Thread: Gemmy Crystal Ball audio line-in hack

Tweet

Thought I would report in to say that this project goes pretty quickly. OpenTrackRacer's pics and directions are very helpful. I removed the globe and did surgery on the head so that DH could remove the mic board tonight. We picked up a packet of the shielded panel mount RCA phono jacks from Radio Shack the other day. So we are really close to finishing the hack already. I can't wait to hook him up to an mp3. BTW White Haired Guy has a nice looking bald head and with the hair pulled back from the head he really does look like Uncle Fester as Rev. Noch said. Especially with the dark circles around the eyes. I'm sure that's who he was patterned after. I just love the mask on this guy. His face is so cool. It has so much character.

I've been tossing around some ideas on reusing the globe. At some point we should probably start a separate thread on ideas for what can be done with it.

I wanted to remove the annoying head bobbing action and found it to be really simple. You need to peel the mask back enough to be able to expose the area below the chin at the black base. You can see a small rubber belt that can be stretched off the white plastic pulley wheel. Once you do this the rocking motion will stop, the eyes and mouth still move.

Tarheel337, thanks for the info! I haven't sealed up the head yet so the timing of your post is perfect for me. That bobbing head was annoying.

I had a bit of an emergency and my spare Crystal Ball saved the day. I was in a hurry so I didn't have time to take any pictures. It is pretty easy to completely separate the head from the base and use it on a body. The hardest part is getting the head off the base. There are two screws that can only be reached with a right angle ratchet driver or by stripping the mask off the head. After those are out there are two more small screws that are blocking metal pins. Once the small screws are out you can remove the pins with a punch and pliers. I unscrewed everything from the base (power jack, power switch, LEDs, etc.) and simply cut the wires to the speaker, microphone and light sensor. I taped up the exposed contacts to be safe. I also removed the motor for the rocking head motion which allows for some more mounting scenarios.

I put mine on my defective Dr. Shivers and he looks and works great. I cut the speaker wire on my previously hacked Crystal Ball as well and went with external speakers. The sound quality improvement is huge. I cut the wire and removed the belt to stop his head rocking as well.

These are even more useful that I had imagined. I think it's too late but I'm going to check around and see if Ross has any more.

Mike