Making Monsters: 10 Servo Articulating Mask Kit by CoasterLabs

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Project Premise/ The Idea
This is a project for Halloween that I've been wanting to do for SOOOOO long. Similar to the Chewbacca mask this is much more advanced. It is a mask that is covered with actuators that move a silicon mask to add realism. I'm hoping to either buy a basic mask and make a monster or just buy one pre-made from my local pop up shop and glue the actuator connections to certain points on the mask. There are 10 servos that will move certain connections and stretch and squash the mask to make it look like it is alive. The actuators or linear sliders are controlled by high tension fishing line that travels through some tubing that years ago I bought WAY too much of. The tubes run over my head and down my back to a backpack that contains a bank of 10 servos controlled by an Arduino Mega 2560 simply for available storage. I'm not sure what the monster will be or how I am going to arrange the sliders yet so this is a work in progress. Once I am done I will share the code, but meanwhile I will share parts as I make them.
I'm here to answer your questions so if you have any don't hesitate to ask! :D
Note: The bank of servos box is quite large so I will try and make it into separate parts for expandability and ease of printing for those with smaller printers.
Testing/Prototyping Log

September 16th, 2016:
1 single servo box controller for Hitec standard servos are available as a proof of concept. The next piece I will upload probably tomorrow is that actual slider piece.
September 17th, 2016:
I've now uploaded the three parts to a proof of concept slider. This is just an example, but I will be making more actuators soon like ones that rotate or pan left and right instead of just this one linear slider so I have more options. I tried to make this linear slider as thin as possible, but I might try and redesign it to be even thinner. Right now it it 25mm wide, 65mm long and 13.5 mm high... As I type this they are printing. I will update this once they are done.
September 19th, 2016:
Sorry I haven't been updating this project, I've been studying for a teat I had earlier today. To go back the the parts I printed in the previous update ^^^ they didn't work. Don't get me wrong, the plug fit (printed flat with support and wall vertical) and the track admitted the plug well (printed flat as it, not vertically, which even if you did, it should be fine), but the slider, the most important piece of the proof of concept didn't fit, it was too tight that it wouldn't slide and for a moment was a stuck. I reprinted it slowly to not get any more ringing at 94.5% scale and it fits. However, that said the one thing I keep neglecting to remember is that the cord I'm using and the tubing rub too well that there is a lot of resistance I might let the cords sit in some WD-40 or vegetable oil to lubricate them or I could braid them to reduce contract with the inside of the tubing... I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but if I can't get that to work I might have to buy some cheap PTFE tubing... the expensive kind... ugh... I'm gonna do everything I can to avoid that... Meanwhile I am currently trying to first draw out a rotating actuator and reducing size and weight on the linear slider and the rotating one. Less contact, less friction... That's all I have for now. I'm gonna try and start with the first video soon covering most of what all the updates above explain, but I'm not sure when...
September 20th, 2016:
After class I quickly mocked up the rotating or rotary actuator so I could print them since my school has a decent enough 3D printer. The result was exactly what I designed... Which included the flaws too. For one the actual rotor is too loose in the housing and the lips on the housing adds really nothing too useful to the function of the entire actuator. I might just make a slim bare bones rotating actuator that is about 6mm thick or less than 6mm thick... It works, but not well enough and the rotor falls out more often than not...
September 21st, 2016:
Like I said in the previous update (^^^^^) the rotary actuator didn't really work, the concept was there, but ultimately it didn't work. However, after I finished writing that update I mocked up a new rotary actuator. Remember how I said I was gonna make it less than or exactly 6mm thick? I did it! Obviously the tubing connection isn't 6mm thick in total, but the actual mechanism is. I'm pretty proud of it and how well it turned out. I minimized the amount of friction it has and when under tension from the pull/push fishing line and the elastic working against the fishing like, the lip acts as a lock to keep the rotor in place. If you don't understand what I'm saying go ahead and print it out and I'm sure you'll see what I mean... :D
September 26th, 2016:
I haven't really been updating this page, but I haven't really had a chance to really work on this project much. I will try to do more this weekend with creating the mask. I don't think it will be a full mask, but a mesh mask. So one that contains holes and is split into pieces... The other thing to note is that I did finally find the can of WD-40, but haven't gotten a chance to see if it will help the fishing line slide better. (also as of yesterday, I've misplaced the fishing line, so... yeah...)
October 13th, 2016:
Okay so I've been gone for a LONG time and haven't updated this project. The issue is one like I've probably mentioned before the string has too much friction within the tube and doesn't slide easily. Luckily I've since found the can of WD-40 (I found it a while ago, buy hey) so maybe that will work. ALSO, this season of American Horror Story hasn't really given us a monster to replicate so I think this will become more of a concept kit that you can use to glue to a cheep masquerade mask and use yourself. I'll be updated the photos over the course of next week since I haven't yet. Everything else works, but the unforeseen cable friction is really killing this project... I do have some chicken wire or stiff wire (it's bendable, but pretty stiff) so I will try that and report on it later.... Sorry for no videos, I will try and see if I can make some, but school is just getting in the way...

Failure Log

September 17th, 2016
Slider at 100% scale did not fit, far too tight, became lodged in track. Reprinted at 94.5%
September 20th, 2016
Rotor in rotating actuator is far too loose to function. Slim design is probably best.
Thingiverse Failure
September 21st, 2016
There seems to be some kind of compiler error going on with the Thingiverse upload system. When you select modelt to upload using the 'BROWSE' button the inevitably fail. When you drag and drop them, though, it works...