# Drop and swing



## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

I made a kicking /hangman prop using a windshield wiper motor. 
I have a pair of huge spruce trees in the front of my house to hang him from, which is lit beautifully. As you approach my house ,the branches of the trees hide the hanging man till you are almost underneath him. My plan was to start his kicking and scare people when they got to that point.
I would really,really like to make it drop a few feet ,kick and then rise back to its starting position.
Anyone have an idea that might not be too expensive that would allow the drop and then the retraction?
Thanks :jol:


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Another motor ?*

You could use another motor to move an arm that would raise the rope. On the motor mount a mag clutch. They are fairly common and can be found in 12 volt variety. 24 volt is more common. So you mount this motor to the tree with an arm mounted to the motor and clutch. The motor should be a slow RPM gearmotor with lots of torgue. Put a small pulley that will fit the rope on the end of the arm. Apply power to the motor and clutch. This will raise the arm and the rope. Once the arm is fully raised you cut the power to the motor, but leave the power to the clutch. These clutches are designed to stay energised, but you could also have a latch, but this would require more control. IE a solenoid to release. So now your victim approaches. You release the power to the clutch. The arm is released and the body drops and swings while you apply power to the wiper motor. Micro switches could control much of this. A micro switch could be set to provide voltage to the wper motor once the arm drops to its bottom stop. The motor to winch the body up could be controlled my a micro switch at the top of the arm movement. In this case the switch would be wired to run the motor until the arrm reaches the top. The motor will run during the prop activity, but that should not be a problem since the clutch is really the control. Now as to the clutch. Manual control would be the easiest. Again simple micro switch with a long cord so you can be away from prop. Or you can get one of those cheap remote controls. Bottom line. You push the button down to energise the clutch and hold until your victim is on target.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*A simple diagram.*

|------------------O--Rope Anchor 
| 
pully O-------Arm-----------------Motor/Clutch
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body

When clutch releases arm will swing down allowing rope to drop and swing to the right. You will want to put a fairly wide Y shaped guide to catch the rope and direct to the pully when you want to raise again.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

you can also use a pneumatic cylinder to raise and lower the rope. You would need a long cylinder though. Probably 36" or so.


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