‘Wireframe’ version – TECHNO-SAURUS

Wireframe version : modifying the vertical neck section

In a previous post (here) the head and jaws and the horizontal neck section of the wireframe version were replaced with laser-cut mdf parts. This post is about rebuilding the vertical neck section to accommodate the changes.

The wireframe head and neck previously looked like this:

The new head/jaws and horizontal neck looks like this:

The two pairs of aluminium bars of the vertical neck section were each bent to shape to support the narrower mdf parts.

The front bars were attached:

Ande the rear bars were also attached.

A length of M4 studded rod was bent to shape and attached to the upper (moving) jaw, through a slot in the lower jaw to allow the jaw mechanism to function.

It was found that the new head and neck made it front-heavy, so a much longer and more flexible tail was attached…

Larger front claws were then added.

The wireframe techno-saurus now looks like this.

The video below shows it walking.

Wireframe version: remaking the head / jaws

An important feature of this project has been to create something that could be made inexpensively. With that in mind most of the main non-powered components have been cut out of low density polyethylene boards (actually commercial cutting boards for kitchens). An attempt was made to try a different tack and to create a space-frame using gas welding rod. The rods are joined using wire and solder. This worked well but it was felt that the neck was a bit wide and clunky-looking and the head a bit crude.

The plan here is to improve the design.

The first step was to remake the head and jaws.

I like the shape of the head: it looks viper-ish but it’s a bit crude as it relies on reptile-skin effect fabric and Polymorph teeth.

A while ago I had some parts laser cut out of mdf (I had wanted to remain using low-density polyethylene but this can’t be laser-cut). The plan was thus to use some of these parts and rework the design.

I have found that joke vampire teeth can look quite effective….

The first task was therefore to attach these to the jaws.

It can be quite tricky to attach the jaws in a way that in unobtrusive. So I made a brief attempt to use the joke jaws as a cast to create jaws using dental polymer with M3 screws embedded to secure them with.

This worked but the results weren’t as good as I had hoped so I decided to revert to just using the joke teeth.

So I needed to find a better way to attach these (I had previously used msall wood screws but these were a bit too visible.

For the lower jaws I drilled and tapped an M3 hole in the red dental polymer for a countersunk M3 machine screw and used two 10mm nails at the sides.

For the upper jaw I just used three small nails.

The jaws were connected using a small steel hinge.

The jaws were then bolted to the horizontal neck section (also mdf).

The next task is to modify the vertical neck sections.