite sure. This is just the preliminary mockup.


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## Halloween Scream (Sep 29, 2010)

Fantastic work so far! Love the red eyes. Subscribing to this thread and I can't wait to see how it turns out.


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## jimmyzdc (Sep 19, 2007)

Raven's Hollow Cemetary said:


> It is just a measure of what specific elements are added to the aluminum for changing the properties of the material. eg: Some alloys are great for machining purposes, and terrible for welding. (Some aren't weldable at all), some have better surface hardness but are prone to cracking due to brittleness. Etc, etc. It's a give & take compromise situation w/ metal alloys/super alloys. It's more or less a subject that would take an entire book to contain the entire subject, and I'd be best off in just pointing you in the direction of the available info.
> 
> In any case, it's not something to stress over too heavily for an application like this. As we aren't going to be anywhere near stressing the metal, and ease of working is the key factor here.
> 
> ...


Emailed up the local metal fabrication shop we have used to make some custom backdrop racks for my wife's photography business. So should get an email tomorrow hopefully on if he has the metal and how much. Thanks for the info.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Ok folks, next things...next 


If you've followed along so far, the pivot's plates dimensions are going to be entirely dependent on the spacing of your servos. I chose to use the servo bodies as a stressed member of the chassis (don't worry, they are more than strong enough to do so w/o any concerns). You will need to trim the reinforcement buttress off of the mounting tabs of the servos to allow the pivot plate to sit flush. The aluminum plate sandwiching the servos in place more than adequately compensates for the loss of the frp (fiber reinforced plastic) buttress being trimmed. 


The pics will thoroughly explain the rest.  











>>> and the back side pivot plate. They will both end up being a fully triangulated skeleton in the end product, to save even more weight. While losing very little torsional strength, and nearly zero compression strength in the process.











One thing to remember with the neck control arm plate, is to make sure it clears the u-joint at full extension for both the up/down, & left/right control linkage. 











*ALSO*, be absolutely sure that the bent tab that the ball joint sits in has only enough material to allow the nut to compress the ball joint into place, along a roughly 270° angle around the joint, with respect to it being centered on the linkage. Or, it will rub & become a bind point @ the extreme ends of the joints extension.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Halloween Scream said:


> Fantastic work so far! Love the red eyes. Subscribing to this thread and I can't wait to see how it turns out.



Thank you kindly!  I hope I can make it worth your while to stay tuned


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## Halloween Scream (Sep 29, 2010)

Raven's Hollow Cemetary said:


> Thank you kindly!  I hope I can make it worth your while to stay tuned


I'm sure it will be amazing like all of your builds!


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## jimmyzdc (Sep 19, 2007)

Raven,

I got the angle aluminum from the metal shop yesterday ($15 for 4ft of 2"x2"x1/8" stock). So hopefully I can start soon. How the heck did you make the neck control plate? Looks to small to cut all those curves with a jigsaw...

Your builds looking so clean


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

jimmyzdc said:


> Raven,
> 
> I got the angle aluminum from the metal shop yesterday ($15 for 4ft of 2"x2"x1/8" stock). So hopefully I can start soon. How the heck did you make the neck control plate? Looks to small to cut all those curves with a jigsaw...
> 
> Your builds looking so clean


I'll try to answer as briefly as possible bcuz I'm on my phne & I HATE typing on touch screens. 

Thnx, there's a lot going into it effort wise.  No, no jigsaw there. I used nothing more than the old standby Dremel w/ a cut wheel and a carbide burr. Then a few needle and jewler's files for final shaping/finishing.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Halloween Scream said:


> I'm sure it will be amazing like all of your builds!



Awwww... *he blushes*  Surely you overstate the case madame, but thank you


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## jimmyzdc (Sep 19, 2007)

Holy crap...man that thing looks like you cut it on a CNC not by hand. Man color me impressed.

