BillAd
10-08-2007, 10:29 PM
This post describes the basic steps I used to create a Dancing Penguin that we built earlier this year. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures during the design or construction so this how-to is a bit wordy and has minimal pictures, sorry. Next time I'll be more diligent to take enough pictures to be able to create a proper how-to.
The following are links are to a (rather crude) video of the penguin sequenced to the song Merry Gentleman and a picture of the front and back of the completed figure.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6989406666265473731
http://www.christmasinshirley.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=92
http://www.christmasinshirley.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=91
Overview: The penguin was constructed using approximately 1,000 mini-lights mounted on a ¾ plywood frame. The figure is defined by 15 sections of individually controlled light strings. The electronics are on a home etch PCB using a design modeled after the 595 circuit commonly used by other members of this forum. The 595 electronics are front ended with a home etched Ren-C board to enable dimming and to allow the penguin to be connected to other boards that use a Renard communication stream. Dimming is not a necessity although the large number of bulbs made the figure quite bright and switching the penguin’s head from left to right appeared a bit harsh. These problems were corrected by adjusting the intensity level of the penguin’s bulbs to 80 % and using a quick ramp down when the head is switched from one side to the other.
Considerations for frame materials: Plywood, Coro, or a Wire Frame?
Plywood: Interior construction grade plywood with several coats of good quality paint will survive many years of outdoor weather. I have several Christmas and Halloween figures made from ½ inch plywood (house sheathing) that are more than 10 years old and they still show no sign of deterioration. For the penguin I used ¾ inch plywood rather than ½ inch to obtain deeper holes to mount the lights and also to ensure the board would not warp. The plywood used is a standard home interior construction grade material, factory sanded on one side, and purchased from Home Depot. Note: avoid using cabinet grade plywood for exterior projects because the surface veneer (birch, cherry, oak, etc.) will be very thin (typically 1/32 of an inch or thinner) and will be more likely to delaminate when exposed to wet weather. Also using exterior grade plywood will cost more yet is unlike to provide any improvements over the interior grade that I used.
Coro: this is a lightweight, inexpensive, weather resistant material made of plastic and resembles cardboard. In my town Coro can be purchased from several of the larger art supply stores and also from companies who make commercial signs. Coro is manufactured in many thicknesses, although the stores in my area offer only a thin grade with a thickness in the range of 3/8 inch. This thinner material is quite flexible thus freestanding forms are likely to require a frame to add rigidity and strength. Due to the minimal material thickness and limited strength I decided against using Coro for the penguin.
Wire frames: Last year I welded up wire frames for an animated boy, girl and snowman. These frames are wrapped in rope lights. I believe the metal frame and effect from the rope lights were quite effective. However this time I selected plywood due to a more complex combination of lights, to avoid the effort required to weld a frame, and to help hide the electronics and wiring.
Lights: The main choices for lighting are rope lights and mini-lights. I used rope lights for the last year’s boy, girl, and snowman but switched to mini-lights this year for the following reasons:
1. There is a noticeable bulge where rope lights cross over other rope light sections
2. Additional effort needed to attach wires to rope lights that have been cut
3. Rope lights can only be cut at specific locations which results in little flexibility in the lengths for the lights unlike mini-light bulbs where the bulb spacing can be altered to adjust the sting length. One solution to accommodate excess rope light length is to hide the extra length behind the plywood, or masked the lights with black paint or tape. However I feel these are sloppy solutions.
4. Rope light bulbs are generally not shunted, thus when a bulb burns out an entire section will extinguish.
5. Difficult to color the plastic casing if a clear rope light is used and needs to be colored.
Mini-lights are most often available in stings containing bulb counts of 35, 50 (and multiples of 50), and 75. By combining the various types of stings you can also get lengths containing bulb counts of 70, 85, 135, etc. Further adding one or two additional bulbs to the end of a sting can be done with little impact on the level of brightness. However do not shorten a string by removing bulbs because this will increase the voltage across the remaining bulbs and shorter their life.
A few other items to consider when purchasing mini-lights: If your project requires stings having different number of bulbs make sure they are approximately the same level of brightness. Also do not use mini-lights that have a bulb lock. While standard bulbs fit nicely in a round hole, the ones with a bulb lock require either an oversized hole or a slot be filed to accommodate the lock.
