# Spirit Door Opening Mechanism- anybody use?



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/door-opening-prop/176428.uts

Did anyone get a chance to use this? I was thinking about building a small plywood2'x3' door to open a showing a static prop inside. It SEEMS kinda chintzy, but I like the idea where (I THINK) it attaches to the hinge pin and opens it that way. If not, any idea how to "roll my own" on this?
Thanks in advance


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## DarkOne (Oct 16, 2012)

This is definitely a wiper motor opportunity. If you want the door to open and then close you could use the park feature to stop it after it closes until retriggered. Just like how many open and close casket props.



If you have a reversible motor, an Arduino could be used with an H-bridge so the door could open, pause for a predetermined time, then close again.


Either option could be paired with and audio player like the Catalex MP3 board or something from MDFly.


Any specific questions?


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I would concur with the wiper motor... looks like Spirit is 'sold out', anyway.

I ran a wiper motor to open the door on my 'coffin-o-candy' this year... (my 'touchless' candy delivery system) It was kind of a 'throw together at the last minute' thing, so I just used a double pole / double throw momentary switch. Center is off, throw switch one way to open, throw the opposite way to close.

The door ended up being fairly heavy... slats of ~1x4's with cross braces...so I had to crank voltage up to about 42V and run a motor speed controller. With more time I would have balanced the door a bit better and /or added spring loaded counterbalancing. In the end, it only needed to open/close three times for a total of 6 ToTs... and hoping I won't need 'touchless' candy for 2021!!

But overall, the wiper motor would likely be more powerful, more universal, easier to get and have more options.


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## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

Do we know of a motor similar to what Spirit used? I have a Monster Guts wiper motor here, but I would have to connect that inside the door and its rather bulky. I like the small size of this one , and it must be fairly strong if it did open a hollow core interior door. The way to mount the wiper motor would be inside the door/housing on the side wall, which would make it difficult for me to access to hook up (I'm thinking a small doghouse with a small plywood door, opening periodically to show off the prop/hell hound inside). I could do it with a linear actuator, but I would love to know if the motor used by Spirit for this prop is available standalone. Thanks for your help!


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## VIGILANTE (Sep 19, 2010)

That door mechanism seems to have poor reviews. Not surprising, considering how flimsy a lot of Spirit props are. This would be really easy to replicate using a small gear-motor and prop controller using whatever type of triggering input you wish.

https://www.facebook.com/ReapersBoneyard


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