# First animated coffin test



## Otaku

Hi all,
I got the wiper motor installed in the Buried Alive coffin last night, and tested the lid opening capability. The motor handles the load easily. Right now the the control circuit isn't installed, so the lid opens and closes repeatedly. After the controller is attached, the lid will do an open-pause-close sequence. There's more detailing to do on the coffin, but I should have all the assembly and circuit installation work done by the weekend. Here's a short video of the lid in action:

Coffin lid test 1 video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06425

More to come...


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## Terrormaster

Wow, nice work Otaku. Lookin good. Any close up shots of the crank mechanism? Looks like a basic crank with a hinge on the side where it connects to the lid.

-TM


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## Otaku

Terrormaster said:


> Any close up shots of the crank mechanism? Looks like a basic crank with a hinge on the side where it connects to the lid.
> 
> -TM


Thanks, TM. Not yet, but I'll get some posted soon. Yes, it's a simple crank mechanism but I had to attach an extension to the wiper motor crank tab.


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## Aelwyn

Cool! I love how it wobbles....looks like someone really trying to get out.


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## TommaHawk

Neat! This will work with your timer/control circuit (you posted a video of it a while ago) - I liked that mechanism.


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## Otaku

I installed the control circuit tonight and adjusted the opening angle. Works very smoothly when the lid doesn't go past 90°. I'll get video this weekend.


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## Lilly

cool Otaku

where do you get these wiper motors?


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## Moon Dog

Nice work! No binding and smooth action!


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## Otaku

Lilly, I get the motors from Monster Guts. I used a 5VDC power supply with the motor set in the "slow" position for this prop. Get the "Power Pack" deal - it comes with the connector which makes attaching power very easy. Dean's a great guy, and the motors are powerful and very quiet.


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## Dr Morbius

Lookin great so far! Nice job.


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## Scary Godmother

Okatu it looks great! I am also trying to open and close a coffin with a wiper motor and mine opens only on top just like yours, I would love to see close up pics of how you attached the motor and what the arm looks like.:devil:


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## Otaku

Thanks SG!
I'll be taking lots of pics this weekend. I'm also using a custom circuit that will open the lid, pause for a few seconds, then close it again. The circuit uses an opto-sensor to index the motor at 180° (lid open), then lets it complete the remaining 180° (lid closed). It then waits for the next trigger. I'll post pics of the motor attachment and crank arm.


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## ScareRookie

*Great Idea*

This is a great idea and I have a special interest in learning to work with motors for animation. I have been collecting all kinds of different motors that I have seen used for many different props. Do you have other props that you have put together. I would like to see more.


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## Restless Spirit

Very Cool, Otaku! Great setup. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
What do you have planned for the inside?


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## Otaku

I used the same motor for a small rocking chair. The skelly will be singing to her doll as she rocks.

MOV06407.flv video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06407


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## beelce

Cool man...


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## edwood saucer

Great job - can't wait to see the new pics!


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## Otaku

Restless Spirit said:


> Very Cool, Otaku! Great setup. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
> What do you have planned for the inside?


I'm going to recycle the groundbreaker from this prop. I'll attach one hand to the edge of the lid to make it look like he's pushing it open. I'll drape some cobwebs on him, and use a pulsing light to illuminate the inside. I may install an MP3 player to give him a voice. Haven't decided on that yet, though.

GDBRKR.flv video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/GDBRKR


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## jdubbya

That's a great prop. I'm also wanting to animate the lid on my coffin so am looking forward to the close ups of the crank mechanism. I got my last motor (power pack) from Dean and I'll second that Monster Guts is a great place to do business with.


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## Fetch

Great job so far! Can't wait to see the finished product.


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## Otaku

Here's a video of the coffin with the motor controller installed. The lid opens and closes once when the PIR is triggered. The pause time is set to 6 secs. It also has an MP3 player controller (the blinking red light) that will play a scream when the lid opens. I'll assemble the remaining panels after I get all the rest of the internals attached. I have a lot of pics of the motor linkage etc, but I don't have a good JPG editor here; I'll post those pics on Monday.

Coffin lid one-shot video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06435


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## Dr Morbius

Oh man that works perfectly! I 'll take two please.


