Thread: My 3 axis skull...in progress

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Originally Posted by Sparkey

CJS = "Anyone find a good, low-cost source for Lindberg skulls? Most places I found arrrre abt $19 + $8-$10 to ship..."



I got mine here for $14.99 + $6.99 SnH
www_myatomic_com

Sparkey

If you buy from myatomic you can get free shipping on orders over $25, so buy two skulls and pay zero shipping.

Originally Posted by shadowopal

Not sure what pricing you're talking about. However, the Lindberg skull Unassembled kit is still just $300 on Graveyardskulls.com . The classic model that is. Not the new one.

Well, I am talking about here Graveyardskulls - Animatronic Skulls for your Halloween Haunt and here Graveyardskulls - Animatronic Skulls for your Halloween Haunt

Then add a power kit for 100.00.....eye kit for another 100.00....you are topping out close to 500.00 a head. And that is for the "old" technology. Remember, some of us are not as talented as the rest of you at cobbling this stuff together. Don't get me wrong....I am not saying that the product is not worth the amount......just that it is out of my range for these times.

Yeah...that's the new skull up top. It's pricey. The original one is very good though and well worth the cash. I can't comment on the new ones as I haven't picked one up yet. But the original unassembled kit is still $325. Yes you need to pick up a few parts. But, you can find them for cheep with just a little time spent searching.

When the prices were first announce for GYS, I was amazaed they were selling them for those prices. The time plus supplies did not equate. HAving built one from scratch, I can tell you that they were losing money originally trying to give everyone the best price possible (unless they had a really cheap supplier for all their parts). I built mine as a bulk kind of thing and even with bulk discounts, the parts are still expensive. I even cut my own servo plates (that sucked). When I saw GYS's original pricing, I couldn't figure how they were breaking even just on the parts....forget their time for assembling and shipping. I was sure either the price was going to go up or the company would fold. I'm glad they chose to raise the price a bit. They are still a bargain in my mind for the amount of effort it takes to find parts suppliers, machine the parts that are not available from suppliers (servo plate, axis rod, little a frame servo mounting plate...not to mention the eye kit WHICH IS AWESOME!), Assemble everything and package it for shipping. That's a LOT of time involved. Plus I think no matter how generous the guys at GYS are, they'd like to see a little profit for their troubles. Plus the really support their product. I know it's a small operation and they hit some snags initially. But, they helped me out a lot with the few issues I had and did so in a timely manner. That's something that even the big corps have trouble with these days.

I'm not argueing that it's a pretty penny. It is...especially in this day. And I'm not saying you're wrong Nidhogg. Really... I'm not. Please don't take my posts as antagonistic. I don't mean for them to be. Just letting others who may not know what goes into production what their money is going to. I started an effort to produce a cheap sound system package for Haunters. Let's just say I learned a lot of hard lessons and it never got off the ground. So, when I see a couple of guys trying to make an inexpensive product that is very cool and simplifies my life and not gouge the hell out of the common man, I give them their props. When a person can find the spare cash to invest, I highly recommend GraveYardSkulls.com .

shadowpal,
Uh, wow!!! Thanks for the kind words.

Nidhogg,
I do want to add, a lot of time went into developing the kits for ease of assembly. Shadowpal is right when he says we made no profit last year. We were making no money on the kits. Initially I just wanted to build a kit that was cheap and not going to gouge the end haunter. I know how expensive haunts can get. And to be honest, I figured we would only sell about 30 maybe 40 skulls at most - and gys would be gone. When we surpassed 200 skulls in sales, and we could not keep up with component sales, I took it to the next level and that was to make it a small company (after some debate with Bob and my accountant). We know have a small machine shop in San Bernardino, approximately 2,500 sf.

November I hired a full time person that is dedicated to inventory control, assembly and shipping product. September I hired a temp engineer to come in and help us with modeling the new design. My accountant spent a few months going over the books and trying to understand what was spent and finally advised me I was in the red by $16,000 and this did not include my time or Bob’s time.

