Simple Animatronic/Cable Controlled Hand Tutorial

[Buck-Beaver]

Hi everyone,

There's a new tutorial up on PuppetBuilding.com that explains how to build a simple animatronic or cable controlled hand using everyday items. The tutorial was originally written by Bard Lund Johansen and includes a lot of photos and a couple videos. If anybody has ever wanted to make puppets with movable hands this is a simple way to do it. It's also a good introduction to animatronics/cable control before tackling more advanced projects using bike brakes, servos, etc.

 

[Whispers]

Awesome! Thanks for the link! =D

 

[mrhogg]

Thanks for the link, Andrew. I can't wait to take a look at it!

 

[mrhogg]

I just looked at the tutorial. GREAT stuff. I have one question, though: how do you get the hand to pop back out into an open state? In my limited tests with controllable hands, I've run into the problem that the hand stays closed.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I haven't used this particular method (the tutorial was written by Bard Johansen), but would assume that the key is the "springiness" (is that a word?) of the plastic tubing. This is pretty basic and low-tech; the best way to do movable hands is to use springs and proper cables but that involves a little more engineering.

I have worked with the type of tubing he uses in the tutorial and I think it would work just like it does in the video. It would probably be best to experiment with different kinds of tubes to find out what works best.

 

[dkmontgomery]

Neat!

Great post!

 

[Jinx]

Wow! That's fantastic! Oh, how I wish I had this tutorial 4 years ago when I was building my "Ghost of Christmas Future" puppet for A Christmas Carol!

 

[SesameKermie]

Is it possible to build a rig like this into a regular 'rod arm' puppet?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Yes, Grant Harding came up with a very nice, similar design for moving hands on a rod puppet a couple years ago. There is a video here and I think there are even a few old threads devoted to it in the archives somewhere here in the forum.

 

[Jinx]

OK, it's been almost three years(!) since this thread's been active. I remember mentioning that I wish I'd had the tutorial when I was building the Ghost of Christmas Future. Well, it's time to rebuild him, and the link to puppetbuilding.com no longer works... does anyone know if this info has been archived somewhere else? I actually remember the fundamentals, but I would love to see the video again...