epilepticsquirl
Sr Member
That link is brilliant! I'm going to be referring to that for sure whenever I find the right eyes!
Geoff Peterson - Anyone?
- Thread starter KrangPrime
- Start date
That link is brilliant! I'm going to be referring to that for sure whenever I find the right eyes!
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
Speaking of eyes.
I have been giving some thought to what was used. If I were building this for the first time as Grant did I would very likely just use what I had lying around, or in the parts bins. After opening a quart of milk the other day I noticed the small white cap the brand was using to make the cardboard carton re salable. These were 1.25" in diameter and would fit into the left eye socket of a Bucky head but a very tight fit into the right. But a very close match for what was seen in pre paint stage of Grant's buildup.
In this photo if you zoom into the eye area of the photo using some photo editing software, (mine will not allow me to share a cropped photo) you can actually see a faint trace of a fined grip on the outside of the eye. Toss in a pair of LED's in from behind and you have an inexpensive solution.
The problem was the milk cap was to large and didn't look correct in the eye opening. So I looked out in my studio and I found a 1" cap off from a 4oz bottle that looks just about right. I found a place that will sell the caps separately but the charge a $10.00 small order fee. 24-410 White Ribbed PP Lid w/ HIS Liner : Ribbed Lids
I have some blue LEDs stashed somewhere that I would like to see inside of the eyes to compare how they look to the TV version. Just need to find the time is all.
I have been giving some thought to what was used. If I were building this for the first time as Grant did I would very likely just use what I had lying around, or in the parts bins. After opening a quart of milk the other day I noticed the small white cap the brand was using to make the cardboard carton re salable. These were 1.25" in diameter and would fit into the left eye socket of a Bucky head but a very tight fit into the right. But a very close match for what was seen in pre paint stage of Grant's buildup.
In this photo if you zoom into the eye area of the photo using some photo editing software, (mine will not allow me to share a cropped photo) you can actually see a faint trace of a fined grip on the outside of the eye. Toss in a pair of LED's in from behind and you have an inexpensive solution.
The problem was the milk cap was to large and didn't look correct in the eye opening. So I looked out in my studio and I found a 1" cap off from a 4oz bottle that looks just about right. I found a place that will sell the caps separately but the charge a $10.00 small order fee. 24-410 White Ribbed PP Lid w/ HIS Liner : Ribbed Lids
I have some blue LEDs stashed somewhere that I would like to see inside of the eyes to compare how they look to the TV version. Just need to find the time is all.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
You know, you probably are on the right track. Could be that the 'indicator' light that's been mentioned is just behind a screwtop lid like that. I have a bin where I've tossed a ton of plastic tops and things like that and I'm going to dig around later and see if I can come up with something similar.
I'm going to have different solution for my skull I reckon because mine's not a Bucky. As I said mine will be Geoff's cousin Gomer I think, put a little Jim Neighbors in the George Takei so to speak. "OH MY!"
I'm going to have different solution for my skull I reckon because mine's not a Bucky. As I said mine will be Geoff's cousin Gomer I think, put a little Jim Neighbors in the George Takei so to speak. "OH MY!"
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
This one is a Bucky, but one of those 4th quality ones that need a bit of special attention to make right. Looking back on it it would have been worth the extra ten bucks for a top shelve casting. This one that I have will need to spend some time under some heat to correct the jaw bone. Looks as if he was in a bar fight or maybe fell out of a moving vehicle.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
Your Bucky is still much better for this than my even cheaper non-Bucky. I fell asleep between Craig's monologue and tweets and emails of last night's show and am up at 3am watching it now on the DVR. I've got it freeze-framed on the real Geoff looking at him head on and the jaw on him is pretty wracked as well so he may not be a first gen-Bucky casting either. His jaw pull a bit to to his right if you notice.
I wish I could see more detail as the real Geoff's jaw seems to have more hardware on which to pivot. I do remember one night Geoff's jaw malfunctioned though I don't know if it was because the whole thing lost power or what. Craig remarked on it and Thompson went on riffing that he was 'telepathic' mode or some such. It cracked up Craig as I recall.
