# Small pulley Axworthy



## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

I made some mods today. New drive roller should improve reliabilty.

http://www.youtube.com/user/spinman1949#p/a/u/1/NglO0xx5e28


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Fantastic Spinman! I love the fluid motion of the system. I gotta build something like that one day. Have fun!


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

looks great...my favorite prop i hope to make some day


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

spinman1949 said:


> I made some mods today. New drive roller should improve reliabilty.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/user/spinman1949#p/a


Looks good. It's always nice when an idea works out.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

smooth and nice!


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Very nice! can you tell us what motor was that I could not make out what you said in the video?


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Stupid Camera !!*

I usually have fairly decent articulation, but for some reason this camera records me like I have mush in my mouth. The motor is a Pittman. It came from a machine my company produced. It is a 24 volt motor, but works fine on 12 volts for this application. One advantage of being a tech for a company that produces electro mechanical stuff !!!! Free parts !!! Just scored a computer. Also a nice 12 volt 9 amp power supply. It's good to be a tech sometimes.

Oh and the Axworthy worked flawlessly the entire night. It is fairly quiet as well. The only other thing I want to try for next year is to see if I can dye the line black.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

You used to be able to get braided fishing line in various colours including black - might be worth asking at your local specialist shop.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Thx Fritz*

I did a lot of searching for line on the web. The line I have is white with black as well. It is very thin. About the thickness of heavy thread, but flatter. It iis a braided line. I will do some more searching this year. I was going to try dyeing first, but I suspect nylon will not dye easily. I tried to dye the Dial Rolll On sockets and after two hours, they turned a medium grey.

ET I did some new searches, amd there is Black Dacron fishing line. Not cheap. 35$ for 200 lb test.

I will do a how to on this prop if anyone is interested.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Thanks for the update. A how to would be appreciated I always wanted to do one of these.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Will do*



hpropman said:


> Thanks for the update. A how to would be appreciated I always wanted to do one of these.


I can do a how to. What I am thinking is a how to based on common hardware everyone can find.


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## Dr Frankenscream (Dec 1, 2007)

spinman1949 said:


> I can do a how to. What I am thinking is a how to based on common hardware everyone can find.


Spinman1949,

That would be great if you could do a How-To. I had an Axworthy Ghost running this year. In fact, it received the most compliments.

I used a Dayton motor, bike wheels, and 40 lb. fishing line. Some how, it work all night on Halloween but broke several times when I first tested it. My rig was also very noisy. I'm looking for ways to improve for next year. Any advice would be appreciated.

Dr. Frankenscream


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*I will help as much as I can.*



Dr Frankenscream said:


> Spinman1949,
> 
> That would be great if you could do a How-To. I had an Axworthy Ghost running this year. In fact, it received the most compliments.
> 
> ...


When I designed my Axworthy I actually had never seen one. This dates back about 7 years. I never thought about using bike wheels. So from the very beginning I knew I had to use high tension to keep the line on the sliding glass door rollers I wanted to use. The sliding glass door rollers can handle a very heavy load and are well suited for this application. I use a bungee cord to pull the line very tight. It is attached to a swing arm that one roller is attached to. 40 lb line is not strong enough to deal with the tension placed on this line. I currently use 200 lb dacron line. It resists stretching as well.

As far as noise? Well if you stand under each roller you can hear it whirring, but overall at distance, it is relatively silent. I am a bit surprised that you hear anything from bike wheels, as they are obviously turning at a much slower RPM. My drive is fairly quiet with the Pittman Motor and the rubber to rubber drive. What I may try doing is use small pulleys with Oilite beraings.They could actually be quieter than the ball bearings the current pulley/rollers have. I was very surprised after replacing the drive roller plastic bearing with the oilite bearing that it ran totally cold..No apparent build up of heat. Keep in mind that I am a tech and I have some decent tools. I will do my best to design something that could be built with hand tools, but a drill press makes this project a lot easier. I will start on the how to when some time free's up.


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## DarkPassenger (Nov 7, 2009)

Now I gotta find some more details on this prop... I really look forward to your To Do.

I'm guessing it's possible to have multiple points/pulleys as long as tension can be maintained.

