Nuts and Volts - September 2017

(a.k.a., Dr. Terror Eyes) at the Halloween and HauntFest show in Dallas last year (see

Resources). Using an inexpensive . 5 mil painting drop cloth, you can apply it to the skull and then use a heat gun to shrink the plastic so it adheres to the skull. You can then add color to bring out the texture and make it pop as shown in Figure 23 and

Figure 24.

Two of my favorite products for this are the line of gel stains from Minwax and the Tandy Leather stains (Figure 25 and Figure 26). If you are looking for a more ghoulish appearance, this makes it look much scarier!

You can take it up another level by sculpting directly on the head. Steve devoted an entire article to this process in the June 2017 issue of SERVO Magazine in his DIY animatronics column.

Using this method allows you to convert that skull into any character you desire.

Exit Stage Left

Once you have successfully built a talking skull, you will find plenty of other uses besides adding them to your complete characters. You can place one atop a pile of books on a shelf or install one in a crystal ball. This same platform will allow any creature you desire to gain its talking voice.

Birds, monkeys, dragons, and more can now put their vocal chords to work! The progress made in this area over the past five years has been tremendous. I am excited to see where it will be five years from now!

Once you start adding this feature to your characters, you may find that they do not seem complete without the ability to talk. Once you give one a voice, they will all want to be able to speak! NV

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DPDT LIGHTED ROCKER SWITCH, 120VAC

2. 16" NEODYMIUM BAR MAGNET

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D.P.D. T., rocker switch with neon-lit red rocker. Rated

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1N4007 RECTIFIER DIODE, 1A 1KV - SPECIAL

Cut tape packaging.

CAT# 1N4007

$100 for 10

100 for $3.50 • 1000 for $25.00

12 VDC GEAR MOTOR

Great little motor for motion / robotics projects. 520 RPM

12 Vdc, 250 mA (no load rating).

1” diameter x 2. 25” long. 6mm flatted shaft.

CAT# DCM-475

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LASER / FLASHLIGHT / PEN

Rayovac GPLSPEN-B.

Good-looking ball point pen with built-in laser pointer and flashlight. One button lights a class IIIa red laser pointer, the other lights a bright white LED flashlight.

Uses three LR44 batteries (included). Pen writes in black ink. 5 1/2" long.

CAT# LF- 2

$495 each

EXPERIMENTER'S DELIGHT/ CHARGER BOARD

Originally a charger for a 14.4V 2600 maH LI-ION/LI-POLYMER battery. The board has lots of useful parts including a

100uh, 4.3A inductor, a MOSFET, two voltage regulators and two TO-220 heatsinks.

CAT# EX- 57 $150 each 10 for $1.20 each AC POWER CORD W/ INLINE ROCKER SWITCH

70" power cord with on-off rocker switch mid-way. Black SPT- 2

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Talking Skull Kit available from the Nuts & Volts Webstore!

If you’d like to build your own talking skull kit, you’re in luck!

To make it easier and convenient, the Nuts & Volts Webstore has stocked up with a variety of kits for differing skill levels (and parts bins) so you can build up your own animatronic!