I did find several caps in my bins very much like the one you are using that look like a good match for the eye-socket size but the drawback of my crap skull is the sockets on it are cast like cones once I go inward from the outer rim, so it may be impossible for me to do the same thing as I can't recess the caps without a lot of Dremel work. Looks like I'm going to have to shell out for a Bucky after all.
Adding this comparison picture so you can see what I mean about the jaw. If you watch Geoff in action his back molars no longer meet because the mod for the servo lowers his jaw hinge point ever so slightly and so his chin is a bit forward too..
I wish I could see more detail as the real Geoff's jaw seems to have more hardware on which to pivot. I do remember one night Geoff's jaw malfunctioned though I don't know if it was because the whole thing lost power or what. Craig remarked on it and Thompson went on riffing that he was 'telepathic' mode or some such. It cracked up Craig as I recall.
I did find several caps in my bins very much like the one you are using that look like a good match for the eye-socket size but the drawback of my crap skull is the sockets on it are cast like cones once I go inward from the outer rim, so it may be impossible for me to do the same thing as I can't recess the caps without a lot of Dremel work. Looks like I'm going to have to shell out for a Bucky after all.
Adding this comparison picture so you can see what I mean about the jaw. If you watch Geoff in action his back molars no longer meet because the mod for the servo lowers his jaw hinge point ever so slightly and so his chin is a bit forward too..
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Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
I was working late last night trying to get some things worked out on our paint booth so I missed the entire program. But if that jaw is the same as Geoff's' it just saved me some work.
Found my stash of LEDs, seems that I have them set aside for an R2 project so I may look for something else to use. This brings me to something that I want to say. With everything else that I have going on I may just build this Geoff as a static display with pose-able arms and jaw and light up eyes. Even have plans to build a podium such as what is seen on the show from stained plywood. Then after the R2 is changed from static to RC I could use the radio transmitter for other projects when I have one.
I like the side by side comparison photo work that you did, something that I always wanted to learn to do. It pointed out a flaw in the casting that I was getting ready to fix. Again, the lower jaw has a casting line that follows the bottom edge of the chin. Maybe something else that I needn't worry about.
Found my stash of LEDs, seems that I have them set aside for an R2 project so I may look for something else to use. This brings me to something that I want to say. With everything else that I have going on I may just build this Geoff as a static display with pose-able arms and jaw and light up eyes. Even have plans to build a podium such as what is seen on the show from stained plywood. Then after the R2 is changed from static to RC I could use the radio transmitter for other projects when I have one.
I like the side by side comparison photo work that you did, something that I always wanted to learn to do. It pointed out a flaw in the casting that I was getting ready to fix. Again, the lower jaw has a casting line that follows the bottom edge of the chin. Maybe something else that I needn't worry about.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
What I was trying to point out about the jaw is that it looks like on Geoff that Imahara removed/ground/cut away to the existing jaw hinge and with those two screws below the hinge point probably put a plate on the inside surface of the jaw and it looks like there's a rod that goes from side to side of each hinge point. Since that hinge point now is lower than the Bucky skulls natural hinge point, Geoff the robot's back molars no longer meet like on the off the shelf un-modded version, only his front teeth touch one another. I'm not sure how the servo mechanism for the jaw open/close works on it. It obviously doesn't rely on the long springs that close the off the shelf version.
What that little silver thing coming off behind the top of the two screws does I'm not sure, but it might be what moves the jaw. Can't find a shot of a similar widget visible on the other side of the jaw yet
It looks like Imahara also used the spinal cord opening to attach the neck servo pivot through so if you watch Geoff's head turn side to side he's always pitched chin slightly down as a result. I'm wondering if the jaw has a rod that goes side to side with perhaps a plate or connection and inside the skull there is a servo that pushes up and down on the plate to rotate the hinge rod to open/close Geoff's jaw when he 'talks'?
On the sketch from the Popular Mechanics page there's a reference to "dual 53517" servos for the jaws though what that means I have no idea. I've tried Googling "53517" and "S3517" and had no luck figuring out what Imahara's sketch refers to.