I also saw your 3 axis head prop (and 2 eyes)... Just floored, that is probably the best implementation I have seen. I'm not a big fan of talking heads, since they just don't seems especially fluid but this made me reconsider.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Thank you !*



DarkPassenger said:


> Now I gotta find some more details on this prop... I really look forward to your To Do.
> 
> I'm guessing it's possible to have multiple points/pulleys as long as tension can be maintained.
> 
> I also saw your 3 axis head prop (and 2 eyes)... Just floored, that is probably the best implementation I have seen. I'm not a big fan of talking heads, since they just don't seems especially fluid but this made me reconsider.


I will be working on the how to re the small pulley axworthy in the next few weeks. I have quite a bit on my plate. I am also working on a new and improved 3 axis design, and I am playing with my 2 axis eye design to remove all geometric error.

Re the axworthy. Yes you can run any number of pulleys and changes in direction provided you maintain the tension. I should also add that the weight of the ghosts or ghouls in my small pulley design is restrictive. You will notice that the ghoulies are spaced apart to reduce the number that will be on any given stretch between pulleys at one time.

One addition to the axworthy to allow for more weight would be to add a lead and trailing pulley at 45 degree angle. Tricky because a guide will likely be required to stop a tangle, but doable.


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## witch_flight (Nov 4, 2010)

spinman1949 your axworthy is VERY impressive. Were you ever able to post a "how to"? I would love to see the detail behind how you did this. Thank you


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

I totally apologize. I have been heavily involved in political issues and of course I lost a great deal of time re my 3 axis skull and 2 axis eye projects with the mfg who ended up wasting my time. Tell you what. I will work on a how to early this next year. I will see if I can utilize standard hardware. Maybe I will create a kit.


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## witch_flight (Nov 4, 2010)

That would be amazing and much appreciated. Thank you so much for offering to take the time to document this for the rest of us.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

I can't say I've ever seen fake grass on a house lawn. Cool.

And I want your axeworthy. NICE.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

To all interested in small pulley axworthy.

Would you prefer an AC or DC motor? It could be made with a sewing machine motor. Only problem is a DC motor is easier to control speed. The motor on my unit is a 12 volt DC Pittman motor. But they are expensive. I got the motor because I work on machines that have them, so easy for me to get for free. Could not do that in a kit. Speed can be controlled by the size of the drive oring, So I could offer different size hubs perhaps. So if you guys want a kit with an AC motor we can go that way. Then adjust the speed by using different hubs and orings. I found some 100 lb test black line. This is braided line. I can buy a large quantity and then supply like 300 ft in the kit. In general I would not try to span between pulleys much more than 50 ft. It is also very important to have very sturdy mounts. The only pulley not on my house is braced by a pipe. The unit ran flawlessly this halloween and very quiet.


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## witch_flight (Nov 4, 2010)

At least for myself, I can go with either a AC or DC motor. I like the idea of using DC with a speed controller to have maximum control options. What size motor are you running? Do you have the model number of your pitman? I already have 60lbs black fishing line (1000M) and I have a bunch of 3" rubber bow rollers I was thinking of using for the pulleys. If those make sense to even use??? The braces I planned on building would be mounted to the house and large tree trunks. So hopefully those would be sturdy enough. Finally, I am actually not going to be using ghosts, but rather flying witches so I would be curious as to the maximum weight the ghosts/witches can be. Thank you so much for your guidance...


