Climbing Zoidberg

Doctor John A. Zoidberg is one of my favourite TV characters, largely for his resemblance to Curly of the Three Stooges.

I'd never thought of a Zoidberg instructable, though, until Marc-FR made a passing comment on my Climbing Gorilla necklace:

A Dr Zoidberg version of this gorilla should be awesome! =)

That was it - a couple of hours researching poses, drawing and creating DXF files, then time playing with my laser cutter, and here he is, the Climbing Zoidberg:

You can skip this step if you want, since I've done the work for you, but in case you are interested...

I spent some time browsing the web for the pose I wanted, and ended up grabbing a screen-shot of an animated gif/.

I drew over the image, then copied & edited the drawing to create the four layers I needed (see the diagram I drew of the process).

The SVG and DXF files I created are attached to this step, as well as a PDF version for those working by hand.

If you've already seen my Gorilla necklace, this step is familiar to you.

Once you've cut the pieces*, lather glue (I used PVA woodglue) on the plain back layer, and add the layer with the legs, and the tips of his claws.

Then glue the back of the lab-coat layer, press it into place and clamp it for at least an hour to make sure the claw tips are firmly fixed in place (they take all the load of the climbing motion).

Finally, add Zoidberg's face and clamp that as well.

As you add each layer, any excess glue that oozes out can be easily wiped off with a fingertip or cloth.

_{(*and dismantled the innards of the laser cutter to find the claw-tips which fell through the honeycomb layer and all the way through to the inner gubbins of the cutter...)}

Again, I used about a metre and a half of 1mm black leather thong, threaded through his claws and knotted (I decided not to add the beads I used on my Gorilla - I don't know why, they just looked wrong on Dr Zoidberg).

Hang him around your neck, then tug on each end of the thong in turn:

Enjoy!

.

I realised that the climbing mechanism doesn't actually need arms to work, and I also used it in this heart pendant - the molecule design is theobromine, the caffeine-like molecule that makes chocolate make us feel good.

Even better, in time for Valentines, I now offer this for sale on my Etsy shop.