Ok so I dont have any files some I'm gonna get a set. Amazon is my best friend....so what do you think about this set?

http://www.amazon.com/Needle-Files-...0JKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329502457&sr=8-1


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Honestly, I'd find a set with handles, or buy a handle that those are designed to mount in. If you don't, you'll end up with a cramp 10x worse than any writers cramp you ever imagined  


Like this: Handle

Or these: Needle Files


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Alright, I'm going to have to revisit my suggestion of the Cawlin' Crow over the Avery Greenhead Aggressive Caller decoy for most people. Basically, the speaker in the Cawlin' Crow's original location is interfering w/ the linkage and there is no way to get around this without performing major surgery. One thing to note here, I am going to relocate the speaker to aft of the full mechanical portion. However, I won't recommend that many try the same. First problem of large magnitude when undertaking this, is that the speaker housing/grille is one single piece in the Cawlin' Crow. So pulling the speaker housing away leaves a good sized hole in the middle of the back. I'll be cutting the grille away from the speaker, and adhereing the grille back in place into the original location (thereby closing up the gaping hole in the back). 


Then I will drill a series of small holes to form a new grille under which the speaker will be hung behind the servos to prevent interference. Afterwards, I'll plug the holes in the original grille area and re-flock the flocking problem area  <- See what I did there?


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

I have to apologize for the lack of updates recently. I had family over for the weekend, and I'm still waiting on the bearings to come in. Which are on back order with the distributor, which is in turn, holding up progress with attaching the body to the legs. Not that I've not been busy on it where possible; having relocated the speaker to the rear, filled the holes in the original grille, and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to black out the back of the eye LED's. 


Word of advice on that last part: don't even bother with spray paint. After masking them off, I applied 19 coats of spray paint, and yet still had light bleed through (ultra bright 6000 Mcd 10 mm LED's). So I grabbed the black acrylic craft paint...that did the trick in just one thick coat. Drying time has been rather long, nearing 24 hours & they're still a slight bit tacky to the touch. Once the paint has fully cured, I can then glue them back into the head.


Why go through all the effort to black out the backside? Simple answer: So the raven doesn't look like David Lo-Pan from "Big Trouble in Little China" in the fog! Lol!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Ok, well the paint on the LED's finally cured, and I mounted them.  Sorry for the slight blurriness on the ISO pics, my camera gets a little noisy under close ups even on a tripod. But you'll get the general idea of how natural it looks when the LED's are on (or off). 












LED testing. Perfect brightness with 4.5 vdc, an 80 Ω 1/4 watt resistor, and LED's wired in series :











3 pin connector for LED's, and the sub-harness: 











New speaker grille for relocation due to linkage clearance issues in the factory location:












I decided not to flock the upper back area because I will be feathering the raven in the end. It's kind of pointless imo, to make the effort for something that will be covered up in short order. On the negative side of the equation; the balance point has changed with the speaker relocation, and so I'll have to have to add some ballast later to bring it back to a perfect balance. No, it's not absolutely necessary. But it will make the bowing servos job a whole lot less stressful, thereby giving it a longer life. Also, the body will be riding on bearings to minimize any additional stress on the servo that friction would incur while moving.  

Linkage clearance problems? Not no mo!


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## Rshaunter (Oct 18, 2011)

Looks great. Hopefully more people will dive in to some awesome animatronics with all the inspiration. You make it look all to easy. Anyways I'm curious as to where you sourced the truck axle shaft? I do both animatronics and rc rock crawler building and was wondering where you may have found the telescoping axle shaft with u joints for a decent price. That would be very useful to me in many ways. Thank you raven. Keep up the great work.


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## ollieee (Sep 16, 2010)

That is really cool !!! Very Detailed build. The one I built in 2010 was from a $5 Michael store crow. The head rotates and the wings flap. For the eyes I used the amber LEDs from a tea candle because they have a circuit board with them that makes the eyes flicker and they were cheap don't cha know. I used 2 servos and ran them on VSA program along with the 3 axis skulls. What are you going to use to operate the crow ?


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## Halloween Scream (Sep 29, 2010)

Raven's Hollow Cemetary said:


> \Perfect brightness with 4.5 vdc, an 80 Ω 1/4 watt resistor, and LED's wired in series :


I actually understood this technical part, for once. Finally, two years of college physics have proved themselves useful!

Looks great Raven's Hallow! Love the red eyes.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Rshaunter said:


> Looks great. Hopefully more people will dive in to some awesome animatronics with all the inspiration. You make it look all to easy. Anyways I'm curious as to where you sourced the truck axle shaft? I do both animatronics and rc rock crawler building and was wondering where you may have found the telescoping axle shaft with u joints for a decent price. That would be very useful to me in many ways. Thank you raven. Keep up the great work.



