Thread: 2 axis eye movement

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Hello-does anyone have any pics, posts, sites that show a "how to" for a 2 axis eye movement in Bucky skulls? I am building my first 3 axis skull and would like to add eye movement. I would settle for left/right or up/down only if I cant get both. Thanks, HH

I think there has been a few attempts at doing the eyes on this board. I have not tried yet. I would be nice to have that. I think the problem is the standard bucky skills just have to be gutted so much to get the eye mechanics in there its almost worthless. I bet thats the reason the Skulltronix guys ended up casting there own skull to make room.

i am working on it now but in the other 3 axis skull, srry no pictures yet have to wait on a servo board before i can really get to building on the eyes

If you are going to do it in Bucky skull, the whole front face bone section needs to be pryed off, the upper pallette bone removed then the whole front of the skull cut open. Once the front face bone is glued back on with eye mech in place no one can tell anything was removed.
This is of course to make room for the mech, I tried it without removing material but found it problematic at best. Not finished with it, but soon.

Here's a vid showing my second attempt. The linkage is OK, I need to change the way I mount the rod ends but you can clearly see I ran out of space.
[ame=http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/DrMorbius02/?action=view&current=rods.flv][/ame]

I am in the middle of working on a 2-axis eye movement as well. I have taken some ideas from others and am using the tops off of roll-on anti perspirant bottles for both the eye balls and the eyeball socket. I spilled the anti-perpirant all over the place so my shop is a mess but at least it smells nice. The cool part of the anti-perspirant balls is that they are translucent and when you stick a bright LED into one it looks really cool! The other posts here are absolutely correct - you need to pry off the front part of the skull and then be preparted to dremel out huge sections to make room for the eyes. I do think it can be done - but it's not easy. If you are interested I will post some pics in a few days if I get it to work.

I am interested in this also.

I am thinking about attempting the Horror Portrait that Lauriebeast did. I would love to have the eyes move. I am ok with just left and right. I am hoping I can do it pretty cheap. I saw a few props at buycostumes.com for $14.99 that have moving eyes that I could probably just steal the motor from but wouldn't know until I tore it apart. The two I saw there are Haunted Skull and Skull Head

The key to that is fitting it all in a skull. I tried looking at ready made solutions but none are just the right width to fit the Bucky.

I was going to avoid this, but decided it was time to jump in. I too have been playing around with the 2-axis eye project for the past three months. Our original inputs are not to tear the skull apart, only drill two holes, have the servos work of the GYM servo plate, installation can be done with basic tools, and it not cost more than $50. From this, we came up with four methods, and of that, one would work okay, but not great. Last week, we finally came up with a design that seems to work pretty well with a lot of room for error and it does not involve tearing apart the skull or drilling holes everywhere. Below is the email I sent out to a few individuals. I am posting this for it may help a few of you with furthering your development work. I will not have any of these kits available this year. I have too much on my plate and about two weeks behind with filling Halloween orders...


We’re going back to the drawing board… we have a better system that is going to provide much better eye placement and eye alignment with the servos. Basically, we’re going to make a snap cup (see attached drawing) that will go into the eye socket. How it will work, the user will drill two 3/8” holes upward and at angle so they enter the skull cavity. If done right, they should come two inches back from the front of the skull (we will be provided a template to drill). Here, they will assemble the eye socket to the bracket and attach the linkage bar to the eye hook (which is flush +/-.04 from bracket /this is the main pivot point). They will close it with a pair of pliers so the bar linkage does not come out. From there, they will insert the bar into the drill hole and push the eye bracket into place – to be flush with the eye socket. This will leave .375 room in the back and plenty of room for the linkage to work. In the skull cavity, it will just be a matter of hooking up the bars to the servo linkage. The main cross bar will have to be adjusted by the user.

What was happening with our old design – which I am still going to mail out, the eyes were not even, we got wander eye and if the holes were off by 1/8” the linkage would cause one eye to move excessively and the other, not so much.

This new method, as long as the linkage is uniform from the eye socket bracket, linkage can be off as much as ¼” and you will get uniform eye movement.

We made three yesterday and deliberately drilled different angles and such and all worked flawlessly. And it only takes about an hour to build. I will do video tonight and get it mailed out.

I am having the sheet metal house laser out 200 pieces. They should be ready Monday.

Joel

And since this email, we have simplified the process even further where only one hole needs to be drilled into the skull cavity and a small hole across the nasal cavity of the skull. That linkage between the two eyes is brazed together as one unit and snaps together once installed. The main servo linkage bar goes into the skull cavity and is linked to the servos.

Also, you need to make sure you have a min. of .050 to .075 clearance from the eye socket bracket to the back of the eye. This will permit accurate eye movement. If against the bracket, you will get jerky eye and strain on the servos. We used a 2-56 ball linkage swivel (the brass piece with the angles on it) to get the clearance needed and provided a point for the eye to move up and down and left to right.

You will need to make one more pivot point on the servo plate itself. This moves the bar that links to the eye linkage. We recommend you drill a 1/8" and then countershink 3/4" the way down. Enough to allow the bar to move 30 degrees in any direction. Do not drill this hole oversize...doing so will not allow a pivot point.

I will attempt to do some pictures, but again, time is precious.

Joel


http://www.graveyardmadness.com/2008/37-003_x3.pdf
This can be cut out with a pair of tin snaps and any type of sheet metal.

http://www.graveyardmadness.com/2008/eye_linkage.pdf