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

Witch_Flight,

Bow rollers? Are those the rollers you find on boats? Those should work well. They are deeper than the sliding glass door rollers. Do they have a bearing? Ball Bearing is preferred. As far as the line? The key is it must not stretch. You can't use monofilament. Re the max weight. Now that is the big question. The heavier the item the more the line sags and the the more tension you must put on the line to reduce the sag. With such small pulleys you can't afford much sag at the pulley. The other thing you need to control is bounce. All of my ghouls are shock cord mounted. I have a near 180 degree turn at the drive, so it helps to counter the momentum. I have tried different ways of attaching the hanging leaders. The best so far is to take the main line and make slip knots. The thread a hanger through the knot. Then I tie a knot in the hanger and cut a cut one end about 1/4 from the knot. Leave the other end about 8 inches. Then I light the short end and allow it to burn down to the knot. Blowing it out as it reaches the knot. Then I pull the slip not tight and pull the hanger down. I use bullet connectors to attach the hanger to the shock cord that my ghouls have attached to them. Without the shock cord, when the ghouls change direction they would yank right off the cord. My guess is the larger the item the more shock cord you will need to deal with inertia. My ghouls weigh about 6 oz so you need to take that into consideration. I don't think you could go over a pound with this set up. And you will likely need to watch your spacing to make sure two witches are not in the same span. On mine two ghouls are on the same span at times and it seems ok. But again my ghouls are pretty light. I have some bigger one's that we hang on the house. I will do a test with them when I do the how to. One thing I have been thinking about is mounting the pulleys at a slight angle. One could also place an angled guide pulley just before the turn pulley. Need to be careful here. If the witch is swinging you could catch the pulley if it is too vertical. Personally I think if you use pulleys that can handle a lot of weight, you should be able to bowstring tight the line and not worry too much about walk off. My next drive I am going to use a ball bearing rubber caster. The kind you would find on one of those big mechanics roll around tool boxes. One thing I think you will need to do with your heavier props is change the drive to a fix mount on the main drive roller and have the motor mounted on a swing plate. That way you can tension the motor to compress the Oring against the drive caster. My current design using the tension of the line to pull the caster against the motor. But I do not put that much tension on the line. One reason I am not sure your 60lb test will be strong enough. My current line is 150 lb test and even it stretches when I pull it tight. It is Tuf Line brand. 

Well hopefully this will give you some help. I will start taking pictures and doing the how to soon.


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## witch_flight (Nov 4, 2010)

spinman1949,
Thank you again. This is helpful in guiding my thoughts about how I want to do this. I saw the boat bow rollers on this Axworthy video and thought that looked pretty cool and the rubber would create some friction to prevent the line from slipping. Not to mention the rubber rollers are like $3 each and come in lots of different shapes http://www.thecasualtraveler.com/Axworthy.htm.
The down side of the bow rollers is that they do not have bearings. However, I am considering using a drill press to enlarge the holes and then adding some (bearings are cheap and easy to get online or I might steal some from old bike parts I have laying around). Here is a picture of the bow roller: http://www.etrailer.com/Boat-Trailer-Parts/Redline/404800.html?feed=pn

As for the line, good to know. I just ordered the 60lbs line online for like $20. So I will return it and get heavier line.

Connecting the ghosts to the line: I would love to see a picture of this as I am not completely following the description. I was thinking about something like the below. Have you ever tried this settup? http://ravenmanor.com/projects/Axworthy%20-%20Connecting%20Ghost%20Line.gif

Just out of curiosity, what model Pitman motor are you running?


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Couldn't you adjust the speed with a light dimmer?


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

*Light Dimmer*

Not sure on a light dimmer for a motor. Maybe one of our electronic guru's can answer that.


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## spinman1949 (Jun 29, 2009)

Witch_Flight,

Now I see what you are talking about. Called bow because they look like one. I was thinking of the pulleys used for routing the lines that rig sales.

Those are very cool. Much better than my pulleys. With that real wide span, there is no way the line can walk off. The drive is simple as well. Of course he had to use a bigger motor, because it is direct drive. As long as the rubber version is real hard rubber, the line should not cut into the roller. My first design was direct drive on the motor, but the pully was very small. I had a plumbers washer for the drive. One of those fat compression washers that are made from what appears to be nylon cord and rubber. But the contact area was too small and the line would slip and cut into the roller. That is why I went to the O Ring to Caster drive. 

As far as my motor? Well it is not a pittman it is a globe. Part # 537A270 I found some similar on ebay. It is around 4 inches long and 2 inches round. 24 volt. There is a lot of 12 on ebay right now, but these motors are 40 volt motors and they have a gear pressed on the shaft. Probably would not run well on 12 volts. 
Re the connection for the props. The diagram you shared is good. I like the idea if the fishing swivel. Up near the line like that would not likely work with my narrow rollers, but should work fine with the bow rollers. I still like my narrow rollers because they have a bearing. To put bearings in those bow rollers might get expensive. If they work ok as is they are probable very quiet. I am going to look into them myself. They are more visible of course.Depending on how they are made, you could cut most of the top portion off. Maybe even some of the bottom as well. I will buy some and see what I find. I have a drill press, so I can also look at the bearing option.


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