[J-Man]

I have designed and tested a new circuit that allows you to use any line level audio (via your own audio player) to customize any Gemmy talking prop that utilizes a motor for the jaw movement (which most do). This also pertains to any talking skull or prop that may not necessarily be labeled as "Gemmy" but uses a motor and return spring to operate the jaw. It operates the motor from the stock battery power which is typically 3 or 4 AA batteries, and requires an additional 9-12V control power source which can be a 9V battery or a wall wart type adapter. The board design is 2" x 2" and should fit easily inside most props and skulls. This conversion will also need your own amplifier or powered speaker such as cheap computer speakers. The board will work with any audio dialog and does not require any additional programming. It also does not require adding any special tones to the audio tracks. Comes with one 3.5mm stereo audio cable, connecting wires, and 9v battery snap.
$35 each plus shipping.

 

[eightcircuits]

Does it have to be a gemmy prop or could it run a servo or small motor?

 

[J-Man]

Servos are very different than just a motor as they require specific pulse signals to control the position. I already have an Audio Servo Controller for that. This new prospect board will be for motors that drive the jaw movement which is typical for most talking Gemmys with a moving jaw. It can also be used for small solenoids and pneumatic solenoids for anyone that may have a prop with a pneumatic driven jaw.

 

[annamarykahn]

heck yeah, count me in as someone who wants

probably several ... is there a discount for multiple ... maybe as many as 6? to bad we can't order 6.66 ;-) or maybe we can ... just leave off a wire or some other component that we have to solder/install ... lol!

amk

 

[J-Man]

heck yeah, count me in as someone who wants

probably several ... is there a discount for multiple ... maybe as many as 6? to bad we can't order 6.66 ;-) or maybe we can ... just leave off a wire or some other component that we have to solder/install ... lol!

amk

There will be a couple of wiring connections on the Gemmy that the user will have to do. On skulls, this will involve the 2 wires that go directly to the motor, the 2 wires from the battery compartment, and 2 wires from the stock on/off switch. Full size props that already use a wall adapter instead of batteries may be a little less. In either case, the wiring is simple and will be explained with documentation. The wiring connections can be done with small wire nuts if the user isn't able to solder.

 

[Castart]

I suspect many of us will want those boards at some point in future. I just don't have any Gemmy products at this time.

 

[J-Man]

I suspect many of us will want those boards at some point in future. I just don't have any Gemmy products at this time.

I'm using "Gemmy" as a generic brand name which may or may not be actually labeled on the prop. Any of the cheap talking skulls that use a motor for jaw movement (and a return spring) will work with this board.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Sounds great! I'd be in for one to try out and if we like it, could definitely see picking up more. We modified a Gemmy microphoned spirit ball guy (OpenTrackRacer's tutorial) some time back to work with an mp3 player and loved the results. I'd love to have more customized "talking" heads in our haunt and something simple to do (soldering ok) would be a real plus for us.

If you have one up and running maybe a video of a completed one would help people who aren't so DIY feel like this is something they'd want to try out.

 

[Icepick]

I'm down for one as long as my wife gives me the go ahead (happy wife,happy life). I have a motor/return spring that I butchered from one of those automatic room scent spray systems that would benefit from this.

 

[thehoghunter]

I have 2 'Gemmy' skulls that could use this modification...

 

[J-Man]

If you have one up and running maybe a video of a completed one would help people who aren't so DIY feel like this is something they'd want to try out.

Right now I just have this circuit working on a breadboard. I'll work on getting a demo video of the Gemmy Skull actually talking. So far I've gotten pretty good response from everyone and it appears like this will be a go for me. Most likely will be available sometime in Feb. Thanks to everyone that has responded so far and keep them coming!

 

[Cloe]

I'm interested in at least one of these also as long as you stick a little installation for dummies note in mine LOL

 

[J-Man]

I'm interested in at least one of these also as long as you stick a little installation for dummies note in mine LOL

No worries, there will be detailed documentation included!

 

[Atom058]

Is what you are doing similar to this Instructable?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-A-Talking-Skull-To-Say-Anything-You-Want/#intro

 

[JeffHaas]

J-Man - Sounds interesting! I'm the guy that put the Instructable together. How is your circuit different? Seems like you added a feature or two.

 

[J-Man]

Hi Jeff,
I designed this circuit based on my Audio Servo Controller. This circuit uses 2 pots and a different dual op amp that allows the audio input and threshold to be adjusted. It works well with any line level input without the need for using an audio editor to add additional tones to the track.

 

[JeffHaas]

Very nice! Let us know when you have a demo video.

 

[J-Man]

Will do. Just like my Audio Servo Controller, this board will also have two 3.5mm stereo audio jacks, line in and line out, and a jumper for left and right channel input. The jumpers configure the controller to respond to either just the left channel or just the right channel. If both jumpers are in place, it will respond to both channels.

 

[J-Man]

OK guys, here's a short demo video with the circuit on a breadboard. The skull is a cheap $15 version from Menards, typical of most Gemmys. The pink object to the right is a small battery powered speaker, the tiny board on the far left is an MP3/WAV player from MDFLY, audio files go on a MicroSD card. Skull is operating on the stock batteries, 3 AA's. Circuit is powered with a 9V battery connected to the stock on/off switch of the skull. The audio should be familiar to most of you and was not altered in any way, no additional tones were added. Just a side note about the playback of this video, if the audio/video sync seems off, stop and restart it. This seems to work on my phone when the sync is off a bit.

 

[Danski]

Ahhhh!------another product of yours I'm standing in line for...I'm in for 1--2 Now I have to go looking for one of those skulls somewhere.