# Gargae door opener (prop ideas?)



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I just moved into a new to me house that I will be purchasing in May. Along with all the other fixes and upgrades I'm doing with the house the garage door opener needed to be changed. The motor appears to work, but the existing door was to heavy for it. Any ideas what I could use the motor/mechanism for? It's a 1/2 hp chain driven model.


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## The Pod (Sep 15, 2009)

We once used a garage door opener in a haunted house to move a wheel chair and old person prop up/down a stair case along the back wall.

I've seen another setup where someone connected their FCG to the garage door opener and besides the ghost movement, he was able to have it fly forward with the opener (back to reset it for the next person).


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

The Pod said:


> We once used a garage door opener in a haunted house to move a wheel chair and old person prop up/down a stair case along the back wall.
> 
> I've seen another setup where someone connected their FCG to the garage door opener and besides the ghost movement, he was able to have it fly forward with the opener (back to reset it for the next person).


have any pics or vids?


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

The haunt I used to work at had a fireplace that moved via a garage opener... Very cool!
.


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## Volscalkur (Feb 15, 2010)

Interesting item with lots of possibilities! My interest is piqued! 

Here are a few ideas that came to my tiny little mind:
- Hang the track and opener motor near the path of your audience/tots and attach a ghost/reaper ect type creature to hang down from it so it "flies" out at your audience when they come by.
-Put it on the ground(up high enough so the chain doesn't pickup dirt and crap from the ground) and attach some sort of monster/ghoul zombie ect to it to have it "chase" your guests.
-Mount it on a wall and attach something (maybe a giant hand or rabid baby or something equally gnarly ?) that comes after your guests sideways.

I believe that most garage door openers have an automatic safety reverse built into them. When the motor encounters something that causes resistance(like someone stuck under the door) it automatically reverses. You could use that to reset your prop- just put something in it's path that will cause it to reverse! 

What fun- wonder where I can get my hands on a used garage door opener now? LOL

Best of luck however you end up using it!


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## Dark Carver (Mar 30, 2010)

A huge FCS! Lol... Actually. That's not a bad idea. A huge moving spider would be wicked. And it would scare the CRAP out of the TOT's


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

I have one. My plan for it this year is running a RE tongue licker on the ceiling, down a hall. But I had got it to use for a Exorcist prop. I was going to use it to raise her off the bed and across the ceiling. Both of these I was going to use the same track the door rides on.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

The major problem with garage door openers is the fact that they are intended for intermittent duty. They tend to overheat and not work when you need them. while they can be used in haunting, this problem needs to be taken into account.


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