Thread: Our first pneumatic clown prop

Tweet

So far all of our props have been static with the odd servo moving some small parts but this year we are finally making the jump to pneumatics. We are adding a jack-in-a-box style clown that will pop out of a box when triggered by an infra-red beam sensor.

Here is a video of the first test run


Thanks to the advice from this forum earlier in the year the pneumatic part of this prop is working perfectly. As this is the first pneumatic prop, we made the lifter a lot stronger than it probably should be just to be on the safe side. The box that the clown will sit in is complete except for painting and the electronics are almost complete. I'm pretty confident we can have it up and running this year and we already have plans to improve it for next year.

I will try to keep you posted on the status and I'll upload more videos when it's attached to the box.

Very cool! Post more video when you're done.
Time for me to get an air compressor!!

Nice prop! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Do you have details on the prop. Dimensions of the parts (levers)? Dimensions of your pneumatic air cylinder?

Thanks,

Joey

I've uploaded the designs for the lifter.

Bottom
Bottom Vertical
Bottom Horizontal
Top Horizontal
Top Vertical
Ram Stand
Ram Head

The cylinder is a Norgren PRA/182050/M/80. It's a 50mm diameter and an 80mm stroke. I think most people use cylinders with a greater stroke so there's less stress on the joints but this is the best one we had. It does have the advantage of not using as much air though.

So that's a bit over 3 inches of stroke which I think is pretty modest, then again I don't have the experience to back that up.

I'm a bit impressed with the cylinder diameter, which is almost 2 inches. That's where my inexperience is at a loss. I'm not sure how to calculate the right diameter size for my needs.

Great design though! I will need to study it a bit more and do the metric to SAE conversion. LOL

Joey

I was a bit worried at first. I was lucky to get the cylinder from eBay fairly cheap. I did some googling and found out that it was quite powerful but given how close it needs to be to the pivot point and how heavy the metal is there was always a chance it wouldn't be able to lift it. The next time I make one I will apply some maths to it to make sure I get it right. I also plan to use thinner metal but I still need to make sure it's strong enough.

Nice job! You certainly aren't going to have any issues with that beast of a cylinder.

Sorry for the lack of new pictures and videos. We've been so busy trying to get everything done at the last minute.

I have uploaded some more pictures of the clown prop.

We also have a few videos of it which I will be uploading soon.

cant wait to see this, as one that is learning pneumatics over the winter i am building somthing exactly like this.

Nice. I have the pneumatics and mechanical part down, but what's all the electronic stuff you put together in the pics? That's the part where I'm LOST. I'd love to be able to make props with music and/or sound effects. I made a puppet master this year that would have been better with some music and maybe an evil laugh.