Floyd Pepper Eye Mechanism

[ashkent]

Hi all,

You may remember the Floyd Pepper replica that I posted months back. I wondered if anyone had any ideas on what his eye mechanism is?

The only thing that bugged me about the final puppet was that i hadn't managed to create a stable eye mechanism to make him blink.

Any ideas?

 

[BuckyBits]

What process did you try?

I can't remember if it was here or on the web, but someone took apart the Animal toy/puppet to show the mechanism. It and the picture on Muppet Wiki (http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_Eyes) show a plate that eyes are built on.
if that plate is fixed to your hand (top mouth plate, or top of your handgrip) it should stabilize the eye and blink mechanism.

 

[ashkent]

I hadn't actually seen that - not sure how when i was trawling for eye mechanism and such on google...

The original attempt I made on the puppet was a pully that the middle finger slipped into and simply tugged down to make it blink. The main issue was that it was only added after the skull was closed up and it ended up just hanging loose inside the head. also, I'm sure after a few dozen tugs it would have just ripped something. I'll keep the plate in mind.

 

[BuckyBits]

Andrew pinned this http://www.pinterest.com/pin/78179743502630650/
I can't find the original source.

 

[ashkent]

It was surprisingly professional for a Fisher Price toy. Long gone are those days lol

 

[TheCreatureWork]

Floyd's eyes are different than that of Animals. Floyd has a simple "pulley" the actual sponge eye tube acts as a return. Pretty easy system. Simply take a coat hanger- shape it into a football (Goal post) Y. In Floyd's head at the bottom of the Y out a leather trigger. The simply place it in the head add small tubing so you can pass the upper Y part through Floyd's head. Take Floyd's eyes and affix them to the head with the wire passing into the eyes and then affix the end of each wire to the top of the eye on the inside. If the sponge doesn't act as a return you can add a little springs inside the head were the Y splits off. The base has to be structurally sound if you are doing this. Hope this helps.

 

[Rymoore21]

TheCreatureWork, can you sketch a rough diagram of this? I am having a hard time picturing it in my head.

 

[TML]

Floyd's eyes are different than that of Animals. Floyd has a simple "pulley" the actual sponge eye tube acts as a return. Pretty easy system. Simply take a coat hanger- shape it into a football (Goal post) Y. In Floyd's head at the bottom of the Y out a leather trigger. The simply place it in the head add small tubing so you can pass the upper Y part through Floyd's head. Take Floyd's eyes and affix them to the head with the wire passing into the eyes and then affix the end of each wire to the top of the eye on the inside. If the sponge doesn't act as a return you can add a little springs inside the head were the Y splits off. The base has to be structurally sound if you are doing this. Hope this helps./QUOTE]

Am I the only one who found that very confusing? A diagram or video?