Glass paint: I used Delta Air-Dry PermEnamel Transparent Glass Paint from the craft store A.C. Moore. This paint is listed as dishwasher safe, suggesting the paint will be water proof to some degree. To test the theory I painted a few mini-lights and left them outside for most of the summer. During this period I did not experience any problems caused by rain and no fading of the color. The test period was approximately 6 weeks, although this year the summer was unusually dry. Thus the ability for this paint to hold up during the winter remains mostly unknown.
Art work: This is probably the most important part of the project and for the penguin took me nearly three months to arrive at a complete full scale rendition. The following are the stages that I used to design the final drawing that was used to build the figure.
First decide on the object (animal or what ever) and the type of movements desired. Individual sketches for each position can helped work out many of the details and should give a good idea how the finished figure will move. I used tracing paper for the initial drawings to be able to easily copy portions of one drawing to another.
The second stage was to create a full scale rendition where the individual pieces were cut out so they could be moved around and their shape easily adjusted. At this point you should consider how the lights will be placed to avoid a design where light strings run too close to each other or where multiple sections intersect at a common location. For example the penguin has three positions for each of the arms and legs. Adjustments to the shape and location of each of the arm and leg positions were required to prevent holes being too close or overlapping. Good planning and attention to detail at this stage will pay rewards when construction begins.
The final step was to finalize the shape, size, and bulb location of the figure, again using a full scale drawing to work out the details. Using a compass I marked off bulb locations using a distance of approximately 1 inch. This initial marking was to establish approximately how many bulbs were needed for each section and what combination of mini-light strings would be used. Slight adjustments to increase or decrease the bulb distance can be used to obtain a bulb count that matches a standard string count or combination of strings. These slight adjustments to bulb spaces are mostly not apparent and should have little impact on the overall effect of the figure. Changes to the shapes or dimensions may be needed when there are too many or too few bulbs to be accommodated by small changes to the bulb spacing.
FYI: The penguin took five or six full scale drawings to arrive at the final size and shape. Thus try not to get discouraged if your initial attempts are not working out so well.
Construction (and the homestretch): Trace the finished drawing on to a piece of plywood and mark the location of each hole required. Cut out the figure out with a jig or band saw leaving approximately 1 and ½ inch of plywood beyond the outside holes. Construction grade plywood often contains voids in the inner plies and if voids are present after the figure is cut they should be filled with wood or exterior grade putty to avoid water penetration.
Drill the holes: A drill press set to a high speed will help to minimize tear out, although a power hand drill should also be acceptable. First drill a very small pilot hole at each whole location. Enlarge the pilot hole using a sharp drill bit of the correct diameter by drilling ½ way thought the plywood. Flipped the plywood over and finish drilling the holes the remainder of the way. A Forstner bit will give the cleanest hole if you have the correct size available.
Paint the wood: After all the holes have been drilled and rough edges have been sanded paint two or three coats of flat black acrylic paint.
Attach the lights: I prefer to cut the stings of mini-lights to separate the bulbs from the plug, socket, and other wires. This approach reduces the bulkiness of the wiring and eliminates the plugs and sockets as they serve no real purpose. The mini-lights are passed thought the hole from the back and hot glued in place. Make sure that you expose enough of the socket on the front of the plywood so that burned out bulbs can be replaced. Hint: if you are using 35, 50, or 70 count mini-light strings and you cut only the wire with the bulbs you can use the remainder of the string as a light duty fused extension cord.
Wire the figure and mount the electronics: The power supply and circuit are housed in a simple box constructed from ¾ inch pine for the top/sides/bottom, ¼ inch under-layment for the back, and plexi-glass for the front. Custom wood boxes are inexpensive, can be sized specific to the requirement, have good electrical insulating properties, and if construct properly are very weather resistant. To help prevent water infiltration the top piece is full width so the joint where the sides intersect the top occur on the box sides and the under-layment and plexi-glass are fitted into groves let in to the interior top and sides. The bottom section fits between the under-layment and plexi-glass so that water will run straight down and off the bottom. The entire box is assembled with water proof construction adhesive, nails, and painted with three coats of flat black paint. I’ve used this same design for years with good success.
