Shawn I would like to use your measures to your bottom tomb base and measurements to your linkage if you get some time would you please share.... You rocked your build!
Fantastic!! I love the red led lights!! Did that bank of lights do all the red in the first section of the finished build video? Do you have measurements of the linkage?? I am going to attach mine to the top of my new pillars this year so I have the entire interior of the pillar to work with!! and full access via a hinged door on the pillar!!
Scare Hollow Thanks. I do not have the measurements, it is more or less a trial and error thing. It all depends on how much room you have to work with, and how much movement you want. The red L.E.D. lights, the one row, did alright in laminating the prop, however I would have preferred more light, so I may adjust some things this year, maybe add another row.
Smart move to draw the arc radius of all the moving parts onto the base. Such a simple way to make sure you've got clearance for wires & lights; it's one of those :::slaps forehead::: "Why didn't *I* think of that?" moments.
Haha! 2:30am. I thought I was the only amateur haunter who'd rather be building Halloween props in the middle of the night than watching the garbage on TV or sleeping :) Great work! Thanks for sharing.
You used flat bar to PVc correct? Did you just use bolts and washers to connect the pieces? I am going to use 3 pieces of PVC pipe and I got them cut to the right length, but I am wondering what to use for the linkage connections.
+Scare Hollow -- When I've made connections like this for a motorized prop, I used 1/4" bolts, flat round washers, and a nylon-thread locknut. Pre-drill a hole through the pipe where you want to connect everything using a drill bit that is 1/16" thicker than the bolt (so for 1/4" bolt, use a 5/16" drill bit); this will give the bolt a little room to rotate. As you connect the flat bars (and/or PVC pipes) to make this rotating arm, use a round washer wherever there is going to be friction--1 washer between the head of the bolt and the flat bar, 2 washers between 2 bars that are going to be connected, and one at the end of the bolt before you put the locknut on. These cut down on wear and tear from friction. Then screw on the locknut, but you don't want to tighten it down against that last washer I mentioned; leave a small gap between the locknut and washer so it can still move freely. They nylon thread of the locknut will bite down on the bolt's threads so it won't come loose. I hope that wasn't TOTALLY confusing. Good luck!
+Steven Derricott nope totally understand!! I got heavily involved in making my horse drawn hearse that I probably won't have time to finish the leering skeleton for my pillars this year but who knows. I changed my arch config so it takes up more of the pillar top than before, so I have rethink how to mount this guy to my pillars, or find another location for it. Thanks for the info and i'll keep it for reference when I go to finish it. I got my mech to work and it looks great. Once I finish the prop i'll post a video and link it here.
+Scare Hollow -- Oh good I'm glad it made sense. Good luck with your projects. We're just starting on our haunted house, so we've got a ton of projects ahead of us, including adding some leering skeletons to our pillars. Here is the page for our big home haunt we do every year: m.facebook.com/darkrealmutah?ref=bookmarks. Take care!
Shawn I would like to use your measures to your bottom tomb base and measurements to your linkage if you get some time would you please share....
You rocked your build!
Fantastic!! I love the red led lights!! Did that bank of lights do all the red in the first section of the finished build video? Do you have measurements of the linkage?? I am going to attach mine to the top of my new pillars this year so I have the entire interior of the pillar to work with!! and full access via a hinged door on the pillar!!
Scare Hollow Thanks. I do not have the measurements, it is more or less a trial and error thing. It all depends on how much room you have to work with, and how much movement you want. The red L.E.D. lights, the one row, did alright in laminating the prop, however I would have preferred more light, so I may adjust some things this year, maybe add another row.
Smart move to draw the arc radius of all the moving parts onto the base. Such a simple way to make sure you've got clearance for wires & lights; it's one of those :::slaps forehead::: "Why didn't *I* think of that?" moments.
Haha! 2:30am. I thought I was the only amateur haunter who'd rather be building Halloween props in the middle of the night than watching the garbage on TV or sleeping :) Great work! Thanks for sharing.
You used flat bar to PVc correct? Did you just use bolts and washers to connect the pieces? I am going to use 3 pieces of PVC pipe and I got them cut to the right length, but I am wondering what to use for the linkage connections.
+Scare Hollow -- When I've made connections like this for a motorized prop, I used 1/4" bolts, flat round washers, and a nylon-thread locknut. Pre-drill a hole through the pipe where you want to connect everything using a drill bit that is 1/16" thicker than the bolt (so for 1/4" bolt, use a 5/16" drill bit); this will give the bolt a little room to rotate. As you connect the flat bars (and/or PVC pipes) to make this rotating arm, use a round washer wherever there is going to be friction--1 washer between the head of the bolt and the flat bar, 2 washers between 2 bars that are going to be connected, and one at the end of the bolt before you put the locknut on. These cut down on wear and tear from friction. Then screw on the locknut, but you don't want to tighten it down against that last washer I mentioned; leave a small gap between the locknut and washer so it can still move freely. They nylon thread of the locknut will bite down on the bolt's threads so it won't come loose. I hope that wasn't TOTALLY confusing. Good luck!
+Steven Derricott nope totally understand!! I got heavily involved in making my horse drawn hearse that I probably won't have time to finish the leering skeleton for my pillars this year but who knows. I changed my arch config so it takes up more of the pillar top than before, so I have rethink how to mount this guy to my pillars, or find another location for it. Thanks for the info and i'll keep it for reference when I go to finish it. I got my mech to work and it looks great. Once I finish the prop i'll post a video and link it here.
+Scare Hollow -- Oh good I'm glad it made sense. Good luck with your projects. We're just starting on our haunted house, so we've got a ton of projects ahead of us, including adding some leering skeletons to our pillars. Here is the page for our big home haunt we do every year: m.facebook.com/darkrealmutah?ref=bookmarks. Take care!