08 Project - Drop Panel 3 Axis Skull Columns

FYI - This how-to was pieced together from a number of blog entries over August and September in 08. Please forgive me if it bounces around a bit due to that.

And for all of our GoE Network members that have seen this before, apologies again to you. I needed to finally edit all the bits together for our main site so sorry if you've seen this before.

08 Columns Project...
For those folks not on the GoE Network site a bit of background is in order. In early 08 (starting around April) I built one of those fancy 3 axis skulls that's all the rage in Paris these days. Thing is, I really don't like vaudeville numbers so I didn't have a clue what to do with him. It just seemed like a cool project, and at the time not many people had done one. I like a challenge and it was a satisfying, if somewhat frustrating project.

And it was a great excuse to drink a lot of High Life....

After much thought lubrication, I decided to make a ToT greeter. Using a 3 axis skull for a ToT greeter is already overkill, so in true GoE spirit I decided to overkill the overkill (twice) and make the worlds most complicated, over done, 20 second long ToT greeter.

If you've ever doubted that I'm an idiot I think this should seal the deal once and for all.

The following journal entries cover the process pretty much completely. While I did include some pics of the internals, the skull build is truly a separate process in itself. If you google around you'll see at this point it's been covered to death. Hell, they even have kits for them now. My advice? Buy the kit, it's a PIA fabricating it.

And all that said, let us set the Halloween way back machine for late August, 2008
8-30-08

My lazy spell finally broke yesterday when I picked up the lumber needed to frame the columns. $26 bucks later I had all the 2x3s and 2x4s I needed. The columns are going to be 21x21, and 7 feet tall.

The width is because 2x8's of pink foam actually have about 21 and one 1/2 inch of usable width, the other 2 1/2 inches is taken up by the interlocking tabs on the sides. The 7 feet? Well the ceiling in the garage is a little under 8', so there you go.

I created some concept renders of my original idea in 3DsMax as a rough guide and here is one of them:

So based on that, I need (8) 7' feet pieces, and 3 or 4 21x21 squares frames per column. The platform on the middle support square is there to hold Yorick, my 3 axis animated skele who will be hiding in one of the columns.

Here's some sexy shots of the pieces all cut up:

I had some 3/4" heavy as all hell particle board so I used it to strengthen and weight the base squares, which I made from 2x4 rather than 2x3's. Here's a shot of them and middle/top frame squares waiting to be assembled:

Here's a shot of me making sure the squares were, well..square:

Then using 1 5/8th and 2" drywall screws, both columns went together. The middle sections will be 3 and 1/2 feet high because that will feature the hiding skele the best. I confirmed this by dragging a focus group (my 8 year old) into the GoE to see where his eye-line falls at different heights. That height seemed like a good compromise between kids and adults, so there it was. Hopefully it works out.

******WARNING******
If you're allergic to people wasting hours of their time, don't look at anything from the 9/1 update, just keep scrolling.

9-1-08
The scissor mech and drop panel got fab'd this weekend. As expected the scissor mech was a complete pain the a$$ to create. Everything has to be very accurate, and without a drill press it takes forever to get it built right. Add to that that all I had in the GoE is 1/8" steel angle iron, and I'm to cheap to buy new (more appropriate) metal stock. The angle grinder got a workout this weekend.

The idea for the mech is based on a sketch I saw ages ago on scaryguys.com. It looks like this, and seemed to be just the ticket for my very cramped space:

Hindsight being 20/20, it's pretty obvious the scary guys from that website never actually built that mech. Why? It doesn't work. Actually that's a bit extreme. It will work, but with a few caveats and workarounds.

1. There's too little mechanical advantage to push from the center of the bottom section as pictured unless the mech is fairly extended already. Working from the center of the second section seems to work pretty well.
2. I imagine any scissor mech is like this, but you need to keep it extended a bit to maintain mechanical advantage. Otherwise it will take a LOT of force to get it started, and then as it gains leverage the mech will snap open with far to much force. The net/net of this is you lose a few inches of travel.
3. You need to keep the bottom sections (see pics above) from collapsing in or off the side. Not to big a deal actually and believe it or not small bungees worked like gangbusters.

