Assembly Instructions for 3 Axis Skull

Graveyard Skulls Assembly Instructions for the 3 Axis Skull Kit in a Lindberg or GYS Skull

These instructions are pretty much the same for our own skull (The GYS Skull) or the Lindberg.
We are no longer going to sell the Bucky Skull as the quality and consistency have gone way down.

Step 1:

Sort out all your parts and make sure you have received everything that comes in the specific kit you ordered. Double check in the store for a listing of what comes in your kit.

Get out the skull and make sure the Skullplate fits inside as shown to the left.

As you are facing the front of the skull, the cutout for the jaw push rod should be to your right as shown in the picture.

With a sharpie, it is helpful to mark the plate so you remember which side is the top as you start assembly.

You may also want to mark which servos do what at this point.

The servo in the back is the NOD servo, the one to the left of the center hole is the TILT servo and the remaining servo is the ROTATE servo.

Step 2:

Let's get started with the servos. Take three servos out of their packages and sort out the various servo arms available.

Remove the round disc attached to the servo by removing the black screw at its center. Then locate the servo arms pictured to the left.

They come in two parts. The base (The square section) and the adjustable arm that slides on the base. There should be one set in each package in every servo box.

The base fits snugly on the servo with the square side facing up. Then the arm lays in the "U" shaped path on the top of the base. One side of the arm has rough ridges. Be sure that side is facing down and makes contact with the base. The base also has ridges and those two sets of ridges help prevent the arm from moving from the position you set it in.

Be sure that the servos are in the "Centered" position when you attach the servos arms. The "Centered" position is that position that the servo goes to when connected to the servo controller board and powered up before any command has been given. This may be different from your "Default" position that you will set later on in the programming. You can also achieve a pretty good idea of "Center" by manually moving the servo arm all the way clockwise, and see how far it goes. Then move it all the way counter-clockwise and see how far it goes. Then move it to a position halfway between those two points and attach the servo arm so that it is centered on the servo as in the pictures in the next step.

Attach the arms to the 3 servos with the black screw.

The combination of parts in the picture to the left will be referred to as "The Servo Arm" throughout the rest of this tutorial.

Step 3:

Now it's time to mount all the servos on the skullplate.

Start by flipping the skullplate over so you are looking at the bottom side. Then slip in the three servos in the manner which they are shown to the left.

Make sure that the servo arms are in the positions shown with the pivot points arranged as shown.

This will be a tight fit and you will need to apply pressure. In some cases, you may have to take a file to open the slot a bit just a hair. Best you insert servo at an angle and press in. Do not pound or force in using tools!

Before putting in the provided screws, find the "A" bracket and get ready to mount it UNDER the tabs of the "Nod" servo as shown in the next step.

Step 4:

Slip the "A" bracket under the tabs of the "Nod" servo as shown in this close up to the left.

Make sure all 4 holes line up with the holes in the servo tabs and on the skullplate and tighten down with all 4 screws (Provided)

Make sure that the "A" bracket is positioned as shown with the tall frame towards the center of the skullplate.

Step 5:

Locate the center rod shown to the left.

Using the long black hex-head screw provided, attach the two black servo arm linkage ends to the top of the center rod as shown.

Using the provided nut, you will mount this rod to the "A" bracket as shown in the next step.

Step 6:

Most people will use the center hole in the "A" bracket for the Lindberg skulls.

Place the threaded end of the rod end through the hole in the "A" bracket.

Tighten down the nut making sure that when you are finished, that the rod end is level and on the same plane as the skullplate.

Inserting the thread portion of the rod end into the axis bracket will be tight. You may have to screw it in, forming your own threads. You will not cause damage to the rod end doing this. Whatever you do, do not open this hole up. Doing so will cause misalignment.

Step 7:

At this point, the skullplate is still upside down, and the threaded end of the center rod should be pointing upwards as shown to the left.

It is important that the rod end is level or you will not get the full range of motion that you desire.

The Rod End being referred to is the pivot that is attached to the "A" frame and is the piece that allows the center rod to move in all directions.

Note that the servo arm linkages are attached at the thin end of the center rod which is now positioned at the bottom. Once we are done, the skullplate gets turned over and that will be the top.

Step 8:

Looking down on the plate which is upside down on the table, you should see something like the picture to the left.

Note that we only used 2 screws on the tilt and rotate servo and all four on the nod. Two screws hold the servos in just fine, but we use all four on the Nod Servo to lock down the "A" Bracket securely.

From this view, you can clearly see the direction in which each servo is mounted. You can also see the rotate tab which is attached to the center rod. Be sure that tab is tightened as tight as it can be without breaking anything. It will tend to loosen as the skull is thrown back and forth with rotate commands.

You can also see the two black servo arm linkage pieces which are mounted to the center rod. We will be hooking them up in a few steps.

