Animatronic face

[crystal1m]

Hi ! Im a pre-k teacher and just so happened to stumble upon your site, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed your animatronic face demonstration. As I am no where near are handy as some of the other members subscribed do you have the animatronic face for sale, or can I commission you to make one for me ?? If so let my know, my kiddos would love this as an "assistant teacher" to group/ circle time.

Thanks A bunch
Desperate Ms. Crystal

[ThePyroElectro]

Hi ! Im a pre-k teacher and just so happened to stumble upon your site, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed your animatronic face demonstration. As I am no where near are handy as some of the other members subscribed do you have the animatronic face for sale, or can I commission you to make one for me ?? If so let my know, my kiddos would love this as an "assistant teacher" to group/ circle time.

Thanks A bunch
Desperate Ms. Crystal

Hi Crystal,

I don't typically sell my projects, instead I demonstrate how to build them yourself. I'll reply to your e-mail with more details.

[argonaut]

Hi,

First of all many thanks for sharing your tutorials! I am trying to build the animatronic face, starting with the eyebrows, and got stuck. I programed the PIC and made the circuit. Everything looks fine, but when I switch the battery, just one of the servos moves a bit for a moment and nothing else happens. I checked the conections with a voltimeter and seem right. Any idea what else should I check?

Many thanks

[ThePyroElectro]

Hi,

First of all many thanks for sharing your tutorials! I am trying to build the animatronic face, starting with the eyebrows, and got stuck. I programed the PIC and made the circuit. Everything looks fine, but when I switch the battery, just one of the servos moves a bit for a moment and nothing else happens. I checked the conections with a voltimeter and seem right. Any idea what else should I check?

Many thanks

[1] Load a simple program onto the PIC to make sure your download process works correctly:

Code: Select all

void main(){
TRISA = 0x00;

while(1){
PORTA = 0x01; // Pin 2 @ +5v
}
}

Connect an LED on RA0 (pin2) and to ground. When you load the above program does the LED turn on? If yes, then your download process is working.

[2] What is the voltage at the Servo control signal output?
The servo signal is only at +5v for 1ms to 2ms for a 20ms period, so the voltage shouldn't measure on a dmm as more than +0.5v. If you're in range then continue...

[3] What is the frequency coming out of the control signal output?
If your dmm doesn't measure frequency (it should be 50 Hz) you can use a sound-card oscilloscope that connects with headphone/microphone wire to your PC

http://zelscope.com/

This debug process is all to make sure that your code is actually running and to see that the signal coming out of your device is actually the signal you want.

[chibiiris]

Hello, and thank you for your time in reading this post. My name is Chi and I have been working on the animatronic face, recently modifying it to a puppet. Unfortunately, I have come to a snag where it is not working where the exstension servo cord meets the Sips. If I apply pressure with my thumb and pointer to that area, the servos work fine. When I try to switch to another means, like electric tape, the signal becomes intermittent. Is this a common problem? Is there an easy fix? If only I had nine hands to hold them, right?

[ThePyroElectro]

Hello, and thank you for your time in reading this post. My name is Chi and I have been working on the animatronic face, recently modifying it to a puppet. Unfortunately, I have come to a snag where it is not working where the exstension servo cord meets the Sips. If I apply pressure with my thumb and pointer to that area, the servos work fine. When I try to switch to another means, like electric tape, the signal becomes intermittent. Is this a common problem? Is there an easy fix? If only I had nine hands to hold them, right?

I never had this happen to me before. The servo wires are not always very high quality, so if you are using the servos heavily its possible there is a connection problem either at the connector or somewhere in the wire due to heavy use (lots of current going through!).

You might buy some better quality connectors instead of using sips? I'm just fishing for suggestions here...hope it helps.