To me it's possible that this sketch was an initial guide he made for himself and may not match the final build.
I was looking back through pictures I had found and noticed this. I wonder if this is Geoff's eye circled?
If you notice there's an RC truck body visible on the work bench in some shots so it looks like perhaps Imahara cannibalized it for servo parts? Perhaps it's a steering servo that actuates the jaw motion?
I just don't know enough yet about how servos work to know how to build these parts.
What that little silver thing coming off behind the top of the two screws does I'm not sure, but it might be what moves the jaw. Can't find a shot of a similar widget visible on the other side of the jaw yet
It looks like Imahara also used the spinal cord opening to attach the neck servo pivot through so if you watch Geoff's head turn side to side he's always pitched chin slightly down as a result. I'm wondering if the jaw has a rod that goes side to side with perhaps a plate or connection and inside the skull there is a servo that pushes up and down on the plate to rotate the hinge rod to open/close Geoff's jaw when he 'talks'?
On the sketch from the Popular Mechanics page there's a reference to "dual 53517" servos for the jaws though what that means I have no idea. I've tried Googling "53517" and "S3517" and had no luck figuring out what Imahara's sketch refers to.
To me it's possible that this sketch was an initial guide he made for himself and may not match the final build.
I was looking back through pictures I had found and noticed this. I wonder if this is Geoff's eye circled?
If you notice there's an RC truck body visible on the work bench in some shots so it looks like perhaps Imahara cannibalized it for servo parts? Perhaps it's a steering servo that actuates the jaw motion?
I just don't know enough yet about how servos work to know how to build these parts.
epilepticsquirl
Sr Member
hmm...
Considering Grant's a master robot builder I have no doubt that he over engineered the skull to industrial spec's so it'd last as long as possible.
I wonder how difficult it would be to switch the LED's on these. For the price it's not much of a risk.
LED Indicator [LMB-110-BLUE] : Industrial Control Direct, Automation Control - Wire Management Systems
Considering Grant's a master robot builder I have no doubt that he over engineered the skull to industrial spec's so it'd last as long as possible.
I wonder how difficult it would be to switch the LED's on these. For the price it's not much of a risk.
LED Indicator [LMB-110-BLUE] : Industrial Control Direct, Automation Control - Wire Management Systems
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Calufrax
Well-Known Member
Ha, yes, though on occasion they have managed to 'break' Geoff a few times, the best was once the arm quit working and several people were shown on camera with tools trying to fix Geoff while Craig heckled the whole thing and Thompson continued to voice Geoff as if in pain from their manhandling. Sadly a cursory YouTube search doesn't return a video of it.
I wonder how difficult it would be to switch the LED's on these. For the price it's not much of a risk.
LED Indicator [LMB-110-BLUE] : Industrial Control Direct, Automation Control - Wire Management Systems
I think if that's not them, it's pretty close. I wonder if the colors come with LEDs that match them, ie blue LED in the blue lens one, red LED in the red one and so on. Swapping the guts out of two white ones for blue might work or run to Radio Shack and get some of those 10mm bright blue ones. I have a couple intended for a sonic build I'm going to finish one day
With the Apple Suri thing it's probably just a matter of time before someone will come out with a DIY 'make your own voice' app so an somewhat interactive Geoff will probably be possible. I would buy an iPhone if instead of the Suri voice I could have Geoff's. Could you imagine! "Hey Geoff is Yugoslavia a good vacation destination?" "Beep. Oh hell yeah, I got a place there!" If only life were like this...
If I drag my feet long enough with this I can probably take advantage of that, because 99% of the fun of Geoff is "interactivity"
Craig Ferguson 5/16/11C Late Late Show Geoff Petersen - YouTube
epilepticsquirl
Sr Member
You mean this video? With the way way he's constantly jerking that arm I'm not surprised it's always breaking. :lol
Craig Ferguson 8/22/11A Late Late Show beginning - YouTube
Hilarious stuff.
