# Lid Banger????



## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

:xbones:Okay. I just finished my nice new wooden coffin - a' la Doctorshadow, (can't thank you enough for the idea to use those fence pickets), I have a couple of nice skeleton hand/arm combos ordered, got my hacked motion sensor switch all made...now what I need is one of you gurus to impart me with the wisdom required to make that lid banger. I understand the general concept, I even have a few small motors, but they are all 4 - 5 rpm, and I assume that to have the correct effect I would need something a little faster. What sort of rpms am I looking for? And how is the best way to proceed? A cam assembly? What have others done? Is there a page that has a fairly simple "how to"? I prefer to stick with electric systems, since I don't have all the stuff to go pneumatic. Any advice would be much appreciated.:jol:


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Do you mean something like this?:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=16694

There are some pictures in the thread of the cam mechanism and discussions about the motor used.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Yep that is what I was looking for. I thought to use a cam mechanism similar to that. They use something like it in a musical device in the museum I work at, although a much more delicate set up. I just figured I could copy it, but I wasnt sure it would be strong enough and I wasnt sure a 4 rpm motor would do. Guess I was wrong. Thanks for the info.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

jaege said:


> Yep that is what I was looking for. I thought to use a cam mechanism similar to that. They use something like it in a musical device in the museum I work at, although a much more delicate set up. I just figured I could copy it, but I wasnt sure it would be strong enough and I wasnt sure a 4 rpm motor would do. Guess I was wrong. Thanks for the info.


 Hi jaege, the motor I used on the tombstone is not strong enough to lift a wooden top the size of a coffin. I made my sides out of wood and the lid is 15 x35 inches, and 2, 1 inch layers of foam board. But I have told everyone else just to use 1 inch of foam board. It will still give them the slam sound and the motor will last longer. The motor I used is 4 to 5 rpms. You really need a wiper motor or a strong Dayton. The Dayton is probably around 80 bucks. So the wiper motor is much cheaper. You just need to wire it on the low side. Here is a link where a friend of mine made one. She wanted to use the Tombstone rig for it also. Scroll down and you will see the inside of the coffin also. Very easy. If you run into trouble feel free to pm me.

http://www.floridahaunters.com/forum/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1243198896/165


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Thanks. I would have hated to build it and find out that my little motor wasn't strong enough.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Watcher, 

Are you suggesting that a 5-6 rpm motor is enough to give a nice banging effect inside the coffin? I thought I would need something with higher rpms, but consider, while I am very familiar with motors, this is the first animated prop I will be building, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I was surprised to find out that 4-7 rpms would be an excellent choice for the FCG.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Seems to me that 5 RPM might be a bit slow for a good bang effect. You won't get a wiper motor to run that slow without significant torque loss. With a 5VDC power supply at slow speed, they run at ~15 RPM.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I checked the motor sight and see what you mean as regards motor speed. An rpm of 20 or so should do what I want. Thanks Otaku.


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Well if you watch my video If you can get it in real time. You can see it the closed time is about 3 seconds. The opening time to the slam is about 12 seconds. It gives a nice creepy effect because as it starts to open you see the light the as it gets brighter you see the head and the arm reaching out. So before you know where the slam comes from, you start to see the movement of the light and what is inside. You forget about the slam and then there it is. It isn't going to scare a adult, but just add a creepy factor to your grave yard. If you go from 5 rpm to 20 rpm, your open time will be around 4 seconds. So there isn't any sense in trying to put anything inside. No one will have time to see. Also instead of getting a startle slam. You will get it about every 3 to 4 seconds. I would think that would be annoying. Unless you are using it similar to some thing trying to get through a door or MIB. The lady I gave you a link to used the wiper motor on low. Not sure about her power supply, I told her she might have to drop it to 5 volts. Hers gose from open to close about every 6 seconds. She rally doesn't have any close time. But the weight of a wooden coffin lid will slow the 15 rpms on a wiper motor down. The estimated rpms should be either non load or standard load. Which would be wipers. Otaku can tell you more about the specs I am sure. I don't no that much about it. I just build stuff and kind of feel the weight as I turn it through the motion. Then try different motors are cylinders till I get what I want. Sorry I haven't been around my DD is getting married this Saturday. So I have been really busy. Do post when you get done. Always like to see what everyone comes up with.


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## asterix0 (Nov 5, 2008)

Have you considered making a cam? Here's a link to one used to shake a lid for a crate monster http://cindybob.com/halloween/mib/.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Actually, thats the way I had decided to go, with the cam, buts its nice to see one in operation. I had a far more complicate idea as to hooking it up. Yours looks a lot more practical and easy to accomplish.

What speed (rpms) did you use with your motor?


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