While I’m waiting for my right-angle bit to arrive, I did make some minor modifications to Tom’s hands. I drilled a hole through the core very slowly until I just nicked the edge of the surface, and then dropped a bunch of cheap Daiso rare earth magnets down the hole and sealed the end with UV resin (which you can also pick up cheap at Daiso)
The end result is that Tom can now hold extremely lightweight props that are made out of metal or have a rare earth magnet taped/built into them. Unfortunately the magnets are still pretty weak, except at that one spot on the palm where they nick the surface, and are not strong enough to make the two hands stick to each other in a praying or two-handed carrying motion.
But it still could be useful, especially for any scene where you have to put something into or take something out of Tom’s hand without a camera edit.
I’m also going to be 3D printing an add-on part that glues/screws to the back of the arm between it and the flashlight shoulder (it’ll only be about 3mm thicker than normal on the outside) then slots through a 3/4" PVC pipe sized hole in the shoulder/barrel, when it is bolted in place to another piece with a horizontal crossbar that you can hook a rod or bit of coat hanger into to puppeteer his arms up and down. (I’m guesstimating the thickness of the barrel, so it may take a few tried to get the holes lines up, but once I do, I’ll share the files with anybody who wants them).
This will also mean that (theoretically) the arms can be swapped out after assembly if for some reason a skit demands that Tom temporarily be given Hercules pecs, or some other sort of specialized arms.
I’m also adding in a few extra mounting holes to the crossbar in case later on I or someone else want to do something fancy like add in actual servo motors or a lift bar.
Ordered a couple of the pails - making one as a thank you gift as well - and on the website it’s the right dirt trap pattern, but isn’t what was delivered. Nice to see yours, i hope that i can find buckets/pails.
Yes! Gary was cool enough to allow us to host the booklet here! It’s long, long out of print. The booklet has great information and is a fun look at how our favorite bots were assembled !
I also recommend checking out some of Gary’s bot building YouTube videos . It’s as in-depth of a “bot build” tutorial as you will find!
Just wanted to share that Josh Smith, who runs The Prop Basement, is in need of some cash and looking to sell his Tom Servo puppet. He also has a fundraiser going with 3-D printed mini Servo heads. If you are looking to buy a full-size Servo, you might send him a message at Redirecting... to see if it’s still available.