More than likely it's the lens that indicates color and not the LED. I figure it shouldn't be too hard to gut the internals and replace it with a 12v Blue LED array like you suggested.
Craig Ferguson 8/22/11A Late Late Show beginning - YouTube
Hilarious stuff.
More than likely it's the lens that indicates color and not the LED. I figure it shouldn't be too hard to gut the internals and replace it with a 12v Blue LED array like you suggested.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
Thanks NormanF. Now I have to figure out how to fit that in a skull like Imahara did, if that's what he did. And how to make it go. I've never built anything like this before.
And yes epilepticsquirl that was the clip I was thinking of. I watched a bunch of pre-Geoff clips the other night and the show just seems barren with that loveable robot...
And yes epilepticsquirl that was the clip I was thinking of. I watched a bunch of pre-Geoff clips the other night and the show just seems barren with that loveable robot...
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
To me it's possible that this sketch was an initial guide he made for himself and may not match the final build.
I was looking back through pictures I had found and noticed this. I wonder if this is Geoff's eye circled?
If you notice there's an RC truck body visible on the work bench in some shots so it looks like perhaps Imahara cannibalized it for servo parts? Perhaps it's a steering servo that actuates the jaw motion?
I just don't know enough yet about how servos work to know how to build these parts.
I do believe that you are correct in most of what you have said. Probably why I never said much about it. Those little silver things are no doubt just parts of the servo attached to the jaw bone. Looks like the normal white plastic painted silver. However I do believe that there are two servos operating the jaw, part of that over building thing and it just makes sense as the jaw is fairly dense and heavy. With all of the movement seen on stage no doubt the servos get warm.
But in the photo that you shared I am thinking that maybe those LED panel lamps are just the thing. Notice in Grant's hands the skull and of how large a hole that is cut into it behind the eyes. The other photo in which we see the white eyes lit up could have been a test that latter they replaced the white with blue lights instead. Personally I think that the white would have given the camera crew a bit of hassle with the white balance.
Something to note. The big radio also seen in the photo really would not be needed for a home version of this robot. If you stayed within 30 feet or so you could cannibalize a toy RC car for it's transmitter, speed controllers, and receiver hooking it all up to stronger servos.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
I had to go back and look at the Bucky servo link i had posted before to see if I could find a bottom of the skull shot and that pretty much shows how the servos might also be used. Getting it exactly like Imahara made Geoff would need more reference pictures than I've found so far.
In the how-to the servo thing wire is strung right to one of the pre-existing holes for the springs. Looking at the bottom of a Bucky skull the hinge points are pretty much like on my Linberg skull, but it looks like Geoff's right jaw hinge point has been Dremeled off and replaced with a rod in the last steps of the build. In the picture where he has the eye lighting temporarily powered by what I'm going to guess is a 12v drill battery the jaw is as yet un-modded.
It looks like from all the construction pictures available that was among the last things Imahara did because if you look at all the other steps the skull is off-the-shelf as-is while he's building the servo torso, attaching the skull via the spinal opening and putting the eyes in. It clearly looks like he posed for shot of him 'working' on Geoff and holding some sort of bolt or something when you can finally see the Philips head screws are now in the jaw.
I would think I could get away with a 12v DC power supply for auto-lights as I have a couple of those brick kind laying about. A friend has a Mac Mini he wants to just give me, but the condition is I pick it up and he lives quite a ways away, but that would be pretty cool to be the brains I think tucked into the chest if I build the whole torso with arms.
I guess my whole point is I want to know exactly how Geoff was constructed because he seems like as a build he's taken a lot of abuse over the time they've been using him and very little maintenance has had to go into his upkeep, so the closer I can get to the Imahara design the better.
Really the challenge isn't getting all these servos and bits put together, it's getting the thing talking once I do all that work because he's at the most basic a stupid computer trick and that intimidates me the most that if I do all this and can't get him to appear to talk in sync with sound or get it to say trigger on voice commands I'm going to be really bummed! :facepalm
In the how-to the servo thing wire is strung right to one of the pre-existing holes for the springs. Looking at the bottom of a Bucky skull the hinge points are pretty much like on my Linberg skull, but it looks like Geoff's right jaw hinge point has been Dremeled off and replaced with a rod in the last steps of the build. In the picture where he has the eye lighting temporarily powered by what I'm going to guess is a 12v drill battery the jaw is as yet un-modded.
