# Fence Shaking Ground Breaker (advice please)



## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

This year I'm looking at making a new addition to my graveyard. A ground breaker that's near to and holding on to the cemetary fence. I want to intermittently have him shake the fence (maybe motion triggered) as ToTs pass by. 

I'm looking for suggestions and advice on the shaking mechanism.

Thanks,
-TM


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## TommaHawk (Sep 18, 2007)

Perhaps just this? http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms/pages/crankslider.html Or the like?

A fast RPM motor would shake the bejeezus out of your fence.

Maybe dangle an old cowbell on the shaking section.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I used a small DC motor with an offset weight on the shaft to shake the bushes at my house a couple of years back. That particular motor is no longer available from All Electronics, but any small motor with a shaft collar attached to it would work. You can even hot-glue the weight to the shaft. Mount the motor on one of the groundbreakers arms, or if he's light enough, inside the chest. Remember that a small motor that's rated at a high RPM will spin a lot slower with the weight on it. If you need some really violent shaking, you could try a wiper motor set at high speed. I've attached the how-to for building the bush shaker. It uses a manual switch to trigger the motor, but that can be replaced with the trigger of your choice.


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## scream1973 (Dec 23, 2007)

Gary , Just looking at your shaker.

I am just trying to determine what all the power needs were for.

9volt ran the LED's 

Walwart ran ??

2 AA ran motor


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

The wart was for the relay that activated the LEDs and motor. This was one of my first attempts at circuit assembly, so it's not very efficient. This thing still scares the crap out of the TOTs, but last year I noticed that Gemmy is selling the same concept, with blow-molded eyes and a "motion" sensor for $15 bucks. They called it Creepy Peepers, or something like that. There were two versions, one with eyes only, and the other with the shaker.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Otaku, How big of a motor would I need to actually shake a pvc cemetery fence to give the illusion that the ground breaker is pulling back and forth on it? I saw a tiny vibrating motor on All Electronics which was designed as a cell phone vibrator. It doesn't look like it would do anything more than buzz the pvc.

TommaHawk, I like the cowbell idea - gives the illusion the fence is actually metal.

Thanks so far guys - great ideas,
-TM


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## scream1973 (Dec 23, 2007)

Ahh ok.. I kinda figured it might be something like that but wasnt sure as the walwart could probably be made to provide teh voltage for the whole gambit.

Cool idea tho.. I have some big bushes at the front of th house that that could work with.. Unfortunately they aren't close to where the kids would be


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

scream, you're right, it sure could.

Terrormaster - I'm trying to find a pic of the motor I used for this thing. I can get a pic later today so you can see just how small it actually is.


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

Terrormaster the motor would not have to be that large, a cell phone one would be to small, what mechanism you use depends on the movement you want and the motor location. If you want the corpse to pull the fence towards it a simple crank arm with the motor in the corpse would be best. if you just want to shake the fence a motor with an offset weight would work attached to the fence. Just remember a motor with an offset weight will stress the motor bearings and may cause pre-mature burn out.


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## gorn7 (Sep 20, 2006)

What about using an old jig saw(with the blade removed)? I used one I bought from a flea market for $4.00 on my electric chair a few years ago and it really shook the seat good.


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## grim reaper (Aug 18, 2005)

what about like this in the body but fatser rpm http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms/pages/crank.html


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## eanderso13 (Apr 10, 2008)

I like Gorn7's idea!! I was thinking maybe an air cylinder with a big bore and a short stroke, or possibly a double-rodded cylinder with some weights on the end set to move back and forth at a quick rate...could get pretty thrashy!


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Another idea - remember the fluorescent starter flicker circuit? Could that be used with a wall wart and a 12VDC pull solenoid (with spring return) to make it retract and release quickly? Attach the solenoid to the fence for a fast pull/release action. I don't know if the wart would like having rapid voltage spikes thrown at it, but the solenoid wouldn't mind.


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## Brad Green (Jul 29, 2004)

A fast n' dirty method to get your fence shaker up and running would be to use a drill motor. Others have used them for the thrashing effect on electric chairs, just reconfigure the throw for a back and forth motion as opposed to the typical up and down. Here's an example of the chair mechanism http://www.thesavages.com/HalloweenChair.htm It uses the same principle outlined in the flying pig site posted by Grim Reaper with a hand drill for power.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Thanks for the tips everyone. The drill is nice Brad (wish they had video on that site) - I'm thinking more in the line of driving something through a DC wall wart though. If the circuit I'm building for my talking skull works (based on HeresJohnny's modifications to the Scary Terry Audio Driver) I want to alter it to latch the motor on intermittently (like the Talking Fish's tail and body) while the skull is talking (like dacostasr's talking ground breaker). Granted I could just use a DC/AC relay to do it as well... Depends on how desperate I get ;-)

-TM


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