Thank you, I'm glad you like it  The axle half shaft set is from a Traxxas Nitro Stampede, & the part number is: TRA1951. I purchased them through Amazon for about $7.00 per pair, shipped. Many thanks for the positive feedback 





ollieee said:


> That is really cool !!! Very Detailed build. The one I built in 2010 was from a $5 Michael store crow. The head rotates and the wings flap. For the eyes I used the amber LEDs from a tea candle because they have a circuit board with them that makes the eyes flicker and they were cheap don't cha know. I used 2 servos and ran them on VSA program along with the 3 axis skulls. What are you going to use to operate the crow ?



Gracias sir! Very kind of you to say so, and your raven is pretty darned cool too!  The micro controller I'm using it the Polulu Micro Maestro, although I'd be more prone to recommending the Mini Maestro based on knowledge that has come to light in the mean time. It's better suited for a project like this one, not only imo, but in several other peoples opining also. 





Halloween Scream said:


> I actually understood this technical part, for once. Finally, two years of college physics have proved themselves useful!
> 
> Looks great Raven's Hallow! Love the red eyes.



 Pffft! I think you understand more than you let on mi' lady.   Thank you sincerely madame for your ever inspiring comments! Oh, right!?! Where's our Oogie Boogie update btw? 



@ all: Sorry it took so long to reply, I was out of town on business, and left my security dongle to my password manager at home. Heheh, it's amazing how useless your computer becomes when you don't have access to your online accounts!


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## Rshaunter (Oct 18, 2011)

So I was about to purchase a few micro maestros also before I read your thread, so I emailed them a few questions and in response to whether the micro and mini could be used stand alone to operate servos and an mp3 player board triggered by a pir or similar and here is what they responded with
"All of the Maestros have the ability to control servos, accept analog inputs, and output digital signals in a stand alone environment. As long as your mp3 board can accept a digital signal, you should be able to use any of the Maestros including the 6-channel Micro Maestro.

- Clint"

So I would say the micro would do what you intended it to do. But I'll have to wait until I'm in Vegas in two weeks and pick mine up before I can say they really will operate this way.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Rshaunter said:


> So I was about to purchase a few micro maestros also before I read your thread, so I emailed them a few questions and in response to whether the micro and mini could be used stand alone to operate servos and an mp3 player board triggered by a pir or similar and here is what they responded with
> "All of the Maestros have the ability to control servos, accept analog inputs, and output digital signals in a stand alone environment. As long as your mp3 board can accept a digital signal, you should be able to use any of the Maestros including the 6-channel Micro Maestro.
> 
> - Clint"
> ...



According to David Grayson @ Polulu, what you were told in the email is incorrect. HiRez questioned them on the Polulu forum a while back concerning it, and he was told that a constant USB connection to a computer would be a necessity to trigger the mp3 via TTL command with tx/rx with the Micro Maestro. Stand alone operation *is* possible with the Mini Maestro, but not the Micro Maestro. This was after he (HiRez) had already taken every step he could think of. 



DavidEGrayson said:


> Unfortunately, what you are trying to do is not possible with the Micro Maestro. You could send TTL serial bytes on the TX line if the Micro Maestro was connected to a computer, but the Micro Maestro does not have a script command for sending bytes.
> 
> I recommend getting a Mini Maestro 12, connecting the GND of the Maestro to the ground of the sound module, connecting the TX of the Maestro to the RX of the module (with a level shifter if necessary), setting the Maestro's serial mode to UART and 4800 baud, and then writing a script like the following....*snip*


This is the query/response thread if you'd like to read the source: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4786

In short, don't bother with the Micro. It's a waste of time that complicates things in the end. Unfortunately, I found this out after my order had already shipped, or I'd be using a Mini too.

Edit/ I should note, that it's not as big a problem for me as it would be for others. Being that I am embedding my m-itx system for video, audio, and controller duties in the column under which the raven will sit, so maintaining a usb connection wouldn't be a problem for me. The only worry I have atm, is a couple of people have indicated that there are possible ground loop problems with the Tenda & Sparkfun boards. I may end up going to a sound-to-servo driver for the synced beak movement to sound just for simplicity's sake. 

