# Modified Home Depot Animated Cat Skeleton



## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

Picked up an inexpensive cat skeleton at Home Depot that had very basic animation. Replaced the stock cheezy red LEDs with yellow ones, covered each with a round blob of clear silicone caulk and then added a thin vertical pupil. Then added a second motor to animate the tail (which was the involved part of this project, requiring a lot of modification of the OEM circuit) and gave the skeleton the classic gel stain treatment. Below is a video of the finished product as it will appear in my graveyard:

http://vid183.photobucket.com/albums/x27/mikeythemars/20160921124042.mp4


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

Good job!! The moving tail is a great addition. Can you share your painful process of how you got it to move?


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Nice work!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Love it


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

very nice, i'm guessing a servo in the rib cage pulls a wire on the tail.

great job!


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## deadSusan (Jun 26, 2013)

Very nice!


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## fwghost (Sep 30, 2013)

Looks awesome, my dogs would go insane if they heard that.


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## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

Fiend4Halloween said:


> Good job!! The moving tail is a great addition. Can you share your painful process of how you got it to move?


Sorry for the delay in responding, I've been on extensive business travel this month.

Getting the tail to move involved the following:


Unscewing the rear hip assembly.
Using a Testor's razor saw to cut off the tail from the spine, about a half inch from where the rear legs are centered. That process became slightly complicated when I discovered halfway through that surgical procedure that the spine and tail contain a bendable metal assembly (which allows the cat's pose to be adjusted) that runs the full length of both. Had to bring in Mr. Dremel to deal with that.
Re-installing the hips and then drilling a hole through the tail and both sides of the hips, then inserting a thin metal rod through all three holes, to act as an axle at the tail base.
Screwing a small metal L bracket onto the cut end of the tail.
Mounting a small Tamiya robotics gear motor up under the spine, right in front of the hips.
Then attaching a rod between the L bracket (at the far bottom end of the "L") and the crankarm on the motor. Visualize the pushrods on a steam locomotive and you'll now have an idea of how the tail is powered. 
Then installing a transistor switch circuit I made up in the front of the ribcage. 
When the cat is triggered (via the "try me" circuit the manufacturer conveniently left for me to hack), that transistor circuit senses the voltage going to the OEM jaw motor, which makes the transistor simultaneously send 5vdc (from a separate remote power supply) to the Tamiya motor, which activates and continues to move the tail up and down as long as the OEM circuit is running.

All the tail mechanics are painted flat black, which means they become invisible when the cat is set up in front of a black backdrop, as I did in the video . That's an old magician's trick, which I also employ with my animated human skeleton (makes the servos moving his arms literally disappear).


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

^Just goes to show how much effort goes into what appears on the surface to be a simple project - well done!


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## Pedagog (Oct 23, 2016)

Thats great, have been looking at these skeletons and wasn't happy with them as they were.

Must have a go.


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