It looks like from all the construction pictures available that was among the last things Imahara did because if you look at all the other steps the skull is off-the-shelf as-is while he's building the servo torso, attaching the skull via the spinal opening and putting the eyes in. It clearly looks like he posed for shot of him 'working' on Geoff and holding some sort of bolt or something when you can finally see the Philips head screws are now in the jaw.
I would think I could get away with a 12v DC power supply for auto-lights as I have a couple of those brick kind laying about. A friend has a Mac Mini he wants to just give me, but the condition is I pick it up and he lives quite a ways away, but that would be pretty cool to be the brains I think tucked into the chest if I build the whole torso with arms.
I guess my whole point is I want to know exactly how Geoff was constructed because he seems like as a build he's taken a lot of abuse over the time they've been using him and very little maintenance has had to go into his upkeep, so the closer I can get to the Imahara design the better.
Really the challenge isn't getting all these servos and bits put together, it's getting the thing talking once I do all that work because he's at the most basic a stupid computer trick and that intimidates me the most that if I do all this and can't get him to appear to talk in sync with sound or get it to say trigger on voice commands I'm going to be really bummed! :facepalm
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
I think that I understand where you are coming from. For myself I just wanted to get a display piece first, and then worry about the mechanicals latter as I find them and the time to refine the project. But Grant built Geoff as an everyday use sort of thing. As I see it his parts selection is/was designed for that very purpose. I have a 40 year old Cadillac that in it's day was constructed with a similar mindset and many of the same parts it was first built with are still in operational use today. Power seats, windows, antenna, everything. And I can respect anyone wanting to build something to last rather than what our through it away when broken, society usually goes after.
One day I would like to copy Grant's design as close as I can. Those bearing carriers and heavy duty servos all mounted on an aluminum back plate are on the top side of cool in my book. However for the time being when a guest in my house takes off the second hand jacket from my version, they will be greeted with plywood and PVC tubing. Quite frankly the shopping list for what I really want is just not practicable for me right now in both time and money. I'll get the jaw servos and eyes done but that is about it for now.
One day I would like to copy Grant's design as close as I can. Those bearing carriers and heavy duty servos all mounted on an aluminum back plate are on the top side of cool in my book. However for the time being when a guest in my house takes off the second hand jacket from my version, they will be greeted with plywood and PVC tubing. Quite frankly the shopping list for what I really want is just not practicable for me right now in both time and money. I'll get the jaw servos and eyes done but that is about it for now.
Calufrax
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I agree and I want to say it's been a blast talking with you Darth and everyone else about this admittedly silly build. I'm probably going to at least get the eyes and probably do the same as you. I think I may use that Bucky tutorial to see if I can build the servo system adapted more like Imahara's build and see if I can come up with a way to perhaps use some sort of midi system with my old iMac to sync sound and jaw movement. But it's going to be mostly static light-up for a while while I get around to the latter stuff.
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
That's cool. Sorry if I may have thrown a wet blanket on your enthusiasm or anything. But for myself if I just do a project like this as a simple idea at first it often grows on me and I have to keep working on it from time to time as I find the parts or information that I need. And if I start out just having to have it just so with everything perfectly done the way that I want. It quite often will just remain in a cardboard box in storage beneath the work bench.
Silly project? Yea, maybe. But we all need our little distractions from the seriousness of life from time to time.
Silly project? Yea, maybe. But we all need our little distractions from the seriousness of life from time to time.
Darth Stone
Well-Known Member
Can anyone post a profile photo of Geoff's head? I will soon be building the Mohawk and really wanted to get it and the proportions right.
KrangPrime
Master Member
Those servo's are rather loud.. even when the studio isn't quiet, you can hear them pretty clearly