My m-itx system (next to daddy's lil' 5 Ghz monster)


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## Rshaunter (Oct 18, 2011)

I don't intend on audio as part of my props so it really doesn't matter in my situation but I had just found it strange one could and one could not. So I emailed them directly to their office and Clint from polulu responded twice to my redundant question about whether or not the micro was as capable as the mini's to play back a mp3 board from a trigger with out a pc in stand alone operation. Both times he responded yes it could. So take it for what it is I suppose. I have both boards and when I decide to ad triggered audio, if ever, I will post my conclusions. Or headaches. Happy haunting for now.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks for the advisement.  Personally, I think I'll err on the side of caution in sticking with their tech's reply on the forums, and what a friend has experienced. Lest I end up with a larger pile of spare parts than I already have


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## Rshaunter (Oct 18, 2011)

Well I may be able to help. Once I receive my micros and utilize them I may need more so if you want to sell them I may need them in the future. I mostly need 8 ch so I have mini's already for them but smaller things could use the micros. And I only ordered 1. So I'll let you know If I need more and if you don't want them I will ask you before ordering more. I am also building a small 4-6 channel controller so I will def look into making them trigger a mp3 board.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks, and I'll be interested to see what you come up with on the controller front. Keep us advised  


Update:


I've not had much time to work on the raven lately, but I've gotten a few things accomplished. As you can see, I'm strictly waiting on the bearings (Still! *grumble, grumble*), so that I can fab the bearing carriers. I'm starting to regret having chosen 4.5 mm o.d. tubing for the pivot point, and should have just gone with a more commonly available 3/16" tube. Which would be absolutely no problem finding bearings to fit. 4.5 mm, not so common at all. That's what I get for trying to use what I have on hand in that ever persistent parts bin. I did revise the pivot plate design, shortening the entire assembly by 19 mm (approx. 3/4"), and I'm revamping the mounting of the micro controller as well to make a more compact mechanism overall. Ain't prototyping fun? 


In any case, the bearings are still on back order, and so we wait. *drums fingers on the table impatiently* "Don't make me come in there! I'm warning you, I will pull that tubing out and go get something else! You hear me mister?!?" 


Anyway, here's where she rests atm:










Ok, ok. Yeah, I'm busted. My niece & nephew were over weekend before last, and I've still not put away the high chair or her bouncy ball. Sue me. 










In case anyone is wondering, I use WBT 4% silver solder. Ridiculously overkill for the application. But hell, I've been burning strictly through that .5 lb roll since about 2008 after I ran out of Kester 44, and I don't build enough audio components any more to justify leaving it on the shelf (purchased in 2000 I think). It's probably the single most expensive part I use in this project, easily. if you want some, be forewarned...it's pricey. You can get it here: http://www.parts-express.com/WBT solder 

The difference between this, and other 4% silver solders is: this has a substantially lower melting temp (lower than any other true solder of any type actually), and is much safer for doing work/rework on highly heat sensitive components. 


...and the filler plate is in place w/ adhesive drying. Tomorrow: it's notching the bottom of it to clear the pivot plates, a coat of hardener, and painting it (assuming the hardener dries quickly enough, that is).


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Update:


Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I am still waiting on the custom sized bearings to arrive. However, the distributor I ordered through has just emailed me with a notification that they are in transit to them from ABEC, and should be shipped to me directly after receiving the order themselves. So it looks like I will be showing some progress on the project shortly. Although it's not been much of an inconvenience tbh, as I have many other projects to keep me quite busy in the meantime


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Also, a piece of bad, and yet good news. My power supply on my computer is starting to degrade slightly, and I had to drop my overclocks back to stock to stabilize it. Shortly, I'll be ordering a replacement, which leaves me with spare high wattage psu. Although I'll have to replace a couple of components to bring it back up to it's 1000w original spec, it's working fine at about 750w draw on it currently. Plenty to power the raven, and quite a few other things too.


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## bradg896 (Apr 5, 2006)

Anxiously awaiting a closer look at the pivot system for this project, I've gotten everything assembled with the exception of the side plates, legs, and pivot rig. Looking forward to an update!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Should be incoming in a couple of days or so, as the bearings are finally due to arrive tomorrow according to the tracking info. It looks like ABEC sent them on the slowest form of shipping possible, but the distributor picked up the additional on the tab for overnight air, and routed them my way Saturday. 


