The fantastic Creatrope blog has a great article on quickly assembling animatronic Halloween gags using salvaged electric motors, pvc pipe, and “grid beam” construction.
Grid beam is a prototyping and building medium that’s like a giant hippie Erector set. You can’t buy grid beam, but with a drill press, a jig, and some square stock you can create your own unlimited supply. It’s ideal for “sketching” and temporary constructions like these Halloween props. After use, everything can be dismantled, stored flat, and later reused for the next [Herbie Hancock] music video creative project. Looks like fun!
The article wraps up with some valuable pointers on getting started with grid beam and where to acquire parts.
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHOWING ME GRID BEAM!!
IT IS AMAZING!! (Sorry for the caps but it requires emphasis lol) My next project will be an automated CNC Grid Beam hole driller! :D
http://www.gridbeamers.com/
Now if we could find an easy way of hiding/improving the aesthetic of grid beam and it would take over the world for sure! ^_^
@MadMod
LOL, I thought you were being sarcastic until I checked that site.
the grid beam thing seems like a really cool idea. as for the ascetics you could easily enough make a laminate or metal cover that fitted in the grid to cover up the holes; make it in several preset lengths and you could get away with very little seems if you stuck to a regular build size. ie 2×2 4×4 etc.. now what we need to see is a computer(perhaps arduo) based mod to the gridbeam then it really would be like an adult erector set.