Fun Fish

[Frosty]

One of the things I really like about it as is is how HAPPY s/he looks. Maybe s/he just ate a big juicy bug and is singing his happy frog song. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

Could be.......  You always see the bright side of things....  Too bad we can't add sound effects to things so if you look at a picture of a frog sculpture you would hear bull frogs croaking in the twilight.

[Frosty]

I don't know enough to pull it off myself but adding sound to the frog should be pretty easy. Frogs like lily pads, make one large enough to look well under him/er on pond blue box with a recorder & speaker. Or would that be a recorder $ croaker?

Hmmm, take it to silly extremes, come up with a mechanism that would have a fly Oh, I don't know walk out on a neighboring lily pad or fly past on a wire, something like that. And have the frog's tongue shoot out and either catch it or miss in an amusing way. The frog tongue could be made from a small tape measure but I don't know where to hide it in a 2 horseshoe frog.

It'd be a pretty basic automaton mechanism, I seem to recall a website of plans. Neat things automatons.

Jer

[Scott NC]

  Silly extremes are fun.  I drew up some concept ideas for moving fly's, on both vertical and horizontal wires.  I saved all my stuff from my robotics and electronics experimenting days so it's not out of the realm of possibility.  Time is precious though.  The tongue shooting out is easy with a spring but retacting it is another thing.  A rack and pinion with a few missing teeth to give the fly a chance to buzz around again?  Ideas are hard to put into words for me sometimes....

[Frosty]

Robotic eh? Well I'm out then, I'm doing good to get a pair of tongs to work right.

Ideas I have though. Years ago there was a dinosaur exhibit at the Anchorage museum with lifelike reconstructions and a good talk by Jack Horner. It was the last time the reconstructions were going to be displayed, they were getting too old and newer ideas were in the works. What really bummed me out was they were going to the dump and scrappers after being cut up and shredded. 

I would've LOVED to articulate the neck and jaws of the allosaurus with motion sensors and glowing eyes. Normally it would just stand there but if something moved the head would track, eyes would light up and the jaws would open and clack closed. 

THAT I could've pulled off. . . Maybe.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I have forgotten most of the robotics and programming things, a lot of it was frustrating learning on my part as I had nobody but the internet and books to learn from.  I was getting pretty good and doing interesting things before I realized where things were going with electronics and gave it all up.  I am not very clear. That's the problem with conversing this way.   I still have all my small motors and a lot can be accomplished by analog.  Like making a fly animatron.  I'll never use my programmers again.

[Scott NC]

 

[Daswulf]

Thanks for the chuckle with "foots" 

 

I was toying with the idea of maybe a weighted pendulum moving the bug and the tongue could be tied to that by a little wire. There are springs with very light resistance that might work for a tongue in this case.  That way they both move in unison. This might require it to have an overhang under it for the pendulum movement.

Not that I origionally thought anything needed to move, stationary can still convey movement, but movement is a cool idea. 

Your sketch could also tie the tongue to the bugs wire to have it move in unison as well. 

 

It's all good Scott, I get ideas that can be hard for me to convey in writing or talking. 

I always wanted to get into animatronics but never moved past a few halloween decorations I've done in the past like an opening and closing coffin lid and a skeleton I made to kinda pop up and down in a wheeling motion from behind a fence.  Well I did make animatronic wings that spread out to a 14' wing span but never finished it. It was to be battery powered and would have been worn on your back. Got it working then life moved me in a different direction. That was like 16 years ago. 

[Daswulf]

This was a video I put on yt back then. It looks like and was filmed with a potato. I dont know why it wound up so bad that the text was unreadable but is what it is and is the only video I have of it left. 

 

[Frosty]

That's pretty slick Das, I can think of a few things it'd work well for. Maybe smooth up the motion but heck they look like wings spreading now. Arrange them so they faced a little more toward the viewer and they'd make great creepy reaching, claws, paws, pincers, etc. 

Then life happens and things get shelved. I get it, mucho.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Oh, that is fantastic and I think I will watch a few hundred times before I start asking questions.

[Daswulf]

Well if interested, they worked off of older left and right ford Taurus "iirc" rear door power window motors and regulators. They were attached to a stainless steel plate and wired to a double action "reversal" power window switch. The outer parts were aluminum sheet and it took a little bit of trial and error to get it to function correctly. Also had some helper springs. Might have been a lot easier if they were smaller. They reside in the attic of my shop now. Still think they would be cool for a halloween decoration of a demon, gargoyle or something. Couldnt figure how to get them to cycle open and closed on their own without working a switch. 

At the time I was using a 24v Kawasaki drill battery but the new Milwaukee ones I have would work for it. I have some battery acceptor mounts I've used for the kids power wheels kind of cars.  Maybe it's  time to look back into this. 

[Scott NC]

  I wish were closer.  I might get back interesred in programing and theres no telling what would happen.  You can do wonders with a PIC12F675 just to start with.  

[Daswulf]

Have a buddy in Canada that knows programming kind of stuff too. It's just beyond me without absolutely simple switches and stuff. Wish we lived closer too. So much we could collaborate on. 

[George N. M.]

Hey, you guys are only about 500 miles/8 hours apart.  That's almost next door by western US standards, at least within long weekend range.  Although, I suspect that it could be dangerous for the two of you to get together.  You may need someone else as the "wait a minute" guy. ;-)

G

[Daswulf]

yeah, we could be dangerously motivating to eachother. It could happen. 

Later in August I am taking the kids to the outer banks. Curious if I might be close on my travels. 

[Scott NC]

  Maybe this awful heat will go away by then....  It would be nice to meet up at Frosty's, nice and cool and we could just leave if things go haywire. .  Just kidding!  I'll send you a message.

[Frosty]

That would be fun but my shop is full of "just left it when I went haywire" stuff. Might be a good opportunity to get at last part of the shop cleaned out. Hmmmmm.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

When ever friends of mine get together at our place, Debi insists that we have some adult supervision, especially if chainsaws are in the mix.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Frosty]

Adult supervision when using a chainsaw? HAH, I don't need no supervisixxx

Frosty The Lucky.