Moving Fingers

[fritz42_male]

Here's a good howto on a simple moving finger. Just Polymorph plastic, a servo and 1 or 2 other bits. I've already made the finger and will be rigging the servo. Next up will be an entire hand!

http://letsmakerobots.com/node/14041

[pyro]

wow thats cool

[Mr_Chicken]

interesting....I'll have to look in to that stuff

[Joiseygal]

How much does that pliable plastic cost?

[fritz42_male]

Shop around as it varies a lot in price. I have priced 1Kg (which is a LOT) at $22

It's also sold as Friendly Plastic and Shapelock. You can use this stuff for loads of things - custom bracketry etc.

[Bone Dancer]

Thanks for the link.

[Mr_Chicken]

Shapelock is the same thing? Score! My friend was just telling me the other day that they've got a boatload of that laying around where he works :D

Hmm...I'll bet this stuff would be useful in making fully animatronic characters (ex: eyebrow movement, cheek movement, etc.). You could probably even push it into a simple plaster mold for consistency's sake

[fritz42_male]

You can indeed do all that you have suggested. Here's a little link

http://www.c-d-c-shop.com/Products/Polymorph/Polymorph.pdf

How much does your friend have? Maybe a group buy is in order.

And of course the REALLY nice thing is that it is forever useable - don't like what you've done or no longer have a use for it then tear it down and re-use it.

I want to have a play with making little shapes to move under a latex skin mask. I'll make the mask really thin in places and have the shapes moved by micro servos. Maybe a maggot or grub shape under a cheek and so on.

Mystery 9gm and 3.3gm servos are dirt cheap (less than $6 per on ebay or DealExtreme) and I already have an SSC32 clone board.

On another issue, I'm trying to make up some animatronic eyes. All of the existing kits are quite pricey and the animatronic books and downloads I've bought don't provide dimensioned and detailed plans - any suggestions? 1 Axis is easy with microservos (http://hackedgadgets.com/2009/10/25/servo-controlled-eyes/)

[Devils Chariot]

Hey thats the stuff then comes with the dental distortion teeth. Very interesting indeed. I'll have to get some to fool around with.

Glad I read this post, and good find Fritz!

[Undeadvoodoomonkey]

You can skip the Polymorph plastic and cut notches in vinyl plastic tubing.

[hpropman]

great stuff to play with thanks for sharing this.

[fritz42_male]

That link now includes a Scorpion Sting effect - more ideas to implement!

[DeathTouch]

How does the finger retract? Was concerned about that.

[DeathTouch]

Oh, I sent them an email.

[Dr Morbius]

How does the finger retract? Was concerned about that.

Looks like it just uses the resiliency in the plastic itself to re extend the finger.

[DeathTouch]

Looks like it just uses the resiliency in the plastic itself to re extend the finger.

I would worry about something like that because you don't know how long it will last.

[fritz42_male]

Who cares as long as it lasts long enough for one haunt. When it breaks, re-melt it and use it again!

The robot builders use Polymorph a lot so it must be pretty resilient!

If you use a fairly thick nylon line as your drive or use proper servo cables then the servo will drive the motion forward AND retract. Dave Corr has a similar setup on his hand tutorial in Animatronics Vol 1.

[hpropman]

this is the same idea but with using split loom tubing:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Animatronics-robotic-hand/

[nixie]

Great. One more thing to add to my "must try one day" list!

[DeathTouch]

I got an email from the company. It would cost a total of 44 bucks for a 1kg, which is 2.2 pounds to be shipped to Ill.

[DeathTouch]

Who cares as long as it lasts long enough for one haunt. When it breaks, re-melt it and use it again!

The robot builders use Polymorph a lot so it must be pretty resilient!

If you use a fairly thick nylon line as your drive or use proper servo cables then the servo will drive the motion forward AND retract. Dave Corr has a similar setup on his hand tutorial in Animatronics Vol 1.

I would care. After paying 44 bucks and having to go back out every day to fix it, remelting it evertime, it would become a pain. Just my thoughts on the matter. But if this is something you don't mind then go for it. Just tell us how it goes.