Step 9:

Here are some other servo arm linkages. Locate all of the parts shown in this picture and we can start hooking up the servos to the center rod.

At the top of the picture are three short threaded rods.

Next are the linkage posts.

Under those are the linkage Arms with caps.

The cap ends snap over the ball side of the linkage posts to make the connections.

Step 10:

Insert the Threaded rods into the Linkage Arms and make sure they get threaded in a good distance.

After measuring out how long you need these linkage arms to be, you will be cutting off a portion of these threaded rods in a future step.

Step 11:

Mount the Linkage Posts in the selected holes in the three servo arms.

You will have to drill out the holes with a 1/16" drill bit and then screw the Linkage Arm Posts into those new holes cutting the threads as you go. Tighten the linkage posts hand tight being carful not to strip out the holes you just threaded..

You will notice that we use different holes on the Tilt and Rotate servo arm than on the Nod.

You will also have to adjust the servo arms after attaching the Linkage arms.

The idea of alignment is to have all connections on as even a plane as possible and as perpendicular to each other as possible

If this were a clock face, the Nod servo linkage arm would be attached to the center rod at exactly 12:00. The Tilt servo linkage arm would be attached at exactly 3:00.

These adjustments are made by a combination of servo arm adjustments and choosing which hole to place the post in.

The Rotate servo linkage arm would be attached on a straight line parallel to the Tilt servo linkage arm, but a little lower.

We will cover alignment in more depth in a few steps.

The second picture is just a close up shot of the Linkage post mounted on the Servo Arm.

Step 12:

Attach the Linkage Arm with caps (with the threaded rod attached) to the posts as shown to the left.

Also attach a post to the Rotate arm which is attached to the center rod. You can see the nut holding the linkage post in place on the rotate arm connected to the center rod.

Please notice that the 4th linkage post on the rotate arm is mounted upside down with respect to the other three.

It will be at this point that you can swing the linkage arms around and see how much of the threaded rods you will need to cut off so that the two ends of the linkage rod connect together while the servos are in their "Centered" positions.

You will see what I mean about "Alignment" a few pictures down.

The second Picture in this section shows you a close up of the Linkage arm with cap snapped onto the Linkage post.

Step 13:

Using a hefty set of Wire Cutters, Clip off the extra length of threaded rod after figuring out how much was needed to connect the linkage arm with cap to the black linkage arm attached to the center rod.

Step 14:

The servo that is different will be the "Rotate" servo. This servo will have a linkage arm with cap on both ends as it will connect to a linkage post both on the servo arm and on the Rotate Arm which is attached to the center rod.

You will still need to measure out how much threaded rod you need and cut off the extra.

Step 15:

Snap the other end of the Rotate Linkage Arm to the Linkage post attached to the Rotate Arm which is connected to the center rod as shown to the left.

Step 16:

Once all connections have been made, you should have something that looks like this (more or less). This view is still with the skullplate upside down.

It is recommend that you offset the servo arms toward the outside of the skull, just a tiny bit from centerline. With the arms toward the center of the skull, you will lose some movement.

You can see the offset on the Tilt and Nod servos in this picture.

Step 17:

Alignment -

What you see to the left is a crude rendition of what it should look like after aligning the servo arms and the servo linkages.

The image is what you would get in a perfect world. Assuming that all servos were in the exact center position and that you were able to get all points lined up perfectly as shown, your default position on all servos would also be the center position.

This seldom happens.

It does not need to be perfect, but the closer you get to perfect, the better motion you will get from your skull.

Notice that the Nod Servo linkage and the Tilt Servo linkages should be at right angles to each other. The Rotate Servo linkage should be parallel to the Tilt servo.

Make adjustments to the servo arms by sliding them in or out as needed. Additional adjustments can be made by using different holes in the servo arms for mounting the linkage posts.

The skull should be facing straight forward with no tilt, and halfway between nodded all the way up and all the way down. If any of those positions are not exactly what you have, you can adjust for it by changing your default positions for your servos in the VSA software.

Step 18:

Here's what it looks like when you flip the skullplate over and set it in the skull.

Once you have it set in the skull, you should flip the skull over and observe the amount of clearance you have for the center rod to move to all it's extreme positions before hitting the edges of the spinal cord hole in the bottom of the skull.

Step 19:

You can see that in this case, the center rod is low and to the left. If you try to move it to it's full potential downward or left, it will hit the plastic of the skull.

You need to determine how much room you need and decide how much material to remove so that you get full motion of that center rod without having it hit the edges anywhere around the skull.

Step 20:

Mark off the area you need to cut away, then remove the assembled skullplate.

Step 21:

In this tutorial, we are using a drill press to cut away the unwanted material. Using a doorknob hole cutter, we choose what size we need by how much material we need to cut out.

