Grave Stomper by Scary Terry
  
Update 9/2007
The Grave Stomper was overhauled for Halloween 2006. He was set up to sing"Monster Mash" with back-up vocals provided by a Grave Jumper, a character I call "stumpy" and Elvis from the Kitchen Sink Coffin. There was also a pair of skeleton dancers. Here's video of this unlikely group. Also, here's a short video of the head motion of the Grave Stomper.
 
This is an older version of the "Grave Stomper" as he was originally set up. He's got head turn, head nod, mouth movement and eye blink mechanisms. I'm often asked if I have plans for this guy and unfortunately, the answer is no. This was something I made up as I went along, using a lot of trial and error. Much of the mechanism is designed around this particular mask. The video above and the pictures below will give you a general idea of how he works.
       
 
Overview of the mechanism. The head turns left and right, tilts forward and back. There's a self-contained speaker, electronic and pneumatic mechanisms.
  
This is the head which includes eyeblink and mouth movement mechanisms.
 
Here's the back of the head showing the servo used for mouth movement. The servo is attached to a dowel that is free to pivot. The other end of the dowel fits into the chin of the mask which makes the mouth move.
  
     
 
This is the eyeblink mechanism. It consists of strips of brass soldered together to fit the mask I use. It's driven by a small bore pneumatic cylinder.
 
Another angle of the eyeblink mechanism showing the cylinder.
  
     
 
Here's the head tilt mechanism. The mechanism pivots on copper tubing and is driven by a servo.
  
This is the head turn mechanism. The head is mounted to a piece of electrical conduit that fits nicely inside the copper tubing. The servo rotates that electrical conduit.
  
 
 
 
 
This WAS the main electronics package before it was changed over to the Monster Mash Graveyard. It consisted of a main circuit board (contains a Basic Stamp 2, two ChipCorders and some relays), remote receiver, power supply, audio amplifier, audio-servo driver and lamp flicker circuit. The new setup in considerably more complicated and I hope to have more info about it up this year.
  
This is the pneumatics package. It has a regulator and two solenoid valves. It also houses a power supply for the audio amplifier.
  
  Halloween Home last update 9/2007