Thread: puking cotton candy clown, how does it work?

Tweet

Anyone have any idea on how something like this might be built?




The stirring motion is obvious but I'm wondering if the puking is on a timer or counter of some sort triggering the fluid pump and heaving motion.

Looking for the most low-tech solution to put together something like this from a mechanical/electronics perspective.

I thought about building some sort of 'counter' mechanism.



Thi sdoesn't really give me the ability to do a puke 'routine' it would just turn the pump on or off unless i used 2 swtiches on the counter, one for 'on' one for 'off'

Anyone have any thoughts?

MadMax posted recently about a circuit he makes for a similar effect. He uses two of the blinker fuses for a car wired in series with one of the power wires for the prop. The blinker fuse makes the prop alternate on and off, but two fuses in line will give it a more random interval.
You might just PM him and ask.

just going to reply to myself here.. consider it thinking out loud.

Maybe it will get someone else thinking and we can figure this out.

So I did some searching for simple counter circuits and found this one...



What I'm thinking is instead of using a 555 timer IC to trigger the counter, I could use a microswitch tripped by the rotation of the stirring motion.

Once the counter reaches 10 turns it could trigger a relay to turn off the stirring motion and start the vomit routine.

The vomit motion motor uses a linkage that leans the clown over the basin and jerks it's head a few times. The lean forward triggers another microswitch/relay combo which powers on the vomit pump.

Once the motion of the vomit routine returns to upright it triggers the upper limit switch which restarts the stir routine.

As I mentioned, there's probably digital ways to control something like this routine but unless it can be done as cheaply and quickly as this mostly analog solution I probably won't be able to pull it off in time.

Anyone have any thoughts on any of this???

the more i watch this the more I wonder if it's all running on some type of cam system using a single motor since the hand doesn't stop stirring. what I do notice is that the pump doesn't puke until the hand is out of the way.. could just be coincidence in this video.

need to look for more videos of this thing.

and here I am talking to myself again but it's making me think.

user otaku has suggested I try a microcontroller for this prob and to be honest, they make me nervous only because i get the impression they're difficult to learn/use... but who am I to say now.

I've been spending some time researching and planning and I think I'm on the right track. Just waiting on some feedback from otaku on what I'm inevitably doing wrong.

If you know anything about this stuff, feel free to add your 2 cents.


So, I'm thinking of using the BS1 project board simply because it appears to have the number of ins and outs I need, is only $30 and ready to program.

I will be ordering the board next week but want to make sure this is something I can do with this board and that I'm on the right track with this project as I'm trying to do it sort of last minute.


Having studied the motion routines I've come up with a diagram of what I think will be needed to accomplish this...



using the editor, help files and my limited knowledge of these types of things, here is what I came up with to execute the motion sequence. it seems to have tokenized in the editor.

Code:

' {$STAMP BS1}
' {$PBASIC 1.0}

OUTPUT 0 'stir relay
OUTPUT 1 'lean relay
OUTPUT 2 'puke relay
OUTPUT 3 'puke audio (if used)

INPUT 4 'stir counter switch
INPUT 5 'lean limit switch
INPUT 6 'stand limit switch

SYMBOL stirNum = B1

StartStir:
stirNum = 0 'reset counter variable to 0
HIGH 0 'start stir motion
GOTO StirCount 'jump to StirCount subroutine

StirCount:
  IF PIN6 = 1 THEN AddSpin 'jump to AddSpin subroutine
  IF stirNum = 10 THEN PukeRoutine 'if # of spins = 10 jump to puke subroutine
  GOTO StirCount 'loop to wait for counter trigger

PukeRoutine:
  LOW 0 'stop stir
  PAUSE 2000 'wait for stir spin down
  PULSOUT 3, 50 'send pulse to audio board to start audio
  HIGH 1 'start lean motion
  GOSUB LeanLimitFwd
  HIGH 2 'start puke pump
  PAUSE 4000 '4 sec of puke
  LOW 2 'stop puke pump
  HIGH 1 'start lean motion (return to upright position)
  GOSUB LeanLimitBack
  GOTO StartStir 'rinse and repeat

END

AddSpin:
  stirNum = stirNum + 1 'add 1 to stir_num variable
  RETURN

StopLean:
  LOW 1
  RETURN

LeanLimitFwd:
 IF PIN5 = 0 THEN LeanLimitFwd 'detect when prop leans forward position and stop lean motion
 GOTO StopLean

LeanLimitBack:
 IF PIN6 = 0 THEN LeanLimitBack 'detect when prop leans forward position and stop lean motion
 GOTO StopLean

I guess I have a few questions... least of which is 'would this work'?

Aside from that...

- Can I create a common ground for all the input switches? if so, where is the - connected to on the board to complete the circuit?

- Can I wire both limit switched (leanFwd and leanBack) to 1 pin and check for HIGH from either of these once the leanStart has been executed? (not a requirement but thought it might free up a pin for something else)

- Is there some sort of emulator that will run programs to see how they function before sending them to the actual board?


Anything else you see that might be amiss, please feel free to point it out. Again, this is all new to me.

Thanks.

aww that thing is so gross..... i want one

more talking to myself.. or documentation.. you decide.

to use the BS1 with automotive relays I'll need to use something like a ULN2003 IC (transition array) to up the output of the BS1 pins to enough current to drive the relays.

I could use individual switching transistors but since there are about 4 outputs i might as well just use the chip version.

also found out there's an inexpensive prop controller call prop1 for like $40 which already has the transistor array onboard and is based on the BS1.
just need to also buy the serial adapter to program it which is like $5

http://www.efx-tek.com/topics/prop-1.html

that's vs. $30 for the BS1 + about $1 for the ULN2003 IC.

either one of these options still needs a straight thru serial cable and power supply which I already have so not including that in the cost.

Keith,
I use the DS3658B quad high-current peripheral driver for operating relays and lights with a BS2 board. Another option for increasing the I/O capabililities of the BS1 or 2 is to use the CD4051BM multiplexer. It uses just three of the Stamp's output pins to switch among 8 separate outputs on the IC. Here's some links:

http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/data.../109138_DS.pdf

http://www.national.com/mpf/DS/DS3658.html#Overview

OK. took a look at the DS3658. Seems like it would work for switching those relays.

The connections look a little more confusing to me than the mosfet or the darlington array probably because of the pinout.

anyhow... the only thing i seem to not know is what the EN pin is for on the DS3658.

thanks again as always man.

You guys went way over my head on the controller aspect of this. But I just wanted to say how much I like this animated prop.