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Project Posey Limb Containment System

Figured it was time to post one of my recent projects.  Although I have not featured a project post in a while, I’ve actually been pretty busy with all sorts of construction efforts.  Most of them have been focused on finishing up Project Auuuuuurrnnnoooold – almost there, all the main work is now done, but I have some finishing touches that need to get banged out to finally but a bow on that multi-year endeavor.  Fortunately, today’s featured project was much quicker from start to finish.   Introducing my latest concept – the Posey Limb Containment System or PLCS for short.

Project Posey Limb Containment System

PLCS is my fancy name for PVC pipe holder – ha.  For most of the year, I usually have piles of pipe laying around for all the Posey’s that are under construction.  It wasn’t a big deal until I got the basement remodeling work nearly finished up – Linda didn’t think it went well with the new decor.  This hurt knowing that each of the Posey’s are basically a work of art which in my mind just upped the classy factor.  Figured this was not a battle worth fighting so opted to get a bit more organized.  I need to give a shout out to Pinterest for providing the basis for the concept.  Someone posted an idea to store long and thin pieces of wood by simply bungie cording a cement column form between ceiling joists.  The new finished ceiling pretty much nixed that idea, but that got me thinking – why not make an upright freestanding version.

First order of business was to make a base.  Key requirement is it had to be pretty heavy to keep from falling over.  Due to having to resolve some framing issues with a few doors in the basement, I had some 2″x2″ solid oak lumber left over – perfect – heavy and would match the rest of the trim in the basement.  Now just a quick run to Menards to pick up a 4’x1′ circular column cement form and went with another 2’x4′ clear solid oak board for the base – again, both nice looking and heavy.  The form was simply set on the base board and the 2x2s placed tangent at the four compass points.  Drew some quick lines on the outside of the side blocks provided the cut lines for the table saw.  To cut the post down a bit, a number of interim steps were omitted, but here is the base and sides attached.

Project Posey Limb Containment System

Hit the jump to see some notes on how I put it together.

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Posey Upgrade – The Westworld Line

If I counted correctly, this just might be the 6th post for November, yeah!  Life is a bit easier when there is a large queue of already processed pictures just begging to be published.  Pretty sure there’s fodder now to take me well into January if I just stay with the quota minimum.  Truthfully, I’ll probably go a little heavy on the next couple of months to push through the rest of the 2013 images and I still have a few Halloween posts to get through.  The good news is I have officially completed processing all of the 2013 images and now started to work on the 2014 collection.  Being two years behind sure sounds a lot better than being 3 years behind ha.

The good news is I have a few days off to celebrate the annual Turkey slaughter day which will give me some time to get a few more posts out this month.  How about we start with this pleasant looking dude.
Posey 2016 - The Westworld Line
Of course, I’m talking about the one on the left.  If you have been following the Haunted Trail posts (link here) you have probably already seen this new decoration for 2016.  If I remember correctly, I didn’t give a lot of detail on it knowing that a post was forthcoming dedicated to it.  Well, we are finally here.  This is another version of my Posey line and marks the next evolution of the frame.  I already talked about the frame upgrades for this year (link here), but this is the first model in the new Posey Westworld line.  This marks the first step in a big journey to up my game in the decoration arena.  Due to uncharted territory, I started with a small prototype.

Posey 2016 - The Westworld Line

Hit the jump read more about the new model!

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Posies Be a Bulking – Pt 2

Today we are back with the second part of the 2016 Posey upgrade project.  If you will recall, in the last post we went over the major upgrades to the appearance of the body and the new classy shoes.  There were a few more enhancements that I wanted to highlight and thus part two.  These additional enhancements were primarily a result of trying to put everything together.  Due to the early timing of the Halloween party this year, I wasn’t able to put the full product out although the second mold (the one that didn’t cure right) ended up being used for a great prop.  After the party, I was able to spend some more time and try to put the finishing touches on this year’s model.

2016 Posey Upgrade

It didn’t take long for the first problem to come to light.  When I went to attach the appendages it turned out that my initial idea to put the couplers at the ends of the molds .. well, let’s just say I didn’t think that one through enough.  I had planned to use the same coupler structure from my previous Poser version – to do that with the arms meant it would either stick out another 4+ inches or cause me to cut all the way back to the center post and then dig into the foam chest to give room to turn the couplers. This had to be fixed.

Since I had purchased other molds, I decided to work with the male adult mold this time.   Like last time, I still wanted a 1″ PVC frame (that size works best with the fence post ends).  In an effort to address the appendage problem, I went with an idea that I tried on a previous Posey version – basically took a coupler and chop sawed a kerf cut half way through the end.  Those cut couplers were put on the spine couplers for both the arms and the legs – since the neck can spin in the coupler on its own, I didn’t cut the neck coupler.  Note, in the first attempt, these couplers were attached end to end to the spine couplers and then the PVC pipes were extend out through the mold to keep it in place.  The other change was putting the leg posts horizontal rather than vertical.  I do not have close ups of that version, however, I do have ones from the next iteration.  Rather than take the extra space for the couplers, I decided to put the cuts in the actual spine couplers instead.  You can see that in the shot below.