December, we went through a complete restructuring and this included our pricing. Yes we are now making a small profit, but it’s not much. Most of this profit is going back into R/D and with working with a few other haunters with developing their products.

I might add, were developing a cheap 3-axis skull that will go for $175, or maybe even $150. There is zero profit on this kit and I mean zero profit. I hope to have this available sometime in February 2010.

Also, Shadowpal is right, our basic 3-axis skull, you can pick up the power supplies and build your own cables pretty cheaply.

I hope this clears up what was and why the price changes?

Gym_ghost

Originally Posted by gym_ghost

shadowpal,
Uh, wow!!! Thanks for the kind words.

*SNIP*

I hope this clears up what was and why the price changes?

Gym_ghost

Not a problem. Love what you've got going.

Wow! You guys really stepped your game up. Sounds like you've got a good handle on the shipping issues. Hope it turns out to be a good venture.

Hey Shadowpal,

I wanted to thank you for the input. It worked just fine when I could find the correct button. Guess it's kind of ingrained that I shouldn't push the red button. lol Now I just got to figure out what all the graphs mean and what I'm supposed to do with it. Any help in what I'm supposed to do now would be a big help. :P

What graphs are you talking about? Audacity? Well, you need to export it into a file type that your servo-controller software will work with (I'm assuming mp3). For MP3, you'll need to download and install the LAME expansion. Download and instructions here:
Audacity: How do I download and install the LAME MP3 encoder?

Then, you export your file as an mp3 and import into your servo controller program (I'm assuming VSA) and follow the documentation for that.

Hope that wasn't too fast or assuming too much. If so, let me know where you're at and I'll try and help.

Hi,

Ok, I'm using audacity and going with wav. What I was wondering was I see the graphs in Audacity. Do I just export that file in wav. and then import it into the vsa? From there do I just create the little boxes, rectangles, ect. in vsa to get the movement from the wav. that I imputed? One small step at a time for me. Also, is there a way to figure out how many people are signing one song? I can tell if there is obvious different voices but, some like Honky Tonk Halloween makes me think there is one guy and it's on reverb.

Thanks again.

Hi everyone.
I've been reading this thread for a bit now (I'm still back at page 82)
and I have been reviewing parts as I intend to build several units.
One part, the rod end, listed in post #6 as:

--If memory serves me right, the rod ends I purchased were part
number 2458K111 from http://www.mcmaster.com--

They cost $4.97 Each. My question is do I really need something that
supports 1,174 pounds for a 1 pound plastic skull? I found the following
part, KARI-03, at www-igus-com for a lot less money.
Also they will cut a price deal on larger quantities and they even give
out a free sample to try, my sample is on the way.

Look at the data below and please, those of you who have a working 3-Axis,
let me know if you think this would work.

I'd appreciate it as I've never done this before.
Thanks,
Sparkey



Line part quantity price
1 KARI-03 1.00 $/Pc $1.95
2 KARI-03 10.00 $/Pc $1.89
3 KARI-03 20.00 $/Pc $1.83
4 KARI-03 50.00 $/Pc $1.77
5 KARI-03 100.00 $/Pc $1.72
6 KARI-03 200.00 $/Pc $1.66
7 KARI-03 300.00 $/Pc $1.63

Cad File Link: igus CAD
PDF File Link: http://www.igus.com/pdf/igubal_rod_end.pdf


Ambient Temperature Degree F: 40 (I picked this temp.)
Max static axial load, Short Term 90 lbs
Max static axial load, Long Term 45 lbs
Elongation at max Load 0.047 in.
Max static side load, Short Term 16 lbs
Max static side load, Long Term 8 lbs
Max dynamic load, rotating 22 lbs
Max dynamic load, oscillating 22 lbs
Max tightening Torque, Thread 0.36875 ft-lbs
Max tightening Torque, Ball 2.2125 ft-lbs
Thread 10-32

I can't see why it would'nt work, just make sure that you have enough clearence. Also I'd check the degree of pivot before the race of the rod end would contact the upright rod. That way you can be sure you have enough clearence for the nod motion.