Start by (CAREFULLY!) chopping off one end of your popsicle stick.

 

Position the mouth where you'd like it on Sparky.

 

Then, holding it carefully in place, flip it over and mark the location where you'll attach the popsicle stick.

 

Tape popsicle stick in place. It's OK to use lots of tape.

Calibrating the Servo

This servo can only rotate about 180 degrees back and forth. When we create that slot, we limit it to about 10 or so degrees. Because of this, it's important that we find the limits so we can avoid damaging the motor or our automaton.

Take the servo arm and place it on the servo horn. Use the arm to rotate the motor until you find its extents (limits). 

 

Find the middle zone, the spot where you can rotate the arm about 90 degrees in either direction. This is where we want it! 

 

You can now remove the arm from the servo motor.

Attach the Servo

Add some small strips of double sided foam tape to the base of the motor and the top of the servo arm.

 

Stick the servo motor to the inside wall of the support leg, making sure to position it in the middle of the slot.

 

Remove the covering from the tape on the servo arm. Place the popsicle stick attached to the mouth through the slot and affix it to the servo arm.

A battery pack supplying 4.5V can be connected to make Sparky portable.

Connecting the Servo to CRICKIT

Connect your servo to CRICKIT on the Servo group of pins position 1. The orange wire towards the front, the brown or black wire towards the Circuit Playground Express.

Make sure 4.5 to 5 volt power is supplied via the DC jack on CRICKIT and the Circuit Playground Express is connected to your computer with the micro USB cable.

Now we're ready for some code!

This guide was first published on Jun 21, 2018. It was last updated on Apr 14, 2024.

This page (Add the Mouth) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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