# CrazedLemming - Flying Crank Ghost



## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Starting this thread as a place holder for progress pics as I go.

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I've wanted to build a FCG for a while, but haven't had the time or place to put one until now.

I deal with a small art and clothing shop here in Oklahoma City, and the plan is to hopefully do a nice enough job to put it in one of their windows as part of their October display. (The owners are horror fans, and it's a natural fit for the store.)

Since mounting something to the ceiling is out, I'm having to build a free standing installation which complicates things a little. On the upside, the visible window space is about 4'x4', there are outlets just below the window, and it has plenty of possible black light orientations.

If things go right, I'll be borrowing heavily from heresjohnny's ghost with the extra head & hand movements. I absolutely love that version.

So far, I have ideas, sketches, and a pile of raw materials. I'll get some stuff thrown together tomorrow.


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## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

looking forward to watching this build.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Yay! This will be cool to watch your development and ideas come to life. I can't wait to see your final display.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Made some progress. Ignore the zip ties and crookedness; It's all still in the experimental stage.

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*
The Wings *

I'm trying to build the ghost with thin wall 1/2" pvc (much lighter than sch40). So far, it's looking like it'll work. Here's the first wing prototype.



















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*The Stand*

The stand is coming together pretty well. I don't have my motor yet so I can't do the detail work of building the mechanics in yet.

It's about 7ft tall and made of 1 1/4" sch40 pvc. It survived the first stress test. I hung about 8lb of weight at the weakest point. That much out on the end bent it forward a little, but it didn't collapse or fall over even though none of the connections were glued yet. The goal is to have the top, bottom, and legs be separate sections for transporting and storing.

The stand by itself:










The stand with mock mounting bars strapped to it and 8lb of junk at the weakest point:










Quick test with half a ghost prototype:


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I am looking forward to watching this!


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Thank you for the inspiration! Your stuff is awesome.

I'm looking forward to seeing it done and working. I have a long ways to go before it gets there though.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Nothing new...just posting my window measurements as a backup in case I lose my notes.

Visible window: 55" wide x 51" tall
Sill: 27" off ground x 9" deep
top decal: 12-13" tall
Space above window: 4"


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Dang! I got a nice &20 motor to make one of these this year and I have no idea what box it got packed in for the move. I look forward to seeing your results.


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## CrazedHaunter (Nov 18, 2012)

Ok! I'm watching this one. Have to rebuild mine because it got trashed when we moved this year.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I've named it The Hyperchicken

1/2" thin-wall pvc (not sure what the technical term is for the stuff). He weighs about 1.5lb so far. I'm haven't decided how I want to do the head yet.

I'm trying to get away with using the rope trick from my backpack monsters for the shoulder joints. I'll have to see if it has any wear problems once it's running.

It's a little unnerving at this point. The linkage in the arms really gives it more life than a pile of plastic pipes should have.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Not much accomplished this week. Too busy, too poor, or avoiding 100+ degree heat...

Finally made my bearing and drilled mounting holes in my crank arm though. I still haven't decided how to attach the motor to the frame.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

CrazedLemming said:


> Finally made my bearing and drilled mounting holes in my crank arm though. I still haven't decided how to attach the motor to the frame.


I cut the cable tie holding the capacitor to the motor so it would not be in the way, and then mounted the motor to the frame with a pipe strap (nothing fancy). The capacitor can be mounted wherever, as long as it is in reach of the motor. The motor does get hot, so I would not mount it directly on the pvc frame.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I was thinking about throwing together some kind of bracket with some angle steel to bolt it to. That way it has plenty of air space for cooling and I can just mount the bracket to whatever ends up working best for going across the pvc stand.

Cutting the cable tie...I'm definitely going to do something about how the capacitor is mounted. I ordered 2 of the motors and the tie one broke just sitting in the box the other day. Luckily it did it now. It would suck having the capacitor fall into the crank arm after it's up and running.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

The hyperchicken lives!

It needs a lot of work still, but I'm counting movement as major progress.






I went quick and dirty on the motor mount since I had most of the materials sitting around.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

LOL, it does kind of look like a featherless chicken:googly:

I'll be interested in seeing how dressing it out affects the movement. It has a bit of a wobble which is not typical of an FCG, but which does have its own unique charm


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

It's a top-heavy 7ft tall pvc structure, a lot of it is held together with zip ties, the rope/pulley situation is a mess, and it was in a gusty 25-30mph wind. Wobbling was inevitable.

I was happy to get everything mostly working correctly. It's a lot easier to troubleshoot and fix it from that point.


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## shaunathan (Sep 18, 2005)

This looks great so far! I would have been worried that a PVC frame at this height wouldn't be able to hold that that weight, but judging by your video it looks great so far! This may be the year I do a FCG, assuming I can get a motor in time. How are you powering the motor?


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## dudeamis (Oct 16, 2011)

you should bring it indoors and reshoot the video, looks awesome though, good job.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

shaunathan said:


> How are you powering the motor?


It's a 120v motor I ordered from a surplus company. I just hooked it up to a cheap 2-wire extension cord to get it going for testing. The final setup will need some rewiring.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I haven't fixed anything yet, but I threw some cloth at it and framed a face hole for a better test run.

I'm digging the crazy side to side wobbling it has going on. It gives him more character than the standard up and down mechanical look.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Its working!

Adding the cloth should dampen the movement some.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I finally cleaned enough garage space to move him inside and I'm getting closer to getting the mechanical bits finalized.

I added a brace to eliminate some twisting in the motor mount.

The cords were catching in the space beside the pulley rollers, but I fixed it with a mix of squishing the pulleys in a vice and gluing thin washers in a couple of them to make the gaps smaller. (The gap was smaller than all the washers I had on hand so my washers are actually thin brass grommet parts that I flattened with a hammer.)

