We’re just a few weeks away from Halloween, and soon the streets will be filled trick-or-treaters dressed in ghoulish garb. You can keep a close eye on the costume-clad candy-seekers with this 3D printed Doorman decoration.
Created by designer and maker Frederik Van Melle, also known as Eclectriq, this mask is the perfect addition to your creepy decorative display. Equipped with a motion capturing mechanism, the Doorman utilizes a sensor and servo motors to keep its eyes focused on anyone who dares to approach your doorstep.
It’s a relatively difficult 3D printing project that requires some soldering and quite a few 3D printed parts, but the end result is terrifyingly magnificent. This low-poly 3D printed mask looks like it came straight out of an esteemed comedy featuring Jim Carrey (yes, we’re referring to The Mask), and the eye tracking system provides a spooky effect that will give your entire neighborhood the heebie-jeebies.
Let’s take a look at how you can make your own 3D printed Doorman.
What You Need & How to Build it
The STL files for the Doorman are freely available on Thingiverse. It’s comprised of around eight different 3D printed parts, each of which should be printed with 10 percent infill. Aside from your 3D printer, there are a handful of other components that are needed to bring this mask to life.
Here’s a quick checklist of non-printed parts:
- 1 x Arduino
- 5 x Servo
- 5 x Capacitor 3300 µf
- 1 x Battery Pack ( 4AA )
- 1 x PIR sensor
- 2 x 3mm Universal Joint
- Pattex glue
- Acrylic paste
The designer has implemented a 3D printed animatronic eye mechanism shared by Instructables user “Ikkalebob”. By connecting the servos into the eye socket and wiring an Arudino with the sensor, the eyes will move according to detected motion. You can learn more about the mechanism here, and follow along with the circuit diagram below.
Van Melle seems to take most of the inspiration for this assembly directly from the Instructables post. He also shares the Arduino code, which you can find here. For any additional questions on this project, you can head over to Thingiverse and drop a comment for the designer.
License: The text of " Greet Trick-or-Treaters with a Watchful 3D Printed Doorman" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.