If you do not have access to a drill press, you can use a hacksaw blade or if you are careful, a utility knife to cut away the material.

Step 22:

However you cut out the material, when you are done, you should be left with a larger hole than you started with.

A pretty simple goal really.

It doesn't have to be pretty. No one will see this part.


	Step 1: Sort out all your parts and make sure you have received everything that comes in the specific kit you ordered. Double check in the store for a listing of what comes in your kit. Get out the skull and make sure the Skullplate fits inside as shown to the left. As you are facing the front of the skull, the cutout for the jaw push rod should be to your right as shown in the picture. With a sharpie, it is helpful to mark the plate so you remember which side is the top as you start assembly. You may also want to mark which servos do what at this point. The servo in the back is the NOD servo, the one to the left of the center hole is the TILT servo and the remaining servo is the ROTATE servo.
	Step 2: Let's get started with the servos. Take three servos out of their packages and sort out the various servo arms available. Remove the round disc attached to the servo by removing the black screw at its center. Then locate the servo arms pictured to the left. They come in two parts. The base (The square section) and the adjustable arm that slides on the base. There should be one set in each package in every servo box. The base fits snugly on the servo with the square side facing up. Then the arm lays in the "U" shaped path on the top of the base. One side of the arm has rough ridges. Be sure that side is facing down and makes contact with the base. The base also has ridges and those two sets of ridges help prevent the arm from moving from the position you set it in. Be sure that the servos are in the "Centered" position when you attach the servos arms. The "Centered" position is that position that the servo goes to when connected to the servo controller board and powered up before any command has been given. This may be different from your "Default" position that you will set later on in the programming. You can also achieve a pretty good idea of "Center" by manually moving the servo arm all the way clockwise, and see how far it goes. Then move it all the way counter-clockwise and see how far it goes. Then move it to a position halfway between those two points and attach the servo arm so that it is centered on the servo as in the pictures in the next step. Attach the arms to the 3 servos with the black screw. The combination of parts in the picture to the left will be referred to as "The Servo Arm" throughout the rest of this tutorial.
	Step 3: Now it's time to mount all the servos on the skullplate. Start by flipping the skullplate over so you are looking at the bottom side. Then slip in the three servos in the manner which they are shown to the left. Make sure that the servo arms are in the positions shown with the pivot points arranged as shown. This will be a tight fit and you will need to apply pressure. In some cases, you may have to take a file to open the slot a bit just a hair. Best you insert servo at an angle and press in. Do not pound or force in using tools! Before putting in the provided screws, find the "A" bracket and get ready to mount it UNDER the tabs of the "Nod" servo as shown in the next step.
	Step 4: Slip the "A" bracket under the tabs of the "Nod" servo as shown in this close up to the left. Make sure all 4 holes line up with the holes in the servo tabs and on the skullplate and tighten down with all 4 screws (Provided) Make sure that the "A" bracket is positioned as shown with the tall frame towards the center of the skullplate.
	Step 5: Locate the center rod shown to the left. Using the long black hex-head screw provided, attach the two black servo arm linkage ends to the top of the center rod as shown. Using the provided nut, you will mount this rod to the "A" bracket as shown in the next step.
	Step 6: Most people will use the center hole in the "A" bracket for the Lindberg skulls. Place the threaded end of the rod end through the hole in the "A" bracket. Tighten down the nut making sure that when you are finished, that the rod end is level and on the same plane as the skullplate. Inserting the thread portion of the rod end into the axis bracket will be tight. You may have to screw it in, forming your own threads. You will not cause damage to the rod end doing this. Whatever you do, do not open this hole up. Doing so will cause misalignment.
	Step 7: At this point, the skullplate is still upside down, and the threaded end of the center rod should be pointing upwards as shown to the left. It is important that the rod end is level or you will not get the full range of motion that you desire. The Rod End being referred to is the pivot that is attached to the "A" frame and is the piece that allows the center rod to move in all directions. Note that the servo arm linkages are attached at the thin end of the center rod which is now positioned at the bottom. Once we are done, the skullplate gets turned over and that will be the top.
	Step 8: Looking down on the plate which is upside down on the table, you should see something like the picture to the left. Note that we only used 2 screws on the tilt and rotate servo and all four on the nod. Two screws hold the servos in just fine, but we use all four on the Nod Servo to lock down the "A" Bracket securely. From this view, you can clearly see the direction in which each servo is mounted. You can also see the rotate tab which is attached to the center rod. Be sure that tab is tightened as tight as it can be without breaking anything. It will tend to loosen as the skull is thrown back and forth with rotate commands. You can also see the two black servo arm linkage pieces which are mounted to the center rod. We will be hooking them up in a few steps.
	Step 9: Here are some other servo arm linkages. Locate all of the parts shown in this picture and we can start hooking up the servos to the center rod. At the top of the picture are three short threaded rods. Next are the linkage posts. Under those are the linkage Arms with caps. The cap ends snap over the ball side of the linkage posts to make the connections.
	Step 10: Insert the Threaded rods into the Linkage Arms and make sure they get threaded in a good distance. After measuring out how long you need these linkage arms to be, you will be cutting off a portion of these threaded rods in a future step.
	Step 11: Mount the Linkage Posts in the selected holes in the three servo arms. You will have to drill out the holes with a 1/16" drill bit and then screw the Linkage Arm Posts into those new holes cutting the threads as you go. Tighten the linkage posts hand tight being carful not to strip out the holes you just threaded.. You will notice that we use different holes on the Tilt and Rotate servo arm than on the Nod. You will also have to adjust the servo arms after attaching the Linkage arms. The idea of alignment is to have all connections on as even a plane as possible and as perpendicular to each other as possible If this were a clock face, the Nod servo linkage arm would be attached to the center rod at exactly 12:00. The Tilt servo linkage arm would be attached at exactly 3:00. These adjustments are made by a combination of servo arm adjustments and choosing which hole to place the post in. The Rotate servo linkage arm would be attached on a straight line parallel to the Tilt servo linkage arm, but a little lower. We will cover alignment in more depth in a few steps. The second picture is just a close up shot of the Linkage post mounted on the Servo Arm.
	Step 12: Attach the Linkage Arm with caps (with the threaded rod attached) to the posts as shown to the left. Also attach a post to the Rotate arm which is attached to the center rod. You can see the nut holding the linkage post in place on the rotate arm connected to the center rod. Please notice that the 4th linkage post on the rotate arm is mounted upside down with respect to the other three. It will be at this point that you can swing the linkage arms around and see how much of the threaded rods you will need to cut off so that the two ends of the linkage rod connect together while the servos are in their "Centered" positions. You will see what I mean about "Alignment" a few pictures down. The second Picture in this section shows you a close up of the Linkage arm with cap snapped onto the Linkage post.

