Thread: Cheapest way to do this

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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3neSd8ZJLA]YouTube - Animatronic Man Eating Plant[/ame]

I need the mouth to move up and down. Cheapest was of doing this?

Well, by the size of that one and the weight of latex rubber, I would say pneumatics. Not cheap, but probably less expensive than servos and controllers of that size.

Bill Ehrsam.

Yea I would have to agree, from the look of the movement I would guess pneumatic too. It is to sharp of a movement to probably be a servo. I am not sure how you would get a cylinder to mock that movement though. It could be some kind of motor though since that looks professional not homemade. The left right movement is probably servo though.

I agree looks like the jaw could be pneumatics. And the rotate could be servo but to simplify the rotation could be pneumatics with flow control to slow down the movement. This would keep it simple.

Make it like a puppet or muppet and use manual control (your hands).

Hey you said it had to be cheap but didn't say it had to be automated! LOL

it has to be automatic and i just need the mouth to move up and down. and easier and cheaper than pneumatics

It does not appear the the mouth moves that much, so you could use a solenoid. It will be quick of course. I have machines that have 24 volt solenoids that pull about 1/2 inch. Just pulse when you want mouth to open. Oh and solenoid are plenty strong. The ones on the machines pull down spring loaded rollers. The applied pressure on the rollers exceeds 20 lbs of force.

Use the wiper motor or maybe something smaller with a simple and short stroke. At the top of each stroke the mouth gets bumped open.
Have the plants speech on a cd and play continuously. Use amplified speakers to play the sound.
Use a switch or 110 v remote (Home Depot) and power the motor and the amplified speakers from this. Keep the cd player running constantly with a seperate power source so there is no "lag" time waiting for it to spin up.

I am all into cheap.

james

Reciprocating Motor Assembly-The Electronic Goldmine

Found this while surfing. Instead of the wiper motor. You may need to use a lower voltage to slow the RPMs.

i am gonna try one of these for an FCG
Super Power 12VDC Gear Motor-The Electronic Goldmine