Thursday, May 26, 2011

Witchlette: Dressing begins


Ok, not really much to look at here other than I have added plastic bottle over top of the mech to keep everything nice and secure inside. I then covered the body in burlap that has been soaked in Sculpt or Coat. The resulting body is lightweight and fairly stiff. I have also mounted the cauldron to the top of the books and the motor inside the cauldron. At this point I gave the the dual motors a 24 hour test run...they worked flawlessly with absolutely no heat build up.
I decided to go with a dual voltage desktop power supply with 5vDC going to the head motor and 12vDC going to the cauldron motor. This keeps the two movements out of sync with each other adding to a lifelike illusion.

I have a feeling the outfit on this nasty little gal is going to be a whole bunch of fun. I will be staying away from traditional black cloak and hat and stay in earthy fabrics with alot of texture. I am not looking forward to making a pair of small hands though, and might wuss out and use a pair of plastic skeleton hands.

3 comments:

  1. She looks nothing like her, but every time I read "Witchlette" I think "Witchypoo" from the 70's TV show H.R. Pufnstuf! I like the idea of earth tones since I think witches were probably more organic and elemental than the stylized black hat and cloak of movies.

    While you didn't show the plastic bottle over the mechanism, there's no danger, is there, if the motor overheating? Is it more of a cover or is the motor "inside" the bottle? Looking forward to seeing the completed creation.

    Oh, love the little characters in the background!

    Rich

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  2. Rich,
    The bottle is merely a cover to keep any fabric from getting caught in the mech. It is open at the bottom and at the neck to allow ventilation. The test run I performed resulted in no accumulated heat buildup on the motor or any of the wiring. These little motors are workhorses! Whisper quiet, continuous operation, good torque.

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  3. This is great and I really like the dual voltage PS solution. Another option if one doesn't have a dual voltage PS is to limit one of the circuits with adding inline resistors. Looking forward to seeing her completion. Sláinte

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