That’s pretty much the main parts, good luck.
Bill
The following are links are to a (rather crude) video of the penguin sequenced to the song Merry Gentleman and a picture of the front and back of the completed figure.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6989406666265473731
http://www.christmasinshirley.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=92
http://www.christmasinshirley.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=91
Overview: The penguin was constructed using approximately 1,000 mini-lights mounted on a ¾ plywood frame. The figure is defined by 15 sections of individually controlled light strings. The electronics are on a home etch PCB using a design modeled after the 595 circuit commonly used by other members of this forum. The 595 electronics are front ended with a home etched Ren-C board to enable dimming and to allow the penguin to be connected to other boards that use a Renard communication stream. Dimming is not a necessity although the large number of bulbs made the figure quite bright and switching the penguin’s head from left to right appeared a bit harsh. These problems were corrected by adjusting the intensity level of the penguin’s bulbs to 80 % and using a quick ramp down when the head is switched from one side to the other.
Considerations for frame materials: Plywood, Coro, or a Wire Frame?
Plywood: Interior construction grade plywood with several coats of good quality paint will survive many years of outdoor weather. I have several Christmas and Halloween figures made from ½ inch plywood (house sheathing) that are more than 10 years old and they still show no sign of deterioration. For the penguin I used ¾ inch plywood rather than ½ inch to obtain deeper holes to mount the lights and also to ensure the board would not warp. The plywood used is a standard home interior construction grade material, factory sanded on one side, and purchased from Home Depot. Note: avoid using cabinet grade plywood for exterior projects because the surface veneer (birch, cherry, oak, etc.) will be very thin (typically 1/32 of an inch or thinner) and will be more likely to delaminate when exposed to wet weather. Also using exterior grade plywood will cost more yet is unlike to provide any improvements over the interior grade that I used.
Coro: this is a lightweight, inexpensive, weather resistant material made of plastic and resembles cardboard. In my town Coro can be purchased from several of the larger art supply stores and also from companies who make commercial signs. Coro is manufactured in many thicknesses, although the stores in my area offer only a thin grade with a thickness in the range of 3/8 inch. This thinner material is quite flexible thus freestanding forms are likely to require a frame to add rigidity and strength. Due to the minimal material thickness and limited strength I decided against using Coro for the penguin.
Wire frames: Last year I welded up wire frames for an animated boy, girl and snowman. These frames are wrapped in rope lights. I believe the metal frame and effect from the rope lights were quite effective. However this time I selected plywood due to a more complex combination of lights, to avoid the effort required to weld a frame, and to help hide the electronics and wiring.
Lights: The main choices for lighting are rope lights and mini-lights. I used rope lights for the last year’s boy, girl, and snowman but switched to mini-lights this year for the following reasons:
1. There is a noticeable bulge where rope lights cross over other rope light sections
2. Additional effort needed to attach wires to rope lights that have been cut
3. Rope lights can only be cut at specific locations which results in little flexibility in the lengths for the lights unlike mini-light bulbs where the bulb spacing can be altered to adjust the sting length. One solution to accommodate excess rope light length is to hide the extra length behind the plywood, or masked the lights with black paint or tape. However I feel these are sloppy solutions.
4. Rope light bulbs are generally not shunted, thus when a bulb burns out an entire section will extinguish.
5. Difficult to color the plastic casing if a clear rope light is used and needs to be colored.
Mini-lights are most often available in stings containing bulb counts of 35, 50 (and multiples of 50), and 75. By combining the various types of stings you can also get lengths containing bulb counts of 70, 85, 135, etc. Further adding one or two additional bulbs to the end of a sting can be done with little impact on the level of brightness. However do not shorten a string by removing bulbs because this will increase the voltage across the remaining bulbs and shorter their life.
A few other items to consider when purchasing mini-lights: If your project requires stings having different number of bulbs make sure they are approximately the same level of brightness. Also do not use mini-lights that have a bulb lock. While standard bulbs fit nicely in a round hole, the ones with a bulb lock require either an oversized hole or a slot be filed to accommodate the lock.