I still haven't gotten to fleshing out the ghost, so it looks like crap still. The eyes are just some led tea lights duct taped in to get some idea how he'd look with eyes.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The eyes are going to be a great touch. He's looking good even unfinished.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

PROGRESS! It needs a lot of finishing and tweaking, but I'm getting closer... and he's creepy up close.






Here's one lit with just a little UV flashlight

































He's a bit large.


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## dudeamis (Oct 16, 2011)

looks like its going to reach out and grab ya, awesome work


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

WOW he looks fantastic in the UV clip - very creepy. Great job!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

He is one spooky looking dude, I like the way he moves.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

That turned out really good, love the movement!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I really like this guy's look and movement.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

The added articulation to the arms are a great idea!
The final prop looks great with lots of movement.
Great job CL!


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I added some more counterweight and greased the lines to get everything moving a little more smoothly. Also I added some cloth under the head and on the hands to fix a few issues. It's looking like he'll be lit from underneath by a 48" black light in the final installation, but there will be ambient room light behind him so I'm not entirely sure how the final effect will look.

Tomorrow is the big day. I've dismantled the ghost and loaded him in the truck to go install him in the front window of a small art/clothing shop for the season. This Friday is their area's big monthly event when extra traffic comes through so the goal is to have him setup and working for the hundreds or thousands of people who will be wandering around that evening.

I'll hopefully get some good photos and videos after he's installed. And maybe some reaction shots from the crowd Friday.

Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and inspiration.



Lunatic said:


> The added articulation to the arms are a great idea!


I borrowed the idea from a ghost that heresjohnny posted a while back. That little mechanical linkage really brings the thing to life.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

I really like the movement you got. Great looking prop.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Installed the ghost today. Even on a Wednesday with light foot traffic, about 20 people stopped to look at it in the couple hours I was tinkering with it. And kids seem to absolutely love it.

I'll have to go get more photos and videos when the sun goes down, but here's what I got this afternoon in full sunlight. The sun completely overpowers the LED eyes and black light under him.

It turned out there's a steel pipe attached to the wall above the window as a curtain rod, so I ziptied the top support to that to help stabilize the whole thing a little more. It helped take some of the shaking out of the movement.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

He looks pretty damn cool even in broad daylight.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I went back over and hung around for a little while this evening. The lighting effect turned out pretty good. Even with the room lights on behind him, he glows really well in the evening. I used Rit Whitener & Brightener on the cloth.

At least 3 or 4 people wandered in _just_ to compliment the ghost while I was there. 5 or 6 wanted to know if I was an engineer. (It's a little weird having to say "No...this is a hobby. I print tshirts and make shiny trinkets for a living." several times within a couple hours.)

Kids literally cannot walk past it without stopping. One little girl ran about 50ft in tap shoes to come see it. "OOOOOOOOO! [click, click, click, click, click, click, click]" - It's an artsy area with dance studios around.


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## FrozenPumpkins (Jul 5, 2009)

Wow, he looks fantastic! Maybe the shop owners would allow you to tack up a black dropcloth or sheet behind him to improve the lighting even more?


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

FrozenPumpkins said:


> Wow, he looks fantastic! Maybe the shop owners would allow you to tack up a black dropcloth or sheet behind him to improve the lighting even more?


I've thought about that, but I think that would hurt it more than help. As it is, if someone doesn't know what they're looking at, the support structure sort of blends in with the store fixtures behind it and the ghost looks like it's floating in the room so the effect looks neater than if he was isolated in his own little enclosed space.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

The guys who run the shop posted this great little video including a chunk with the room lights turned out.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=425008367600255

He's still running and grabbing attention daily. Children, drunks, and engineers are fascinated by it.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Wow, with the lights off, you don't notice the frame at all. Makes for a very effective presentation.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

Long story short, my original ghost got destroyed a few months ago and I'm throwing together a new one.

The new ghost is a bit bulkier. He has a base of aluminum window screen instead of last year's pipe insulation and duct tape, and he's pretty close to using a whole 25yard bolt of cheese cloth.

I'm still working out a few bugs...getting the counterweights right and I need to replace some frayed lines.

Test with black light and an RGB kaleidoscope LED. (more green in person)





Test with black light and two red kaleidoscope LEDs (no where near as pink in person)


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

When the head comes up and you see the two lit eyes, that's a great effect.

I really like his hands.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:^ I agree, the hands really set it apart and the side to side motion. I kind of love him!


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## spokanejoe (Sep 16, 2006)

Sweet. Nice and spooky.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

The hands are pretty easy. Foam taped to pvc tees and animated with the pivoting arm design I borrowed from someone else's ghost.

The side to side motion is accidental. It's a side effect of the head and body lines being pulled slightly sideways instead of straight up and down.

I finally got him installed in his spot for the season. For some reason, it kept fighting me while trying to balance the counter weights and then suddenly everything worked smoothly...It's probably a bad idea making a ghost this heavy.

It is really creepy when you're standing there watching it and the head turns to stare at you.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I am glad to see this guy again, is it in the same store as last year? I may have to add some eyes to mine, I really like the effect you get with yours.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I love it when "accidents" (as in, the unintended side-to-side motion) in a prop end up giving a great result.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

heresjohnny said:


> I am glad to see this guy again, is it in the same store as last year? I may have to add some eyes to mine, I really like the effect you get with yours.


Yup. It's in the same store again, but a more prominent window. They had people start asking if it would be back by about late-Aug/early-Sept. Tonight is their neighborhood's big monthly art walk, so this should be the biggest evening for the ghost.

The LED tea lights walmart is carrying now make really easy eyes. The plastic housings make them easy to mount, and the internal bits in the new version have been simplified so it's way easier to open them and solder to a bigger external battery pack than it used to be.


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