Animated skull board

[scourge]

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bradg896, that is very impressive! Nice work, and I am amazed.

[halloween71]

Thanks guys I was worried that it would damage something by putting in with servo.
I like the idea of putting everything in there scourge.Bradg896 your skull looks great.What motion detector is the best to use I want it to run around 2-3 minutes after activation.Enough time to play the song.

[bradg896]

Scourge and Halloween71, thanks for the compliments (H71, sorry, wasn't trying to hijack your thread!). Mr Chicken, no, unfortunately I don't have any detailed pictures of the mechanism (didn't think anyone would be interest in a 2 axis setup!) but I can try to find the how-to's I used as source material if you are interested. Thanks again for the compliments! Now, H71, the trigger really depends on what exactly you are trying to trigger, skull motion, sound track or all the above. I use an X10 set up and trigger everything manually, saves playing THAT song in front of a bunch of 7 year-olds (don't need lawsuits from angry parents), besides, I prefer full control on my props, saves having them beat to death by kids repeatedly triggering the device.

[scourge]

Halloween71, keep us posted on your progress.

[Otaku]

H71, I think what you need is a way to "dry trigger" the Cow board and then lock it out while the song plays. I don't know if the Cow board will initiate playback while it's trigger contacts are held shorted, or if it runs on a "make and break" trigger. If the former, a simple adjustable RC timer with a relay can be used. A 1M ohm pot can be used to set the time you need and prevent repeat triggers until the song is through playing. If the latter, you'll need a 2-stage timer - one timer to trigger a relay that starts the board, and another (adjustable) that locks out the circuit until the song finishes playing.
I have how-to's for both of these circuits - the RC timer version is triggered by a Quorum PIR directly, the 2-stage can be triggered by the PIR but will need a relay to prevent sending any voltage to the circuit. The Quorum PIR is on sale here:
SALE! Quorum A-160 Passive Infrared Detector-The Electronic Goldmine
Let me know if I can help.