# My Awesome Eel delivered but I need a mechanism



## halstaff

My eel was delivered today and I can't wait to include it in my display. If you haven't seen Bobzilla's creations, make sure to check out his posts. His work is fantastic!
Now that I have my eel in hand, it's time to figure out how to animate him. He has a 1" pvc pipe running through the body that I would like to attach a pneumatic cylinder to and have him pop out. However, he is heavier than I anticipated and I need to come up with a new plan. I was thinking of some type of slide mechanism like I've seen used for the lunging alligators. Does anyone have any suggestions, instructions or pictures of how to construct one? Any help would be appreciated.


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## debbie5

Might I be the first lady to admire your eel. It's lovely.


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## Diabolik

Howdy Steve,

Your Eel is awesome. I am not sure what you are wanting to have him popping out of exactly ? I think that would make a difference in how I'd approach it. If you want to have him popping out of say a "hole" or something in a wall panel, I might consider making the hole out of PVC pipe, and then using a second slightly smaller pipe cut in half or less to attach him and the cylinder to and use that second (half pipe) as your sled or trolley. I figure you could lube it up a little and it would also keep your Eel from dragging.  If you are going to have him coming out or a more open area, you might consider using to drawer slides to support him. The first time I built my spider rig, I used multiple drawer slides to suspend him and it worked great even with him hanging like 3-4 feet straight out.


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## halstaff

Great to see you here Ryan. How are the fittings going? I'm hoping that RobotShop will get the bigger servos in so that I can expand on my $20 prop entry and use the design to start animating the arms on my props.
Your slide mechanism looks perfect for what I have in mind. Do you have any other pictures of it? What did you use for a cylinder?


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## Diabolik

I've been a lurker here for some time.  Everything is going well. Looking forward to bringing in some new stuff here shortly.

You could probably make the width of the slides as small as you need them for your Eel. This spider is over 40 inches round and extended approx. 3-4 feet out. The heavier drawer slides did a very good job of supporting his weight.

Here are a couple of more shots. the cylinder I used was a 4 inch rodless setup. Heavy duty stuff.


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## Hellspawn

how about a simple 4 bar mech?

you would just want to choose the cylinder based on the amount of throw that you need, but as far as weight, you might be suprised the amount of weight a basic 4 bar linkage constructed out of pvc can hold.

if you want to do it right and if you have access to a welder go with steel (scrap steel from a steel yard is fairly inexpensive) but 1'' sch 40 pvc mech would serve you just as well for something like this.

if you need any examples of a horizontal action 4 bar mech, let me know, ill try and dig something up


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## FracturedDS

I never knew he sold those, his work is great!

How much weight are you talking about?
You want linear movement, like it emerging out of a hole?
What distance are you talking about?
What is your Budget?

I would look at a design based off Linear Bearings
http://www.mcmaster.com/#linear-bearings/=d38qge


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## Spooky1

Is that Eel-vis, or a cast of Eel-vis? Bobzilla does beautiful work. Good luck on figuring out a mechanism.


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## halstaff

Here's a video detailing the design I adapted from Diabolik's spider slide. I want to thank everyone who responded with suggestions for this build as well as Bobzilla for this incredible addition to my haunt.


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## fritz42_male

Just one comment:



PLEASE move to Western Australia to give me a hand!

That prop is awesome.


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## The Watcher

This might be a bit late. But instead of mounting the cylinder behind the sliding drawer. You could drill a hole bigger then the cylinder in the back of the sliding drawer. Then mount the cylinder through the drawer. So the cylinder runs under the eel. It would save you a lot of space. But it is still a very nice prop!


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## halstaff

The Watcher said:


> This might be a bit late. But instead of mounting the cylinder behind the sliding drawer. You could drill a hole bigger then the cylinder in the back of the sliding drawer. Then mount the cylinder through the drawer. So the cylinder runs under the eel. It would save you a lot of space. But it is still a very nice prop!


It is too late for this build but it's a great idea. 
I was given 2 identical cylinders that I was going to use for the eel extender but 1 worked fine. I may build up another one using your idea. The mechanism will be front heavy but that would be easy enough to fix. I do have a prop that I was planning on building for next year that your idea would be perfect for.
Thanks.


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## halstaff

Well after thinking about The Watcher's suggestion, I decided to tear apart my completed prop and once again make modifications. I will cut off the 2x4's behind the rear cylinder attachment point making it almost half the length. I'm very pleased with the result and of the smaller footprint of this improved design. It will make creating the display for the eel much smaller and easier to build.
Thanks for the great idea!








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[URL="[IMG]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad69/Halstaff/Extender3.jpg[/IMG]"]


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## Spooky Dave

Amazing stuff, man. Now, quick! Build another 10 props before August so people don't think you're slacking! 

Really smooth action on the lunge. Where's he going to be positioned? Inside a hole? If so, will it be part of a pirate ship? Thanks for posting.


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## halstaff

After receiving the suggestion from The Watcher to mount the cylinder through the drawer, I've rebuilt the mechanism. The new design is much more compact and will be a lot easier to hide.
This one's now DONE but I do have the materials to build another one if someone comes up with another improvement to the design.


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## Spooky Dave

Very nice, Steve. I'm sure it'll look killer under the black light.


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