I just got home from a relaxing weekend @ St. George island. where I took a "disconnected" mini-vacation... No phones, no computers, no nada. Totally incommunicado. Just the peaceful sound of the surf, sweet smelling salt air, a few friends, and a condo that we almost didn't use at all. Except for showering, and shelter during the thunderstorm for a few hours that is. An absolutely wonderful time on one of (if not the) prettiest beaches in Florida. So yeah, updates will be rolling in directly.


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## The Wilmont Estate (Feb 13, 2011)

I like where this is going. Good Work so far.


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## Halloween Scream (Sep 29, 2010)

Yeah for disconnected vacations! Everyone needs those once in a while. Looking forward to raven updates!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

LostinTheDarkProductions said:


> I like where this is going. Good Work so far.



Thanks, glad you like it!  




Halloween Scream said:


> Yeah for disconnected vacations! Everyone needs those once in a while. Looking forward to raven updates!




For real! Nothing like one to cure a little burn out!  



Minor status update: 

Well, they weren't sent with guaranteed by 10:30 AM delivery. Which had me a little paranoid until UPS showed up on my doorstep 10 minutes ago, and leaving me thinking it had been mistakenly delivered to the wrong house. Ugh, I'm sure you can imagine. A 9 week lead time I've been waiting on those custom size i.d. bearings... 


It's a good thing that didn't happen, or the UPS guys lifespan just might have been drastically shortened.  


Unfortunately, it's a little late to get to work on it, and I'll not have time tomorrow due to an after hours wee bit of well paid work. So expect updates around the latter part of the week for sure.


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## bradg896 (Apr 5, 2006)

Not really sure where my favorite tutorial has gone, but with the help presented here, Buckaneerbabe's tutorial and Haunt1000's pictures, I've managed to cobble together a working Raven! I'm using a Servocity controller and a Picotalk audio driver to run it and the mechanics perform just great. Nothing left but to make some feet (any hints for an easy way?) and mount the body. Here's a shot of the finished mechanicals.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Nice job Brad! (Samuel L. Jackson quote comes to mind)  Love the turned aluminum look, but you may want to black it out so that it doesn't gleam in the light. That may not be necessary, it was something that crossed my mind in the early stages. 


Yeah, apologies are due to all. I've been turning long hours at the business, then took a week and a half down in Merida Mexico to attend a close friends funeral/wake. I had hoped to get back to this project in short order, but a series of events has kept me on the project I had intended to finish while awaiting parts for my raven, for much longer than anticipated. Unfortunately, it's size is so large I really don't have room to work on anything but it, until it's completed. Let's just say that adding a rusty texture & painting a 14' arch and stanchions for topping the columns is...time consuming, at the very best.  


Back to business, what I intend to do with the legs is cut a 5/16" brass tube lengthwise, and use it to sheath the cables on the inside of the leg. I have a large block of black Sculpey (sic) that I will mold around the tube & leg support (my first sculpt ). Although with your particular take on the electronics bradg896, I would use an air dry clay to do so in your case, since my intent was to run the wiring after baking of the clay in my design. Hope that helps you out. This is one of those times where I wish I could just download the image in my skull straight to the site.


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## Neverhart (May 28, 2012)

Started my raven for this year despite absolutely no animatronic or r/c modeling knowledge. Much appreciation to bucaneerbabe, haunt1000, raven, and brad! I can figure out everything except the body/bowing pivot. Maybe brad can tell us how he tackled it?

For anyone who might be interested, I found erector set-like pieces for the legs and frame at Lowes in the hardware section in a drawer labelled "Hobby."


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

You're welcome Neverhart, and welcome to HF!  

I'll see what I can do about posting a sketch of my version tomorrow to help you out.  I kind of got stuck on finishing out my columns, arch, fence, & gate project. All of which really ties back in to the raven project, due to one of the columns housing all of the power supplies, and the sound source for my raven (and a whole bunch more too). It's a pretty complicated build overall. Soon enough, I'll be climbing back on the raven for the final ride.  


