Hello, all! I have been looking at ways of making a dancing toaster relatively quick (within a month) and relatively cheap. I feel confident about gutting a toaster and installing some actuators. However, I would like for it to be controllable via remote control, and I wasn’t sure what the cheapest/easiest wireless actuator options are. Can anyone help out?
Thanks in advance!
Often quick and cheap are at extreme odds in a build, but I’ll do my best to help out a fellow Toaster enthusiast like myself. I am part way through a build right now as it happens and plan to do a proper tutorial once I get everything polished. Any way here is some tips that may help you out.
The Toaster
Hopefully you already found yourself a toaster, a real toastmaster B700 is not that cheap or easy to find sometimes(vintage toaster collectors seriously??), and watch out for the 700’s with the etching on the side, or ones with dark brown plastic which often looks black in photos on ebay (speaking from sad experience here), should be a black ends and a plain chrome side for the right model.
** How to controll it**
That is a 4 channel relay remote and is controlled by a handy pocket sized fob for discreet toaster control. You can get it cheaper from china but you’ll loose 2-3 weeks of your build time waiting. You’ll need 12 volt battery that doesn’t weigh everything down too much. I have never personally bought one of the remote units so I am unsure how it will fit but it looks pretty small. I am using a wired control with my design because I want to be able to get the maximum jump with my toaster, but had considered this for control at one point.
Movement!!
As for actuators there are a variety of “push type solenoids” that might do the trick and they come in a variety of sizes, however recommend door lock actuators they are cheap, strong enough, have a good range of motion, move quickly, are reliable and easy to control. They are however just a little too big but they are easy enough to cut to size with out affecting function
poke around on ebay and you’ll probably find a better deal I just posted the first lot of 4 inside the us I could find.
I have also seen people make the toaster out of low-rider toy cars with fake hydraulics that may be a simpler route but will offer less function in the end..but if you are going for super cheap and easy this could be the way to go. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-Toy-State-Truck-Sound-Motion-Suspension-Vehicle-Low-Rider-11-/222198822572?hash=item33bc14f6ac:g:zBUAAOxysstSUaMl
Gutting the thing
So the less you want your toaster to do, the better for a quick build, making the toast arm still function around the actuators is a difficult trick, fitting the actuators in the side so they are not visible through the slots takes a lot a customization. The easiest route for you is to block the toast holes and that will allow you a lot more space to play with to place the electronics inside.
Space, weight, and structural integrity can be an issue with this build so plan accordingly.
Here is how belldandy4087 arranged the actuators 
More info on his build here: http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31466
If you have any questions let me know,
and if you see something, say something.
Hope this all helps some, Good Luck!
Ryan
This is awesome advice…thank you so much!
I’ve seen a lot of toaster builds that use arduino as a controller, but I wonder if anyone tried using a color organ circuit to run the actuators. The dancing coke can toy that I have that rocks to music uses something like a color (light) organ circuit, or more simply a voice/microphone controller set to pick up on higher volumes or frequencies. Having no wires attached would be nice.