alistermorton Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 That is excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/skn Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I wanted a fake fire effect for a show in promenade so it had to look pretty decent (granted mine doesn't yet!). I approached some of the pro-firms but the numbers were scary for am dram so I set about making my own from an old pond filter! It is for a prop, a Sweeney Todd oven. It's a long way from being right, and eventually will be a metre wide unit - but I'm pretty pleased with early progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVJy-8CeyaI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 1442575647[/url]' post='527821']Go on then!Spinning Wheel That's going to look so good on stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/skn Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Built a tipping mechanism for a period barber's chair for Sweeney Todd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV5cny37nz4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte_R Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 For our Am Dram group's latest production, a self penned play called 'This is not a pantomime' where the first half was a pastiche of reality TV shows (think X-Factor, BGT, The Voice, etc), we needed some buzzers. I built 3 buzzers for the judges. They contained red, green, blue and white LEDs so that they could show any colour. Unfortunately, the buzzers didn't quite work as intended, but they still looked pretty good! Unfortunately, I can't post images. Here's a link to some pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 For our Am Dram group's latest production, a self penned play called 'This is not a pantomime' where the first half was a pastiche of reality TV shows (think X-Factor, BGT, The Voice, etc), we needed some buzzers.I built 3 buzzers for the judges. They contained red, green, blue and white LEDs so that they could show any colour. Unfortunately, the buzzers didn't quite work as intended, but they still looked pretty good!Unfortunately, I can't post images. Here's a link to some pictures. Nice, how did you frost the top just out of interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte_R Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I used this stuff. (No association). At first, I tried to spray the inside so that the outside stayed uncovered in the hope that the frosting spray wouldn't be damaged by handling, but in the end it just looked so much better with the frosting on the outside. By the way, those are yoghurt pots from Sainsbury's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Can I ask what the control system is, and is it then self contained and the USB is for programming?I've been asked to make working buzzer systems a few times (fortunately it's died out a bit recently) but the button and indicator together makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 It's an arduino. very good for this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Arduinos are pretty easy to use, Tom, and as Tim says ideal for this sort of thing. Once you've uploaded the code to the board you can remove the USB if it doesn't need to communicate with the computer (although you can use the USB connection to communicate if you need to) and have a standalone unit. The program is stored in non volatile store and persists across power cycles. They are cheap and easy to use and there's a lot of developer support out there. The design is open source so anyone can build them and supply them. I've seen copies of the Uno at about 6 quid, and the nano for a couple of quid in multi-packs .Even the official boards aren't pricey - 15 quid for an Uno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte_R Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 It is indeed an arduino! I don't think I can really add much more to what has been said above about it, other than I am a fan of arduinos and use them in a lot of projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted May 14, 2016 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 Probably spent a good few hundred hours on this project - definitely the most hours I've ever put in to a prop. Meet Betty Blue Eyes Betty arrived as a fibreglass hollow statue, but with careful use of several power tools she was soon cut up in to her component parts. The flexible joint between the head and body has a universal joint mounted centrally, then the gap is foam lined and covered in pink swimming costume fabric so it can stretch. The head is operated by 3 wire ropes - one raising and lowering the head and two pulling it left and right. In the body are a pair of 120kg/cm servos pulling on these wire ropes. In the head are 3 other smaller RC servos operating the ears, eyelids and mouth. Batteries live in the motorised truck that she sits on, and power comes up in to the body through the front legs. There are a pair of drill motors in the base powering the wheels via home-built belt drive reduction gearboxes. In the base she also has a 4" speaker connected to a 60W amp up in her body and an IEM receiver. She's controlled via a Spektrum 7 channel 2.4GHz radio control system. In the show Betty has to sit and also stand and "run" (drive!) across the stage. Because of this her back legs can pivot around so she can stand or sit. She can actually move at a pretty fair pace! Motor gearing is for about 10mph, which is a bit excessive but I'm probably going to limit this in the control system. All she's missing now are some eyelashes! Here are some pics from along the way; Opening the box;http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t335/ceddison/Web%20images/85AB6BFF-C99A-4377-8BEF-62188FB1CBD2_zpswif0wsc3.jpg Not very graceful;http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t335/ceddison/Web%20images/859F28DC-F07B-4DE6-B789-E12498A5375F_zpsxnjts8ho.jpg Air Saw time;http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t335/ceddison/Web%20images/1AA9243B-C063-4E09-8CD7-44A39043CAA4_zps6sddiy9d.jpg Some pretty severe surgery;http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t335/ceddison/Web%20images/6C161983-2086-47BE-9BEA-4333DBB1D900_zpsjjxtdm58.jpg Drive motors and gearboxes;http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t335/ceddison/Web%20images/8318D846-D612-4844-8F77-7A9D094AD076_zpsl8ttmbbv.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Terrific stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Latest project for your perusal. This year's panto is Aladdin and I've built quite a few things for it. One is an animatronic panda (no I don't remember a panda in Aladdin either, but there you go) which rides and can be lifted off of a trike. Panda has full head movement, can stick out its' tongue, move both arms up, down, left and right, rock back and forth and has a built in audio amplifier which can have an IEM pack attached to. The trike steers and drives, and has a water squirter built in to it too. Not finished yet so I'll post video and photos soon, but for the time being I'll share the other project I've built for the show.... Aladdin's magic lamp. WS2811 LED's built in to the sides for magical twinkling effects. Tiny smoke machine on board (e-cig based) and flash cotton igniter (glow plug). Not the neatest inside as it's pretty cramped but it looks ok from the outside at least. Few safety measures built in for the flash cotton. 2 buttons have to be held on the remote which both have different ways of working. The first pulls in the relay that supplies power to the second glow plug relay (which is pulled by the on board Teensy at the right moment in the sequence) and the other goes to a Teensy input which it's looking for before it'll take the output high. There's also a microswitch in the base so the lamp has to be sat on something to work (this can be easily edited out in code subject to some risk assessment if the unit needs to be hand held, but it's there and active by default). Finally the power switch is positioned to be in easy reach of somebody holding it should it start the sequence while still being held for any reason. Learnt a lot about e-cig's in this one and have come up with a neat way of powering them. Most ones I've seen that have been hacked involve soldering or gluing direct to the atomiser. I instead soldered and glued to a thread adapter that I bought. This means the atomiser can just be screwed on or off allowing for quick replacement should one fail. I'm now thinking about making some tiny smoke machines for other jobs. I'm thinking a little 3d printed box with on board battery, receiver and air pump. Should fit in a small ish box. I'm hoping the magic community might find them interesting - there are a few miniature smoke machines out there that can be worn on an arm but they're lots of money. Again, I'll report back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 That is excellent, Chris! So much packed into the lamp. Makes me feel quite inadequate :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.