You ladies and gents will understand shortly, I'm not far off from the columns being finished, and pics will follow soon thereafter


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## bradg896 (Apr 5, 2006)

Not in any way an attempt to hijack this thread, but if you look at the small leg joint in my build you will see it is attached to the lower body plate by a 1/4 x 20 screw and lock nut. This screw is installed in a small bearing (also purchased at Lowes) that acts as the pivot point for the whole mechanism. The bearing is friction fitted by drilling the hole for it at a slightly smaller dimension than the OD of the bearing case and then pressing it in place (I used 2 sockets and a vise). This is repeated on the opposite body plate as well. Once installed, just bolt on the upper leg ends (1/4 x 20 screw thru the bearing, small jam nut, leg end, and finally a nylock nut) and your pivot is complete.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

bradg896 said:


> Not in any way an attempt to hijack this thread, but if you look at the small leg joint in my build you will see it is attached to the lower body plate by a 1/4 x 20 screw and lock nut. This screw is installed in a small bearing (also purchased at Lowes) that acts as the pivot point for the whole mechanism. The bearing is friction fitted by drilling the hole for it at a slightly smaller dimension than the OD of the bearing case and then pressing it in place (I used 2 sockets and a vise). This is repeated on the opposite body plate as well. Once installed, just bolt on the upper leg ends (1/4 x 20 screw thru the bearing, small jam nut, leg end, and finally a nylock nut) and your pivot is complete.




Not much different than what I have planned. Except that instead of pressing it into place, the carrier plates will be heated to about 600° F, and the bearings frozen. When the plates cool, and the bearing warms up, one contracts, and the other expands. Just a different method to achieve the same result. 


No worries, I consider it an open suggestion and answer thread.


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## Neverhart (May 28, 2012)

Thanks guys, and thanks Raven for genially hosting on-topic tangents! That gives me a great starting point... (but please feel free to post your diagrams and/or pics as I'm sure they'll continue to help!)

Out of curiousity, how do you physically handle a 600º plate and a tiny frozen bearing with enough dexterity to get it in place? I'm picturing standing in front of my oven with cooking mitts on, dropping the bearing under the stove, bending down to get it and burning my arm... (-:


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## TheBlackShutter (Oct 6, 2012)

I have a quick question about powering the servos... I am new to this and I know with controllers there is a pass through for powering the servos. Separate from powering the controller. How much power do you send to the servos here to power all 3/4 servos? Just a regular 6v 3.5A power supply? Is that enough power?


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## TNBrad (Sep 12, 2007)

OH WOW I want to make this so bad
Thank you for showing us this


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## Halstaff (Nov 8, 2009)

I used this thread as one of the starting points for my parrot. Here's the build video - 






Here's the video with him finished - 






Thanks for all the help and ideas! I never would have figured it out without all the great info that I found here.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Thrice1337 said:


> I have a quick question about powering the servos... I am new to this and I know with controllers there is a pass through for powering the servos. Separate from powering the controller. How much power do you send to the servos here to power all 3/4 servos? Just a regular 6v 3.5A power supply? Is that enough power?



That would be entirely dependent on the type of controller you use as to the pass through capabilities. Each one is different, especially in the home brewed micro controller arena. 6vdc is fine on the servos _if the controller_ can handle it, although they can generally make due with 4.5v, albeit at a bit of a loss in speed of traverse. 3.5 A is more than sufficient with this mechanical design.




TNBrad said:


> OH WOW I want to make this so bad
> Thank you for showing us this



You're very welcome.  I need to dig it back out and play around with it some more. Someone gave me some good ideas a while ago for remote mounting the servos, so the one argument I have with it, is a non issue. Obnoxiously loud servo noise... 





Halstaff said:


> I used this thread as one of the starting points for my parrot. Here's the build video -
> 
> *snip*
> 
> Thanks for all the help and ideas! I never would have figured it out without all the great info that I found here.




No sir, thank you. Your (& TStraub's) controller tutorials have been exceedingly helpful, and likely just as much so to me, as this one has been to you. Great job on the parrot by the way, he's awesome!


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## TheBlackShutter (Oct 6, 2012)

Raven's Hollow Cemetery said:


> That would be entirely dependent on the type of controller you use as to the pass through capabilities. Each one is different, especially in the home brewed micro controller arena. 6vdc is fine on the servos _if the controller_ can handle it, although they can generally make due with 4.5v, albeit at a bit of a loss in speed of traverse. 3.5 A is more than sufficient with this mechanical design.


Thanks man. Do you have a tutorial I could watch on learning how to use servos and controllers? I want to use the Mini Maestro Pololu controller you were talking about. Would love to be able to have this thing running by its self with no help form a computer.