2016 Posey Upgrade

Hit the jump to see the new features in detail

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Posies Be A Bulking – Pt 1

I swear this last month has lasted at least three months!  Since middle of September, I’ve ran three half marathons, held our annual Halloween party, finished like 8 posts, made it through a crap load of work on my real job and now trying to get some badly needed rest which consists of me hiking up and down mountains.  Since November seems like it is never going to get here, decided to break out some of the Halloween posts early this year.  Let’s start on the decorations front.  Remember those Posies from last year (link here).  Well, this year they are getting an upgrade.

2016 Posey Upgrade
Although these have not been put together yet, you can definitely tell they’ve been put on a weight training regimen… and they kind of got gendered.  Focus in on the one on the far right.  It took a bit to get the process all figured out and that one is the result of finally getting everything right.  The other two I’ll talk about as a memory points for me and as a cautionary tale for those of you interested in trying this out for yourself.  Starting at the beginning, the key element in the new Posey configuration is this.
2016 Posey Upgrade
Hit the jump to get details on the latest of the Posey improvement projects.

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Project Chiro: Posey Gets a New Spine

Time for another update on the Posey Project.  If you recall form the last post on version 3.0 (link here), the big change was to introduce the new joint made out of chain link fence caps.  That was definitely a break through moment in the project and my gratitude still goes to the individual that was referenced in that post as the spark.  To be honest, the modification that became version 3.1 was really a result of designing and building this latest version which I refer to as V4.0.  Here is the latest version all dressed to kill!

Posey V4.0

Of course you can’t tell the details with the costume on, so let’s take that off and see what tweaks we have to show in this version.  First off you will see that I stuck with the same chain link fence cap joint model detailed in V3.0.  That is the go to joint for now due to being sturdy and easy to position – thanks again to the individual that sparked the concept.  I do keep my eyes open every time I’m in a hardware store just in case something else will catch my eye – if I could shrink the overall length of the joint down it would be beneficial for a number of reasons.  One area that is completely different is the backbone design.

Posey V4.0

Hit the jump to see the design details and a few more shots

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Project Bob Marley: Posey Gets a Better Joint

I hoped you like the previous Kestrel posts – always exciting when I can add a mark to the bird list.  It is also exciting when I can talk about a new revision in the Posey project.  The last time we delved into this addiction.. I mean project we were discussing the desire to add flexibility to the PVC structure (link here).  That resulted in revision V2.0 of the PVC Halloween Decoration Project.  If you recall, we leveraged eye bolts to create the joints in V2.0.  That achieved the desired ability to move the arms and legs into just about any position I wanted.  The issue is the structural stability of the eye bolts .. as in .. not that stable.  One long night on Pinterest (yeah, I said it) looking through board after board on the home haunting groups I discovered an excellent idea from someone that goes by Beelce on the Haunt Forums website (link here).  That idea looked like the perfect answer to my stability problem and immediately rushed out to Menards the next day.  Sure enough, they had 1″ chain link fence caps that matched the ones shown on the forum so bought every one they had – like 30 of them. After some trials and errors I am proud to present V3.0 of Posey!

NOTE: I did make some late updates to this model which I added to the end – please check that out since the modification uses less materials – that version is now being referred to as V3.1
Posey 3.0

This version is 100% more stable than the eye bolt approach and the joints work exactly the way I was hoping.  As with all my projects, let’s give some details.  Again, thanks to Beelce for providing the catalyst and the basis for even more versions – my  motto: embrace and extend.  First off, the hardware list.   Note, this version was built with chain link fence caps from Menards.  They hold a much better tolerance on their 1″ dimension but their connecting hole is 1/2″.  I recommend getting the fence caps from Home Depot instead.  They are a penny cheaper and have 3/8″ connecting holes instead so you save on hardware.  They do have a lot of variance in their 1″ dimension which oddly enough turns out to be an advantage in upcoming versions (more later on that).

  • Drill Press (technically optional, but highly recommended) if not, can uses a standard drill)
  • 1/8″ Drill Bit or whatever size fits the screws you are going to use to affix the chain link cap to the PVC
  • Pilot hole drill bit – smaller the better
  • Screwdriver – manual or electric to put the caps in
  • (16) Chain link fence cross bar caps w/ 3/8″ hole ($0.88)
  • (8) 3/8″ Large Washers ($3.78 – 100)
  • (8) 3/8″ x 1″ Bolts ($4.21)
  • (8) 3/8″ Nuts ($2.28)
  • (8) 3/8″ Split Washers ($2.00)
  • (32) 1″ cabinet, drywall or round head screws (use whatever you laying around that is in the 1″ long range)
  • Two Socket Sets
  • PVC Cement (optional)
  • Duct tape – preferably white
  • Hand PVC Cutter (optional, but highly recommended)

Next the materials list:

  • (3) 1″ PVC Cross ($2.15)
  • (4) 1″ PVC Caps  ($0.45)
  • (9) 1″ PVC T’s ($0.59)
  • (4) 1″ PVC Couplers ($0.41)
  • (10) 1″ PVC Elbows ($0.50)
  • (1)  3/4″ PVC Cross  ($2.37)
  • (1) 3/4″ PVC T’s ($0.45)
  • (5) 3/4″ PVC Elbows ($0.25)
  • (1) 3/4″ PVC Cap ($0.19)
  • (1) 1″ to 3/4″ Reducer  ($0.77)
  • (1) 10′ x 1″ PVC Pipe (depends on size but by two, if you are like me you’ll be making a lot of them) ($2.48)
  • (1) 3′ 3/4″ PVC Pipe (basically just enough to build the head) ($1.50)

Hit the jump to see how to build this version of Posey!

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