Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 4Animatronic Tail
I ran across this site and thought that is would be a very cool addition to my costume and help me win the costume contest for sure.
The site explains the details of the construction, so I'll just cover the basics here.
I ordered 2 Klix Balls from eBay and I took them apart and used the individual Klixs to create the tails spine.
You have to use your knife to shave the little nubbin off of each Klix so that when they move there is no clicking sound.
You then have to drill two holes in each Klix. After drilling the holes, put the Klix back together. You will need a jumbo sized paper clip for each hole. You basically straighten out each paper clip, cut them to the correct size, and thread them into the holes and then bend a loop on each end of the paper clip. Then you thread a bicycle brake cable through each loop until you get something that looks like the tail skeleton in the picture.
The next step involves creating a cage for the servos that will control the tail. This involves cutting wire and soldering them together to form a protective cage and mounting points for the servos that create the back and forth and side by side motion of the tail.
Like I said, the site goes into way more detail.
After putting everything together, I was a little dissapointed in how well it worked. I needed about two or three more days to work out all the bugs, but I was out of time. My servos didn't have enough torque, so I replaced one with a higher torque model and decided I could live with the limited side to side wag it provided.
The site explains the details of the construction, so I'll just cover the basics here.
I ordered 2 Klix Balls from eBay and I took them apart and used the individual Klixs to create the tails spine.
You have to use your knife to shave the little nubbin off of each Klix so that when they move there is no clicking sound.
You then have to drill two holes in each Klix. After drilling the holes, put the Klix back together. You will need a jumbo sized paper clip for each hole. You basically straighten out each paper clip, cut them to the correct size, and thread them into the holes and then bend a loop on each end of the paper clip. Then you thread a bicycle brake cable through each loop until you get something that looks like the tail skeleton in the picture.
The next step involves creating a cage for the servos that will control the tail. This involves cutting wire and soldering them together to form a protective cage and mounting points for the servos that create the back and forth and side by side motion of the tail.
Like I said, the site goes into way more detail.
After putting everything together, I was a little dissapointed in how well it worked. I needed about two or three more days to work out all the bugs, but I was out of time. My servos didn't have enough torque, so I replaced one with a higher torque model and decided I could live with the limited side to side wag it provided.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
but dose the tail move like this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ4RXCumwI8
please help me