Special thanks to long-time Parallax friend and contributor Carol Hazlett for this spooky Halloween project idea!
This is a display of a laughing skull with a moving jaw for putting on your window sill during Halloween. The skull is simple to make with a 3D printer, but you can also purchase a skull decoration at places like Hobby Lobby, JoAnn’s and Michaels. My first incarnation of this was with a store-bought skull and did not have an articulated jaw.
Some soldering is required for the (#28085) RGB LEDs used in this project. Instructions assume the LED modules are fully assembled and ready to use.
It is fairly easy with the printed skull but may be harder with a purchased skull. If it's not possible, it will still make a nice display, even without a moveable jaw.
Do not attach the jaw yet.
The collage picture also illustrates putting an LED into eye holder. I did not glue LEDs into the sockets, so they could be removed if need be.
If you have wired the LEDs ahead of this step, you should be able to turn them on to locate them precisely. There is quick-start code for the RGB LEDs in the BlocklyProp for Propeller Boards Reference section [11].
This is how mine ended up looking.
You should have loaded your SD card with sound already as was mentioned on the list on the front page. Do not forget to turn the speaker on when activating your display!
This a copy of my Blocklyprop for this project. Please feel free to improve it!
Happy Halloween and I hope you enjoy this project.
Links
[1] https://www.parallax.com/product/32912
[2] https://www.parallax.com/product/900-00018
[3] https://www.parallax.com/product/725-32905
[4] https://www.parallax.com/product/28085
[5] https://www.parallax.com/product/751-00010
[6] http://www.parallax.com/product/900-00005
[7] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2461547
[8] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2953946
[9] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3124648
[10] https://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/propeller-c/propeller-c-simple-devices/play-wav-files
[11] https://learn.parallax.com/support/reference/propeller-blocklyprop-block-reference/communicate/rgb-leds