We are now retiring these amazing kits in mid-2024. We will still continue to offer the accessories to our customers for the remainder of the year.
Our strongest and most easily customizable ball and socket armature kits are our ArmaBenders 2 armatures. These aren't simple stamped steel parts like many other kits. They are precisely machined pieces which creates extremely smooth movements. They animate with the most ease and are the least likely joints to pop or get stuck mid-motion.
Armabenders 2 can be sized to your exact puppet specifications with only a hack saw "or Dremel cut-off wheel", a pair of pliers and the included hex wrenches.
Simply cut the threaded rod sections to length and screw them into the shoulder, hip blocks and extenders. The basic kit size can vary from less than 5 inches to 12 inches tall. You can also combine both ArmaBenders 1 and ArmaBenders 2 kits together if you previously purchased one.
Above animation created by Jody Meredith using a modified kit.
I would definitely be interested in buying two maybe three armatures from you for a larger commissioned project I am workign on with three other animators. Anyway if you could tell me when you expect to have some more I'd greatly appreciate it." Regards, Devin Ruddick' Email and Devin's Blog.
The ArmaBenders 2 kit comes with a special arm block where you can replace the entire fore-arm. You simply loosen the hex screws with the hex wrench to slide the whole hand and wrist out.
ArmaBenders 2 are designed by machinist Tetsu Kawamura from Japan. He recently finished creating armatures for famed stop motion artist Mr. Kawamoto. The kits are also the main stop motion armatures used in Tokyo's University of the Arts animation program.
We suggest reading the manual completely to understand what is involved with these armatures before purchasing them. Here is our previous manual, for ArmaBenders 2 please see the images at the bottom of this page.
You can download the .PDF manual for your ArmaBenders armature kit by clicking here.