	Step 13: Using a hefty set of Wire Cutters, Clip off the extra length of threaded rod after figuring out how much was needed to connect the linkage arm with cap to the black linkage arm attached to the center rod.
	Step 14: The servo that is different will be the "Rotate" servo. This servo will have a linkage arm with cap on both ends as it will connect to a linkage post both on the servo arm and on the Rotate Arm which is attached to the center rod. You will still need to measure out how much threaded rod you need and cut off the extra.
	Step 15: Snap the other end of the Rotate Linkage Arm to the Linkage post attached to the Rotate Arm which is connected to the center rod as shown to the left.
	Step 16: Once all connections have been made, you should have something that looks like this (more or less). This view is still with the skullplate upside down. It is recommend that you offset the servo arms toward the outside of the skull, just a tiny bit from centerline. With the arms toward the center of the skull, you will lose some movement. You can see the offset on the Tilt and Nod servos in this picture.
	Step 17: Alignment - What you see to the left is a crude rendition of what it should look like after aligning the servo arms and the servo linkages. The image is what you would get in a perfect world. Assuming that all servos were in the exact center position and that you were able to get all points lined up perfectly as shown, your default position on all servos would also be the center position. This seldom happens. It does not need to be perfect, but the closer you get to perfect, the better motion you will get from your skull. Notice that the Nod Servo linkage and the Tilt Servo linkages should be at right angles to each other. The Rotate Servo linkage should be parallel to the Tilt servo. Make adjustments to the servo arms by sliding them in or out as needed. Additional adjustments can be made by using different holes in the servo arms for mounting the linkage posts. The skull should be facing straight forward with no tilt, and halfway between nodded all the way up and all the way down. If any of those positions are not exactly what you have, you can adjust for it by changing your default positions for your servos in the VSA software.
	Step 18: Here's what it looks like when you flip the skullplate over and set it in the skull. Once you have it set in the skull, you should flip the skull over and observe the amount of clearance you have for the center rod to move to all it's extreme positions before hitting the edges of the spinal cord hole in the bottom of the skull.
	Step 19: You can see that in this case, the center rod is low and to the left. If you try to move it to it's full potential downward or left, it will hit the plastic of the skull. You need to determine how much room you need and decide how much material to remove so that you get full motion of that center rod without having it hit the edges anywhere around the skull.
	Step 20: Mark off the area you need to cut away, then remove the assembled skullplate.
	Step 21: In this tutorial, we are using a drill press to cut away the unwanted material. Using a doorknob hole cutter, we choose what size we need by how much material we need to cut out. If you do not have access to a drill press, you can use a hacksaw blade or if you are careful, a utility knife to cut away the material.
	Step 22: However you cut out the material, when you are done, you should be left with a larger hole than you started with. A pretty simple goal really. It doesn't have to be pretty. No one will see this part.