# My Animatronic Raven in progress 3



## Neverhart (May 28, 2012)

It was bugging me that the Picaxe audio/servo driver circuit wasn't working, so I went back over my work with a fine-tooth comb and found I'd forgotten a wire! Duh. Soldered it in, then futzed with the pots until I got some changing numbers. (Hope you're not thrown off by my technical jargon!-) Did a little math to convert the number range I was seeing into a number I could add to my minimum servo value (beak closed) and voila!






This is probably overkill for this application, but since I'm working on some 3-axis skulls at the same time, these boards will hopefully save me some time sequencing the jaw servos, so might as well figure them out now!-) Plus, I love learning about electronics, so this is fun for me.

For anyone following Halstaff's audio/servo driver plans with the MDFLY/TENDA board add-on... a couple issues:

1) The MDFLY board has 12 pins. The diagram shows using female headers for all of them to connect it to the PCB. The only female headers I've been able to get my hands on come with 8 holes, so I just used 2 of them on the outside pins. The pins to the left don't do anything, and are just there to help support the board.

2) The RadioShack PCB listed in the parts list (part 276-150) doesn't match the diagram. There is a brown line across the top off the diagram, that I (now!-) take to mean that those holes do not exist, but that throws the spacing of the components off a bit. Specifically, the 5k pot in the upper left of the diagram - the enclosure is pretty big and covers up a lot of contact points:

View attachment 123814


I didn't notice any of this while I was actually building the circuit and I HAVEN'T TESTED THIS, but I'm going to recommend that the matrix of 3X25 individual points be oriented at the top of the layout, and the matrix of 2X25 individual points go at the bottom, like so:

View attachment 123813


This will give you the room you need for this 5k pot, but will necessitate a very slight modification to the 1k pot connections, which should actually be easier: this way you can just use a blob of solder instead of a jumper.

I made a Fritzing diagram of the circuit which helped me see things a little more clearly... you can turn off different layers (components, wires, etc.) which helped wrap my head around the rat's nest! If somebody's interested in it, I can post it (with permission.)

3) If you want the audio jack to fit on the board, make sure the stereo mini jack you purchase works on a PCB! Couldn't find any at RadioShack, so you might have to source elsewhere. Mine is floating off the board. (groan!)

As always, my thanks to the halloweenforum community for helping me pick all this stuff up! None of my comments should be taken as criticism of the hard work done, but instead an attempt to share it even further!


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## SimplyJenn (Jul 29, 2010)

Great jOb on this. I sincerely wish i had more time to learn about it. Edgar is going to turn out great. Can't wait to see the other stuff you're working on.


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## Neverhart (May 28, 2012)

Thanks, SJ! I've always wanted to learn electronics, so this was my gateway! There are other cool projects that've been taking time away from Edgar, but I should be back at him soon.


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