# Stirring Cauldron Witch progress...



## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Just thought I'd upload a short video showing the progress on my witch...

Thanks to ScareFX and all the others who have done witches before me that have inspired me to do this project!

http://www.hauntsoft.com/Witch1_0001.wmv


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

Hey nice job.


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## Richie (Jan 4, 2007)

Hi There Xpendable,

Now that is some wonderful fluid motion you built into that prop and better than mine.


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## ScareFX (Aug 18, 2004)

Looking good Xpendable. Everyone needs a witch with cauldron in their haunt.


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

Gotta love the Scarefx witch.

Good job.


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

ScareFX said:


> Looking good Xpendable. Everyone needs a witch with cauldron in their haunt.


Too right!!!!!! Perhaps one day I'll have a stirring one too.

X, I agree - the motion on your witch is fantastic. Very smooth and realistic. Make sure to post pics of her in your haunt.


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## playfx (Mar 10, 2007)

Bravo, nice job!


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## buckaneerbabe (Jun 5, 2007)

What kind of motor are you using? I sure could have used your design to build my prop. That just gave me a good idea though. Looks great, I love the smooth motion.


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Thanks, everybody. I'll be sure to post pictures of her construction and the finished "product" when she's set up on my porch.

buckaneerbabe:
I'm using a windshield wiper motor -- the same one that is shown here:
http://www.scary-terry.com/wipmtr/wipmtr.htm

I'm using an old variable power supply "wall wart" from RadioShack. I have it set at 7 volts, and I'm using the low-speed hookup on the wiper motor. 
Actually, I "accidentally" burned out my first motor by hooking it up wrong. I had originally hooked up the low-speed and the high-speed pins, which works, but puts the motor into a super-fast speed. It eventually burned out. That was a stupid mistake on my part, because I worked with an identical wiper motor last year on my FCG and forgot how I hooked it up. I should have "refreshed" my memory! You want to put one lead on pin 1 and the other lead directly on the metal casing.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

great job 
you lucky ghoul


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

looks good! I'm supposed to make a witch for my cauldron this year...


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Looks great.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Hey that looks great!
I love it! 

I love when people have videos too haha.
It's so much more exciting. x]


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## Samhain (May 28, 2007)

Nice job, very realist motion, should look even better once she's dressed! No one likes a naked witch, unless you're into that sorta thing =]


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Haha... naked witch.


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## Lagrousome (Apr 12, 2007)

I loved the idea of not only the stirring, but the head moving back and forth. Ppost detailed how to please.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I plan on making one for this year, too. Thanks for the reminder!


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## jim6918 (Aug 18, 2006)

Having built one, I really admire your arm motion. I have had more trouble getting the arm motion to sync with the stirring action. Either the joints are too loose and the arms flop and bind or they are too tight and the motion is not quite realistic. Looks like you got the best of both there. Like everybody else, I would like to see how you constructed your arm joints.


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## Hellrazor (Jun 18, 2006)

Very nice indeed! This is one of the funnest projects i ever attempted as well. I need to fix my witches head this year. I burnt out the motor... duct taped the fan.. OOPS LOL. anyway, I have a new one. 

I love the arm motion as well. Way to go!


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## kevin242 (Sep 30, 2005)

very cool! What would haunters do without wiper motors?


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Thanks, folks. Here's an updated video with the cauldron painted (but not yet finished) and the lighting added to inside the cauldron. I have a cool witch's hat that I forgot to put on for this video. Also note that the arm motion is a little different in this video. That's because the hands are permanently mounted yet, and they tend to slip down from their positions. The stirring stick is sticking a little straighter up right now... hopefully that's just temporary. I got a couple of binds with the motor earlier and I was concerned with that happening -- I haven't had a chance to really figure out what was going on, so for now, I straighted the aluminum crank arm a little to put less stress on the motor. Here's the new video:

http://www.hauntsoft.com/Witch2a.wmv

I'll take some pictures of how the arms are put together. It's pretty similiar to what others have done, although the shoulder joints are different from what I've seen. I found a cool way to make them swivel 360 degrees on just 1 axis using only pvc. The arm motion didn't look quite right until I did that.


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## Lagrousome (Apr 12, 2007)

I could watch that all day long!


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Oh snap! I was just about to "glaze" the eyeballs with epoxy, only to discover that somehow I bought "metallic grey" colored epoxy. I didn't notice until I was already pumping out the 2 parts into a tray. Doh! That's $6.50 down the tube.


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## buckaneerbabe (Jun 5, 2007)

Is all that done with one motor? I love it !! Close up of your mechanics, Please!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I imagine the head is an oscillating fan, and the stirring a wiper motor. How did you d the shoulder jointS?


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

I used 2 motors. The stirring is indeed a wiper motor. But the head motion is animated using a crank motor that I salvaged out of a lighted wire-frame deer decoration for Christmas that I got at clearance last year. The motor moved the head up and down on the deer.

I'll have some detailed pictures and possibly video of the mechanics up later today when I get a chance. I'll post on here when it's online. I'll also put together a few how-to pictures on the shoulder joints.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I'll be waiting!


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Ok, I've got some`new pictures and video up.

Here's a picture of the chicken wire installed:
http://www.hauntsoft.com/witchsnap1.jpg

Here's a video closeup of the head crank motor:
http://www.hauntsoft.com/headcrank.wmv

Here's a video test fitting of the clothing. It doesn't show up real well in the video. I'll be sure to do another video from a different angle later:
http://www.hauntsoft.com/witch3a.wmv

I have pictures of the shoulder joint, but I'll have to put those up this weekend.

Enjoy!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Great vids! Thanks!


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Okay, I finally added some content for 2007 to my web site. Just added a quick how-to of sorts on the shoulder joints. Just take a look at the pictures on my site:

http://www.hauntsoft.com/


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

That is SO cool. The back and forth head motion seems considerably slower than many I've seen (and slower is much better/more natural I think). Did you do something to slow it down or are the deer motors just slower moving?

Considering that you mount the motors differently than they are in the deer anyway, does it matter if the motor moves up/down or side to side (or is it the same motor that is just spun around in the deer)? You indicated yours was an up/down and since I probably won't get to start on my witch until after the Christmas stuff is gone, I want to grab the correct deer if it matters.

That is really sweet, you did a great job!


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Thanks. I didn't modify the motor in anyway. I did modify the metal linkage that attaches to the crank arm (details about that are below). The motor just turns 360 degrees like any other typical electric motor. There is a crank arm attached to the shaft, and this in turn is attached to a metal arm. You can make anything move up/down or side-to-side just by changing the orientation of the motor and attaching the metal arm to appropriate thing in your prop. It doesn't matter what deer you buy, because they all pretty much use the exact same motor. Sometimes the mechanical linkages to the motors are different, but you can modify these or replace them with your own linkages if needed. I modified the length of the metal bar attached to the crank on my motor. I basically cut it in half to make it shorter, and drilled a new pivot point hole in the shorter bar for attaching to the piece of PVC that is attached to the head shaft by a 90 degree angle. I have pictures and even a video of the head crank in motion on my web site at:








http://www.hauntsoft.com/HeadCrank.wmv

You can also see the latest video showing the witch fully clothed here:








http://www.hauntsoft.com/witch4a.wmv

Be sure to check my web site for pictures and closeups, as I posted a bunch of stuff in the last couple of days, including closeups of the head mechanics.
http://www.hauntsoft.com


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