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Thrice1337 said:


> Thanks man. Do you have a tutorial I could watch on learning how to use servos and controllers? I want to use the Mini Maestro Pololu controller you were talking about. Would love to be able to have this thing running by its self with no help form a computer.



Anytime, always glad to help.  I don't unfortunately. But, you can download their programmer app & the manual here: http://www.pololu.com/resources Mine (the Micro) was defective, so I returned it & went a different route building one of Halstaff's controllers instead.


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## oaklawn Crematory (Jun 25, 2010)

Halstaff that is awesome!


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## dscrimager (Feb 10, 2008)

I'm the one doing the cable-actuated raven build using the remote mounted servos . In fact our club -Chicago Haunt Builders- is attempting to finish off our raven build this weekend so we'll have about 12 of them in a room going at once.

I've used the Pololu controllers extensively. I can tell you for this build I originally was intending to use the Pololu controllers stand-alone. But, after spending a lot of time writing code for the controller (which I am now pretty good with) I can say that for sophisticated shows with start triggers and triggering other things like audio boards,... it can all be done but it's a real pain.

However, using an Arduino you can still get the nice benefit of the Pololu features which makes animation look smooth and realistic while still programming in something accessible to many people. I love the Pololu boards - just not as standalone. So, with a little extra electronics you can still have a stand-alone prop which does not require a computer. I can document what we are doing for our club build - it includes a mechanism to read audio and drive a servo that can be used as a jaw flapper. So, 1 arduino, 1 Pololu, 1 Jumblo-JawFlapper (inside joke) and some programming and you have a standalone prop controller for any 3-axis character with jaw flapper for about $45.
In fact, the setup we are using will drive 2 characters - such as having a dialog - from the one set of electronics.
Anyway, let me know if you want any more tidbits about this...


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## Palmdale Haunter (Sep 26, 2010)

I want one of these so bad I can taste it!


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Palmdale Haunter said:


> I want one of these so bad I can taste it!


Raven tastes just like chicken!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

dscrimager said:


> I'm the one doing the cable-actuated raven build using the remote mounted servos . In fact our club -Chicago Haunt Builders- is attempting to finish off our raven build this weekend so we'll have about 12 of them in a room going at once.
> 
> I've used the Pololu controllers extensively. I can tell you for this build I originally was intending to use the Pololu controllers stand-alone. But, after spending a lot of time writing code for the controller (which I am now pretty good with) I can say that for sophisticated shows with start triggers and triggering other things like audio boards,... it can all be done but it's a real pain.
> 
> ...



Feel free to post whatever you like concerning the raven's, like I said earlier, this is an open discussion thread. Thanks in advance for any tips you can give those looking into the Polulu route.  





Palmdale Haunter said:


> I want one of these so bad I can taste it!





DaveintheGrave said:


> Raven tastes just like chicken!



Lol Dave! Not when we've been eating carrion, we don't!


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## dscrimager (Feb 10, 2008)

For my cable-actuated version...

Here's the basic armature:






The armature has been redone all in brass rod. There is some detail as to how to attach the servo horns to the brass backbone for the neck joint which I will have to document later.

I've since revised the mouth to be actually mounted in the head. I just did not like the pivot point so far back.

I've also revised the body mount, this was the largest pain in the rear for the club this last build - so this mount is a bit more to build but it's repeatable off/on and fit-table in the body either temporarily or permanently. I guess I should have worked up a brace similar to yours - we just found so much variation in the Gempler's Crow bodies that each bird body fit is somewhat unique to get the neck joint in the right place.










I used various servo horn pieces to make the pivots on the neck and body since these come with the servos anyway and save fabrication. The ujoint is a lego's piece that I would not recommend for carrying the load of a servo mounted in the head, but this design has no servo's anywhere inside. These ujoints are $1.

One pricy thing really is the cable which is the Sullivan products, RC cable - the smallest they make. Even in bulk it's $1/foot and you need about 16 feet per bird. Since you are not moving the mass of the servos you can go with $10 servos and since the servos are not in the body the movement is basically silent.

We are using a control system that another member and I collaborated upon which includes a Pololu Maestro (since it has really nice animation features) an arduino, a home-grown jaw flapper and a cheap mp3 player from MDFly.








The servo tray has been replaced with one fabbed in aluminum angle.

Man I am totally hijacking your thread - I should move this to it's own how-to...


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