Frankenbear Synthamajig using PIC16F877 microcontroller

Frankenbear Synthamajig

Have you ever wanted a teddy bear that looks like Frankenstein and makes sounds like “bleep bleep bloooop de de bleep…. EHHHHHHHHHH…… dadadadadadadododododod bleep bleep bloop”?

Look no farther, you have found it!
Franken bear
Now you can perform the nights away with your new USB-Powered teddy bear instrument. Yay!

Go get stuff.

Go get stuff:

1 – Small white teddy bear (preferably with red bow)
1 – USB cable
1 – Bicycle safety flasher
1 – Small speaker
1 – PIC16F877 micro-processor
1 – 20MHZ ceramic resonator
1 – LM386 audio amplifier
1 – 40 pin socket
1 – 8 pin socket
1 – PCB (cut to size of teddy bear)
2 – 10K potentiometers (preferably with knob)
2 – red knobs (available at Home Depot)
2 – 0.1uF ceramic disk capacitors
1 – 0.022uF ceramic disk capacitor
1 – 330uF electrolytic capacitor
1 – 10uF electrolytic capacitor
1 – 0.1uF polyester film capacitor
2 – 220 ohm resistors
1 – 10K resistor
1 – 330 ohms resistor
1 – Spool red thread to match bear
1 – Role of electrical tape
1 – Red and black 22 AWG wire
Schematic Franken bear
Tools:
– PIC programmer
– Exacto knife or razor blade
– Soldering iron
– Hot glue gun
– Sewing needle
– Wire cutter
– Needle nose pliers
– Drill (possibly)
– Small philips head screwdriver (possibly)

Disassemble and carefully destroy the flasher.

The light flasher is going to be the “buttons” down your bear’s stomach. What we are going to do in this step is disassemble and rewire the light flasher so that it no longer flashes.

The first thing we’re going to do is open up the flasher and remove the circuit board. This should be easy.

Next, we are going to deactivate the flasher.

The flashing feature is deactivated because I simply didn’t want it to blink. If you want to keep yours blinking, remove the button and solder a wire to each terminal where the button used to be on the board (and then skip the rest of this step as well as the next).

If you want to keep yours from flashing, go get your drill. Determine where the chip is on the board. It probably will look like a black dot, which is really a protective coating to keep people from tampering with it (see secondary picture below). Locate the dot and then drill through it until it is gone. This hole should also be enough of a precaution to break all unnecessary wiring connections.

Rewire the LED flasher.

Once the chip is gone and the connections are broken, solder wires between any LEDs no longer connected by tracings on the board (see below). Also, solder 4″ power wires running off of the board. Remember to connect red to positive and black to negative (again see below).

Gut the bear.

Find the stitching in the back of the neck. Cut it with your exacto knife and rip out as much of the stitching as you can.

Once the back of the neck is open then you can pull out all of the stuffing from the bear’s head and stomach. To aid in re-stuffing later, leave in the stuffing in the arms and feet.

There is something strangely rewarding about unstuffing the bear.

About The Author

Ibrar Ayyub

I am an experienced technical writer with a Master's degree in computer science from BZU Multan University. I have written for various industries, mainly home automation and engineering. My writing style is clear and simple, and I am skilled in using infographics and diagrams. I am a great researcher and am able to present information in a well-organized and logical manner.

Follow Us:
LinkedinTwitter