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## Terrormaster

Man thats lookin sweet - I'm with Doc - put me down for one 

-TM


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## Otaku

I put my old latex "Burnt Bob" groundbreaker in the coffin last night. I need to add a bit more lighting, as you can't see his face in the dark. Here's a video of what the TOTs will see:

Coffin with corpse video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06444


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## scream1973

Looking good Otaku


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## Otaku

Thanks, everyone. I'm really gonna have a lot of fun with this one. I'm trying out various screams with it tonight. My neighbors dog is going crazy.


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## Otaku

For those interested in the linkage and motor mounts, here's some pics.

http://halloweengallery.com/displayimage.php?pos=-3814
http://halloweengallery.com/displayimage.php?pos=-3816
http://halloweengallery.com/displayimage.php?pos=-3813
http://halloweengallery.com/displayimage.php?pos=-3815
http://halloweengallery.com/displayimage.php?pos=-3812

Let me know if you have any questions.


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## HalloweenZombie

I would say TEST SUCCESSFUL! I like it.


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## Dr Morbius

Is that an Mp3 player attached? Nice work on the linkages..gotta love rodends!


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## Otaku

Dr Morbius said:


> Is that an Mp3 player attached? Nice work on the linkages..gotta love rodends!


Yes, that's one of the cheapo MP3 players. It's controlled by a timer that's triggered by the PIR. The speakers will mount on either side of the corpse below the edge of the wood.


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## dave the dead

Too Cool ,Otaku! Your controller really turned out great! Great alternative to pneumatic opening.


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## Otaku

Thanks, Dave! Avoiding compressed air was the inspiration for this. It's true that one compressor can run more than one prop, but it did make for an interesting challenge.


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## hpropman

Otaku, can you show us more of the circuit that you used to detect the 180 degree movement of the wiper motor. I am good with electronics and microcontrollers so if you want to take this off line feel free to email me. [email protected]


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## buckaneerbabe

Otaku, I love the idea of using the rod end. I would've never thought to use that, but it makes a lot of sense. What exactly is a pulsating light, please forgive my ignorance but I haven't ever seen one I think. 

Oh almost forgot, I love this prop, it turned out great!!! Nice smooth motion, I can't wait to see it all set up in your haunt.


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## Otaku

Thanks to all for the compliments!
buckaneerbabe,
A pulsating (or pulsing) light is one that simply dims and brightens, over and over. Kinda like the pulsing LED eyes that some haunt suppliers sell, except it pulses AC so I can use a bright bulb.


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## Terrormaster

Bloody brilliant! Looks great Otaku and thanks for the pics, the rod end is pure genius - thats exactly what I needed to figure out how to do the flapping wings on Beatrix.

-TM


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## spidermonkey

Great Job!

I am glad to see that the wiper motor works. 
I want to do something similiar but keep it simple.

Thanks


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## lowdwnrob

That thing is awesome. Will you be doing a complete how to?


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## Otaku

lowdwnrob said:


> That thing is awesome. Will you be doing a complete how to?


Thanks, Rob!
Eventually. There's a couple of custom hardware parts that are needed, and I have a PDF with dimensioned pics. It's posted in this thread, along with links to the parts list and circuit drawing:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=10832&page=3

I didn't take a lot of pics during the build, but I can try to get some motor location measurements etc to assist in duplicating the lid opening mechanism. The coffin itself is the same one that is shown on the Shallow Valley web site (the "Buried Alive" coffin).


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## Otaku

Here's the finished product. Let me know if the scream works, I'm still not sure about it. Wish my cam would take better low-light shots - it really looks better in the dark. When the lid opens, you can't see the flashing red LEDs very well in this video. Next up: arguing witches!

MOV06464.flv video by Otaku1031 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid73.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/Otaku1031/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@i231/Otaku1031/MOV06464


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## ATLfun

I know this one is an oldie but it is a goodie. The movement is so smooth. Maybe next year.


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## bnbowman78

Otaku said:


> Thanks, TM. Not yet, but I'll get some posted soon. Yes, it's a simple crank mechanism but I had to attach an extension to the wiper motor crank tab.


 Did you ever post that crank diagram - I have the motor, but I'm lost on the crank.


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## Otaku

Check post #27 in this thread for some linkage pics. A couple of the links are broken, but they should give you a good start. I used 1/4-28 threaded rod and two 1/4-28 female rod ends to attach the motor to the lid. My version uses a custom circuit board with a PIR trigger to pause the motor at the halfway point for a few seconds while the corpse talks to the kids, then closes the lid. PM me if you need more pics and I'll email them to you.


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