It is well known from the age of steam to the age of steampunk... whether it is cool, creepy, cute or all three at the same time, bringing a creature to life takes electricity. In the case of this cyborg zombie as single galvanic cell, known as a "battery", even in exhausted state, is sufficient. This instructable wow to do this as a "no soldering" joule thief project for children aged 6 to 99.
This Instructable is a tribute to the following great Instructables:
zombie friend?
Cat Burglar Joule Thief
Give the gift of Robot Invasion
and to the simple fact Instructables are great source of inspiration.
At Evil Mad Scientist you can find a circuit diagram and an explanation on how the joule thief actually works. Another explanation on this blocking oscillator (more correct according to some) can be found here.
When making the cyborg zombie in a workshop with children you should do some of the steps in preparation depending on their age and experience. For 6-year-olds I do step 2 to 4 in advance. More experienced young builders can do it all by themselves.
This Instructable is a tribute to the following great Instructables:
zombie friend?
Cat Burglar Joule Thief
Give the gift of Robot Invasion
and to the simple fact Instructables are great source of inspiration.
At Evil Mad Scientist you can find a circuit diagram and an explanation on how the joule thief actually works. Another explanation on this blocking oscillator (more correct according to some) can be found here.
When making the cyborg zombie in a workshop with children you should do some of the steps in preparation depending on their age and experience. For 6-year-olds I do step 2 to 4 in advance. More experienced young builders can do it all by themselves.
A workshop I gave October 10th, 2009, in time for Halloween that was a good reason for an update of this Instructable: in the last step I added a short report on a workshop . I included some inspiring pictures on how the cyborg zombies evolve in the hands of children.
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Signing UpStep 1: What you need
I grouped what you need in three separate short lists: the "good" (the zombie stuff), the "bad" (the joule thief electronics) and the "ugly" (the no soldering connecting stuff).
For the zombie you need the stuff described in the zombie friend? Instructable, minus one eye-thing. In short:
- a glove,
- stuffing
- something to use as an eye (e.g. a button)
- (embroidery) thread
- (embroidery) needle (size 18 or near)
- scissors
For the cyborg eye you need:
- a blue or white LED
- 5 cm of thin shrink tube (e.g. 1,2mm shrinking to 0,5mm diameter)
- 2N3904 transistor
- 1kOhm resistor (brown-black-red)
- 2 times a good 30 cm of thin single strand wire (Cat5e network installation wire works great)
- a toroid bead with an inside diameter of about 7 to 10 mm. You need it to be high inductance type, made for low frequencies. I learned white/green types for high frequencies do not work. White/yellow ones do. A common source are computer power supplies or Solid Core Ferrite Suppressors for round cables.
Update: the black "RT145-103-080" ferrite toroids available at Conrad (order nr. 508039) work very well, even with loose and unregular windings made by children.
Further, to connect all this you will need:
- 2 strong small nickled magnets with holes in them, e.g. nr. 503755 at Conrad or from a magnetic lock as used in jewelry. If soldering is no problem you can use the more common nickled neodymium magnets without holes.
- 2 times about 20 cm of single strand wire. I prefer them to be slightly thicker than the wire mentioned above, therefore I use some old fashioned telephone installation wire, but some more network wire can also be used.
- a piece of connecting block with four contacts, for fine wires (the type for 0,75 mm2 to 1,5 mm2 is OK)
- a screwdriver fitting the connecting block
- needle nose pliers
- permanent markers in four different colours
- a metal saw and if available a bench-vise
- a small piece of plastic sheet e.g. (5 x 10 x 0,5 mm, see next step)
- some (hot melt) glue (and hot melt gun)
- and finally a 1,5 V battery or 1,2 V rechargeable (for first tests, best make sure it is not a really completely dead one)
For the zombie you need the stuff described in the zombie friend? Instructable, minus one eye-thing. In short:
- a glove,
- stuffing
- something to use as an eye (e.g. a button)
- (embroidery) thread
- (embroidery) needle (size 18 or near)
- scissors
For the cyborg eye you need:
- a blue or white LED
- 5 cm of thin shrink tube (e.g. 1,2mm shrinking to 0,5mm diameter)
- 2N3904 transistor
- 1kOhm resistor (brown-black-red)
- 2 times a good 30 cm of thin single strand wire (Cat5e network installation wire works great)
- a toroid bead with an inside diameter of about 7 to 10 mm. You need it to be high inductance type, made for low frequencies. I learned white/green types for high frequencies do not work. White/yellow ones do. A common source are computer power supplies or Solid Core Ferrite Suppressors for round cables.
Update: the black "RT145-103-080" ferrite toroids available at Conrad (order nr. 508039) work very well, even with loose and unregular windings made by children.
Further, to connect all this you will need:
- 2 strong small nickled magnets with holes in them, e.g. nr. 503755 at Conrad or from a magnetic lock as used in jewelry. If soldering is no problem you can use the more common nickled neodymium magnets without holes.
- 2 times about 20 cm of single strand wire. I prefer them to be slightly thicker than the wire mentioned above, therefore I use some old fashioned telephone installation wire, but some more network wire can also be used.
- a piece of connecting block with four contacts, for fine wires (the type for 0,75 mm2 to 1,5 mm2 is OK)
- a screwdriver fitting the connecting block
- needle nose pliers
- permanent markers in four different colours
- a metal saw and if available a bench-vise
- a small piece of plastic sheet e.g. (5 x 10 x 0,5 mm, see next step)
- some (hot melt) glue (and hot melt gun)
- and finally a 1,5 V battery or 1,2 V rechargeable (for first tests, best make sure it is not a really completely dead one)
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The idea came from the Instructables mentionned in the intro. I wanted to combine the great zombie friend? with something more technical. The Cat Burglar Joule Thief showed how to combine a Joule Thief with a soft doll. From the Give the gift of Robot Invasion I already had the idea of making an "army" of some kind of cute robots, or in this case cyborgs.
I would look forward to the ultimate explanation based on joints efforts. For me, what is missing is what factors determine the frequency.