Hello!

I recently built a scale model of the Jurassic Park Entrance gates but when I was getting ready to finally be done with it I had the thought I could add a servo or two in order to make the doors automatic.

In researching this I decided, well, why don't I add a soundboard and some mini speakers to the project so I can play the theme song and maybe some quotes from the flick!

Which brings me here. Throughout my research I can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for and being somewhat of a novice I'm hesitant to buy a bunch of hardware and just start tinkering.

Would anyone happen to have any suggestions/advice for running a soundboard, one (or two) speakers, and two micro servos?

I have a pretty tight space to work in which is why I was looking into Adafruit products because they are small but I have never used servos before. I kind of assume I would need an Arduino board as means for running/programming them. Below are the links to some of the hardware I'm considering using in case that helps.

Speakers

Soundboard

Sub Micro Servo

I've also been stuck on the best way to power all of these things. Normally I use either a AAA or AA battery pack, but with this addition of the servos and the Arduino I don't know what that will do for the power. Adafruit offers a few different lithium Ion battery packs that would help with containment and recharging, but I should walk before I run haha

Any insight at all would be helpful!

 

Hello,

Keep in mind that the sounboard can not drive speakers directly.
There is stated on the page that the soundboard has line level outputs.

Bertus

 

I recently built a scale model of the Jurassic Park Entrance gates

Hello there I'm afraid to ask what is the scale?

 

The DFPlayer MP3 sound device seems quite popular though I've not used it myself. Here's a project writeup. It'll drive a 4ohm speaker at a couple of Watts (music power).

Micro-servo may not be big enough, it'll depend on the size of your doors and the linkage to them. A motor drive using miniature geared motors (search ebay for N20 geared motor) is an alternative to using a servo. Either way, dry batteries aren't going to last long once the motors are running and the music's playing... A 5v USB powerbank is the easy solution and easily recharged, though a 3.7v LiPo and a charger/protection board will also work, but is more hassle to get up & running and you only have 3.3v unless you use a boost converter to 5 or so volts.

 

Hello,

Keep in mind that the sounboard can not drive speakers directly.
There is stated on the page that the soundboard has line level outputs.

Bertus

True, but there's a slightly more expensive version with a 2 x 2W speaker amp too...

 

Hello there I'm afraid to ask what is the scale?

They aren't big at all, almost a foot high.

 

The DFPlayer MP3 sound device seems quite popular though I've not used it myself. Here's a project writeup. It'll drive a 4ohm speaker at a couple of Watts (music power).

Micro-servo may not be big enough, it'll depend on the size of your doors and the linkage to them. A motor drive using miniature geared motors (search ebay for N20 geared motor) is an alternative to using a servo. Either way, dry batteries aren't going to last long once the motors are running and the music's playing... A 5v USB powerbank is the easy solution and easily recharged, though a 3.7v LiPo and a charger/protection board will also work, but is more hassle to get up & running and you only have 3.3v unless you use a boost converter to 5 or so volts.

This is good stuff!! I thought about using a geared motor before, servo just leapt to mind because of the size. I like the powerbank idea. Mostly it's going to be sitting on a shelf for display, but I'm always a fan of the interactivity stuff like this brings so Id rather have a rechargeable solution anyways!

 

How heavy are those doors, how stiff are the hinges? The problem with using a micro-servo is the arm isn't very long so doesn't generate much movement - about 2 cm at its maximum end to end, but there s little torque, a few grams at most.


And definitely need some 'flickering flame' LEDs on that... (no idea what they look like though).

 

How heavy are those doors, how stiff are the hinges? The problem with using a micro-servo is the arm isn't very long so doesn't generate much movement - about 2 cm at its maximum end to end, but there s little torque, a few grams at most.


And definitely need some 'flickering flame' LEDs on that... (no idea what they look like though).

I have added LEDs already!! I just wish I had thought to do all of these add ons at the same time so I can run them all together. But maybe it'll be good the lights and motors and sounds will be seperate.

Anyways, this is all made out of plastic (It is a modified version of the old school Jurassic Park toy from Kenner). The doors are about 10 grams give or take. The hinges aren't stiff. In fact the door has the "hinge pin" molded to it and attaches to the column with a pressure fit. It was designed to be disassembled so it's more of a swivel than a working hinge. I'll upload a photo later if it'll help.

 

Can you mount the model on a base. That would give you room for the electronics.

As far as size, you could use a greeting card module that plays multiple sound clips. An Arduino Nano could drive the inputs to the module. Plus, if you use servos, the Nano can drive them as well.

If you could get the space, I’d use an Uno with two shields. A motor/servo controller and an MP3 player. I’ve done this before.

 

Can you mount the model on a base. That would give you room for the electronics.

As far as size, you could use a greeting card module that plays multiple sound clips. An Arduino Nano could drive the inputs to the module. Plus, if you use servos, the Nano can drive them as well.

If you could get the space, I’d use an Uno with two shields. A motor/servo controller and an MP3 player. I’ve done this before.

I briefly thought about making a full base for it. They released one very similar, but it doesn't have moving parts I believe:
Jurassic Park Display

If I went that route I got for sure cram everything in there! I love that idea!

Part of the challenge with this project was to see how compact I can make everything. I kind of wanted it to look more natural. I even made the existing LED battery pack look like a working fuse box set up outside the gates. For both access to the batteries, but also for it to blend in with the build. I would like to keep that going if possible.

Ultimately, it's not a huge deal if I can't. The lights are very cool and I have a soundboard/speaker set up that would fit into the column as well. The motor/servo was more of a "What if" lol

 

I briefly thought about making a full base for it. They released one very similar, but it doesn't have moving parts I believe:
Jurassic Park Display

If I went that route I got for sure cram everything in there! I love that idea!

Part of the challenge with this project was to see how compact I can make everything. I kind of wanted it to look more natural. I even made the existing LED battery pack look like a working fuse box set up outside the gates. For both access to the batteries, but also for it to blend in with the build. I would like to keep that going if possible.

Ultimately, it's not a huge deal if I can't. The lights are very cool and I have a soundboard/speaker set up that would fit into the column as well. The motor/servo was more of a "What if" lol

If you have everything else under control, then all you need is an 8 pin microcontroller to move a servo or two. Besides an 8 pin DIP, there may even be an SMD version. I’ve used an ATTiny45. With that small MCU, you’d need a programmer. You can buy one from SparkFun, or build your own with an Arduino Uno. It can be programmed in C# with the (free) Arduino IDE.

 

Thanks for everyone's input so far!! I'm going to shop around online to see what I can come up with based on all of your suggestions. Hopefully if all goes well I'll be able to update you with what I put together.