Glass paint: I used Delta Air-Dry PermEnamel Transparent Glass Paint from the craft store A.C. Moore. This paint is listed as dishwasher safe, suggesting the paint will be water proof to some degree. To test the theory I painted a few mini-lights and left them outside for most of the summer. During this period I did not experience any problems caused by rain and no fading of the color. The test period was approximately 6 weeks, although this year the summer was unusually dry. Thus the ability for this paint to hold up during the winter remains mostly unknown.
Art work: This is probably the most important part of the project and for the penguin took me nearly three months to arrive at a complete full scale rendition. The following are the stages that I used to design the final drawing that was used to build the figure.
First decide on the object (animal or what ever) and the type of movements desired. Individual sketches for each position can helped work out many of the details and should give a good idea how the finished figure will move. I used tracing paper for the initial drawings to be able to easily copy portions of one drawing to another.
The second stage was to create a full scale rendition where the individual pieces were cut out so they could be moved around and their shape easily adjusted. At this point you should consider how the lights will be placed to avoid a design where light strings run too close to each other or where multiple sections intersect at a common location. For example the penguin has three positions for each of the arms and legs. Adjustments to the shape and location of each of the arm and leg positions were required to prevent holes being too close or overlapping. Good planning and attention to detail at this stage will pay rewards when construction begins.
The final step was to finalize the shape, size, and bulb location of the figure, again using a full scale drawing to work out the details. Using a compass I marked off bulb locations using a distance of approximately 1 inch. This initial marking was to establish approximately how many bulbs were needed for each section and what combination of mini-light strings would be used. Slight adjustments to increase or decrease the bulb distance can be used to obtain a bulb count that matches a standard string count or combination of strings. These slight adjustments to bulb spaces are mostly not apparent and should have little impact on the overall effect of the figure. Changes to the shapes or dimensions may be needed when there are too many or too few bulbs to be accommodated by small changes to the bulb spacing.
FYI: The penguin took five or six full scale drawings to arrive at the final size and shape. Thus try not to get discouraged if your initial attempts are not working out so well.
Construction (and the homestretch): Trace the finished drawing on to a piece of plywood and mark the location of each hole required. Cut out the figure out with a jig or band saw leaving approximately 1 and ½ inch of plywood beyond the outside holes. Construction grade plywood often contains voids in the inner plies and if voids are present after the figure is cut they should be filled with wood or exterior grade putty to avoid water penetration.
Drill the holes: A drill press set to a high speed will help to minimize tear out, although a power hand drill should also be acceptable. First drill a very small pilot hole at each whole location. Enlarge the pilot hole using a sharp drill bit of the correct diameter by drilling ½ way thought the plywood. Flipped the plywood over and finish drilling the holes the remainder of the way. A Forstner bit will give the cleanest hole if you have the correct size available.
Paint the wood: After all the holes have been drilled and rough edges have been sanded paint two or three coats of flat black acrylic paint.
Attach the lights: I prefer to cut the stings of mini-lights to separate the bulbs from the plug, socket, and other wires. This approach reduces the bulkiness of the wiring and eliminates the plugs and sockets as they serve no real purpose. The mini-lights are passed thought the hole from the back and hot glued in place. Make sure that you expose enough of the socket on the front of the plywood so that burned out bulbs can be replaced. Hint: if you are using 35, 50, or 70 count mini-light strings and you cut only the wire with the bulbs you can use the remainder of the string as a light duty fused extension cord.
Wire the figure and mount the electronics: The power supply and circuit are housed in a simple box constructed from ¾ inch pine for the top/sides/bottom, ¼ inch under-layment for the back, and plexi-glass for the front. Custom wood boxes are inexpensive, can be sized specific to the requirement, have good electrical insulating properties, and if construct properly are very weather resistant. To help prevent water infiltration the top piece is full width so the joint where the sides intersect the top occur on the box sides and the under-layment and plexi-glass are fitted into groves let in to the interior top and sides. The bottom section fits between the under-layment and plexi-glass so that water will run straight down and off the bottom. The entire box is assembled with water proof construction adhesive, nails, and painted with three coats of flat black paint. I’ve used this same design for years with good success.
That’s pretty much the main parts, good luck.
Bill