I'm torn between keeping it as-is and living with about 18-19" of travel, or sucking it up and building another section to the mech as that will give me what I set out for in the 1st place. Looks I might have to spend a couple bucks after all.

As it stands now I still need a 3 way 12v valve, and of course all the foam once the internals are sorted out.

UPDATE 9-5-08
I broke down and said screw it after seeing a 24" travel double acting cylinder on Ebay $33 bucks including shipping. Hell yes.

$33 bucks seemed like one helleva bargain to finish this step and move on within an hour or so. Those that have two young kids, a demanding job and a wife that doesn't get into the season will understand.

The scissor mech is pretty neat, but seems much better suited to a horizontal pop-out, rather than this application. Next year it looks like the coffin is going to get a new resident.


UPDATE 9-7-8

So instead of spending a day making more sections and playing around with the scissor mech, I spent a couple hours making the mount for the cylinder. And its done. I'll shoot some video as soon as I weasel a loaner compressor.

It shuts like a guillotine, so I need to put a rubber bumper in here. You'll see that later tonight.

I have a strange habit of aimlessly wandering Home Depot, taking in the widgets and gizmo's and mentally filing each away should a need for bodging something together happen. Which is exactly the reason I knew the exact spot "rubber leg tips" are stocked. $1.99 later and my stress relief issue was fixed.

This prevents the cylinder from slamming down on it's own stops, which wouldn't work out well in the long run. It prevents the cylinder from closing all the way as well, about 1/4" at impact. All is well.

9-8-8

I decided to make another bit of relief to keep any stresses off the piston. see below for more rubber leg tip goodness

With that done the panel comes down like greased lightning, but has a soft landing. All set there, and time to move on to starting Yorick's new digs

Now with crappy cell video of the drop panel!

The panel is on a 4 way valve, double acting cylinder. It is normally closed under power, then when the prop is tripped power is released and it drops. This is a consideration for the prop controller, as it will be sending power to 4 servos to animate the talking skele. That way when the panel drops the full 1amp is available for the talking skele, otherwise it browns out and acts erratically.

For safety's sake only 7-10 PSI is required to raise the panel. You can stop it with your pinky if you need to. This way if some kid manages to interrupt it they wont get hurt.

9-16-08
Here's the start of rough cutting the foam:

9-18-08

The rough cutting and fitting for the foam is finally done! (8) 2x8 sheets later...

With that done, I need to start finishing Yorick's hidey hole. So I blacked it out, and fitted, sanded, glued, clamped the fascia in place. It will need over night to dry, it's beer drinking time!

More Progress:
Here is a pic of one of the columns. Still needs to be finish sanded, needs cracks and general distressing. I included Goeff for scale (he's about 5'11) and also because the column looked too pretty. He uglies it up real good :)

Here is some video of the soon to be complete columns:

After much painting, here is one of the completed columns:

And the columns being tested on my arcade button control panel with 07's BAPU project:
(sorry about the terrible quality, I really will buy a decent camera someday, I promise!)

Obviously, there's a talking 3-axis skeleton in there. For you geeks out there that want to know, he's scratch built with a Lindberg Skull using the now popular "Halloween Bob" linkage mech for the neck. Building the skull is a project in it's own right, but there is plenty of info out there now if you google around.

This prop is completely stand alone, in fact the entire rig- skele animation, pneumatics, light, sound, all of it, is controlled via one Prop2, which also handles the pneumatic valve and serial communications to a Vm2 Mp3 board for his voice. The other channel of his voice splits to a color organ hidden in the base which provides the up-lighting on him.

Here's some more pics of the columns and the skull:
There are more pics of the columns on the network, here:
Columns
Skull