Thread: My Awesome Eel delivered but I need a mechanism

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My eel was delivered today and I can't wait to include it in my display. If you haven't seen Bobzilla's creations, make sure to check out his posts. His work is fantastic!
Now that I have my eel in hand, it's time to figure out how to animate him. He has a 1" pvc pipe running through the body that I would like to attach a pneumatic cylinder to and have him pop out. However, he is heavier than I anticipated and I need to come up with a new plan. Diabolik has a great setup that he used for his spider that should do the trick although I would probably only use 1 set of slides. Construction shouldn't be hard and the best part is I can build it from wood since I don't know how to weld. Yet.
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts or an alternate method? Any help would be appreciated.

Would you consider an electric solution?

Do you want it to move slow or fast?

...if you want it to move really fast, I think you should incorporate about 1/4lb of Black Powder behind it in a tube. Something truly scary, but a drawer slide mechanism would be best since it is a heavy prop.

I would like it to move fast which is why I was thinking of pneumatics but would consider an electric solution. Tom, what did you have in mind?

How heavy it this prop. A 2 inch bore cylinder can move some serious weight. Although a 18 inch stroke will run you around $85-$100. Even it you go horizontal I can't imagine that prop weighing more then 30-50lb. I would guess you would want horizontal movement with this prop.

Go with pneumatics and add some patio door sliders to get him moving. Just build a base and attach the sliders, then attach to the base of the prop. You can get away with less bore if you have the armature do all the hard work.

I had a 100lb prop slide out one year with a 2 inch bore cylinder 18 inch stroke. I think I could have put 300lb on it. It was a beast of a cylinder.

Steve,

Could you have the prop roll downhill?

Originally Posted by spinman1949

Steve,


Could you have the prop roll downhill?

My plan is to have it pop out of cave made from foam. It could be horizontal but I'd prefer it to come up and out at a bit of an angle.

"Up and out" will require some strength if the prop is heavy. I agree with the other posts that pneumatics would be the best way if you require high speed movement.

I can also think of a variety of ways you could use a wiper motor to accomplish the task. Proper shaft "gearing" could give it adequate speed. The motor could be made reversible with a controller such as the Parallax HB-25, which in turn is controlled by a prop board.

I'm sure you could find a way to make it run off a Picaxe!

Here's a video detailing the design I adapted from Diabolik's spider slide. I want to thank everyone who responded with suggestions for this build as well as Bobzilla for this incredible addition to my haunt.