Experimenting with armature

I have started researching on how to build my own armature for the puppet instead of buying one (they are quite costly). I've looked up tutorials online on how to build them. Some of them are quite professional, and others are really basics. I've aimed for something the meets my needs for the one puppet.

That's how I initially wanted to create mine:

Armature (Figure 1)

However, I faced some issues regarding creating the parts in the right shape especially the ball head screws and rods, and also I don't quite have the material to create them all.

I've decided to experiment with else, that is 3D printing. I thought to myself that this would save much time that I would waste in creating the parts piece by piece. At first, I modelled spheres wt whose diameters range between 5mm to 8mm.

3D models of spheres in different sizes

Then, I send these spheres to the 3D printer which only took 10 mins to create. So I was very optimistic.

3D printer

The spheres were ready, and I was ready to test them. They were precise in terms of shape, however, I noticed that they are very light and rough and can't hold the joint plates on the armature.

As a result I put the idea of 3D printing aside for a while, and started thinking of different methods. I came to realise that I don't really need to have a full armature, meaning I will be using body parts (like core body and head) as support. So I drafted my own armature:

Ayo armature

In this armature, I will only need joint plates, ball head screw and bolts and nuts. The screws will be attached to the body parts without the need for rods. I will create the joint plates myself, however, the other parts I will buy them since it's quite hard to make them.



Reference
Figure 1: https://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-Motion-Puppet-Armature/