Thread: My Animatronic/Pneumatic prop

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Project has been Officially Scrapped for this year. I will have to finish it up in 2010. I have bitten off more than I can chew! I have run into a few problems trying to program this guy. It is taking longer than I though. I really did not realize the full extent of completing a project like this. It is interesting when you get to a point and realize that you cant pull something off, even though things were going so good.... The feeling of disappointment and frustration......Failure.
I would finish it up this month but I have to build a set for a music video, so maybe in a few months I will start programing it. Anyways here are a few more photos some of the servo controller, there is a solenoid controller but it is not shown. also of the finished head sculpt. the mold is made and I am having trouble injecting the ecoflex-30 silicone silicone is too thin in some parts so i need to grind down inner head bust. also a photo of the wing sculpt there are black horns in the photo and will be attached to the wing. also a photo of the sculpted hands. I was in a rush to finish this for halloween so they are not too good looking.














-Frank Balzer
FrankWillisBalzer@yahoo.com

Hang in there. It will be that much better next Halloween.

Cant wait to see this finished. Keep us updated.

There are no words.....I got tears in my eyes looking at all this......what do you do for a living? It MUST have something to do with all this knowledge you have.....Hollywood would love to have you if they don't already.....where did you learn to do this? Wait until I show my teen tonight....he is gonna love this. Please keep us all updated on your progress...u have such a fan club right now!!

I am 21 years, 20 years old when I started on this. I do not do anything for a living, I have been doing an Internship though for Pyrotechnics, and rigging things. I have no affiliation with robots, nor anyone to show me how to make them. The way I got the knowledge on how to do this if from the internet, I have absorbed all the knowledge I could find on robots. And now, from making this First Animatronic of mine, I realize it is a piece of ****. I have been introduced to Hydraulics, and will honestly tell you that is the way to go, you can have the cylinders actuate at any position you want!! Also, Robots should be made of aluminum and plastic, not steel like I used. It, should have also been designed on SOLIDWORKS CAD Software, instead I built it from my head. I will start back on this robot soon to hopefully finish it... Thank you for the support, it keeps me going on this project when I feel down about things not working.

-Frank Balzer
FrankWillisBalzer@yahoo.com

Well, for this to be a piece of ****, it is the most awesome piece of **** I have seen!!!! I am sure you learned a lot in the process....and even if it becomes an operating nightmare....it still looks cool as a static....blinking all those eyes and turning it's head to watch passersby!! This is a really awesome group to be a member of....everyone is everyone else's cheerleader!

lol, Thanks for the load of confidence It means alot!

Frank Balzer

Load of confidence!?! I wish I knew half as much as you do when I was 20.

My haunt would be the talk of the town.

i can only imagine the amount of time and money that has gone into this thing so far. But i can only imagine that its going to turn out amazing of course we are all our own worst critics and you will have learned alot over the time to crank this out that you would have changed and done differently if you were to do it again such as aluminum vs steel as you pointed out , hydraulic vs pneumatics .

Then again hydraulic is a pretty pricey path to go down but obviously has many advantages with amount of strength it has vs air.. Non compressible vs compressible.

It takes a special, different type of person to do such an amount of good, incredible work, seeming to fall just short of compleation, yet be able to return and make it happen. I think you Will do this.
I have built things here in my haunted house that required years of my work (life) and along the way others would ask me how long it was going to take?
"As long as it takes."
I did myself a huge favor many years ago and quit keeping track of the time I get put into these objects. If I want to do them, that is the only OK I need to keep at it.
I might have been able to get these things done faster if I was not open for tours here every night of the year because except for the dead of winter , people do show up here very close to each and every night.
I dug an exit tunnel from my basement to the end of my yard it's about 95 feet long. I formed the twisting tunnel, poured the cement. I did have a few hours of help on the digging but I never expected any help so I was ready and willing to do it myself. I found I could dig much longer with a smaller shovel, three years later it was done, time to begin something new!
Understand something, this type of dedication is completely foreign to the average person.
If they come to lock me up, I'll just dig my way out!