Servo - August 2015

to include an onboard audio source.

His circuit was originally designed to be used when a servo was added to a skull (Figure 3). This board has been used extensively by those in the Halloween prop building community with many different modifications made.

For my particular application, I first had to determine the best position to mount the servo. The available space was going to be tight — even using a mini servo (Figure 4). In order to get the servo to fit in the correct orientation, I had to remove the mounting tabs.

With the tabs removed, I now had to figure out a way to securely attach the servo. I went with one of my favorite methods: using Pro Poxy 20. This is a two-part epoxy that comes in a tube and is easily combined into a workable putty. You have several minutes to shape it as desired before it hardens, and it provides a very solid connection. You can sand, drill, and tap it once it’s cured, and it has a myriad of uses for the prop builder.

Once this was complete, it was a simple matter to connect the servo horn to the existing jaw mechanism. I hooked it up to the controller board and reassembled the monkey. He was quickly talking up a storm!

Let’s Get this Skull Moving!

This project utilizes the Lindberg Pirate Skull to which the three-axis kit from Monster Guts is attached. It is suggested that the Hitec 485BB servos be used, but the HS- 425BBs seem to work just fine. These kits are so well balanced that the lighter torque servos have no problem providing sufficient force to get great movement.

I've built several different designs to provide the nod, tilt, and rotate motions to a skull, but have never quite gotten the movement that I was after until this kit was introduced. It has solved many of the issues from the other designs and works like a champ!