Thread: spinning head prop for doll room

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ok hey everyone...for halloween 2011 i am making a home haunt and id like to have a doll room and my sister is the actor in the doll room since shes about 10 as a distraction the room will be lit blue with one lamp light by the dresser in the opposite corner of the guests ... but by the bed id like to have an exorcism kinda prop where its a small like 3 or 4 foot girl that when motion activated her head spins just head not body... she will be holding a knife too...

i want to know how about going to get the head to spin cheaply im not looking to spend 100 dollors on a motor to spin the head...also i need something that i can plug into a motion sensor so it can be activated...

ive seen these spinning motor things around will this work///???
http://www.mooncostumes.com/item/14116

these arent bad in price...

if anyone has a tutorial or has done this before and can show pics or videos thats be great!

Thanks everyone
Chris!

what you have there will work but there are other ways to do it...how handy are you with building props and such?

im pretty handy with props i like to go for the cheaper alternative side of things something to put forth more effort and time! whatcha got in mind of other ways to spin the head?

there are a number of different motors that you could do this with, though I don't know that it would be a whole lot chaeaper....perhaps even more money depending whether or not you have some of the things at home.

Hacking a motion detector to do what you describe is pretty simple, the only concern that I may have is the noise from that motor...and the RPM. Surpluscenter.com sells a 12VDC, 4 RPM motor that was originally designed to open and close heater and A/C vents in cars. They are usually about $2-$3, but you still need a power supply and a means to hook up the motor.

here they are: https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?Item=5-1587

power supplies are usually easy, check goodwill or another thrift store for them in electronics. These motors are usually about 4 inches square and about 1 inch thick, so easy-ish to hide on the body of your doll prop depending on the size of the doll.

hooking these up is a breeze, just a 1/4-20 bolt down the throat of the motor and two connectors that slide on the installed terminals. Use a couple of fender washers, one inside the head and the other on the motor side of the bolt...compressing the "flesh" of the doll head, use a nut (nyloc would be best) to lock everything in place and prevent any slippage of the prop.

these motors aren't particularly strong, so you don't want the head to be too heavy. This design won't recenter the head or anything either, just spin it for a given period of time until the motion detector quits.

hope it's clear, I am at work for thenext 2 hours or I would post a pic of hwat I mean to clarify.

Pretty cool idea, whether you go with my description or your own, post a vid so we can check it out!!!

dK

haha thanks man! its veery hard to clarify how its put together by reading it is ther pics or a turorial video i can see i would like to use that motor though?

i also have a clown life size with handless hands and i wanted to get him to move u seem to be the motor expert how would it be best to get him to move!
also something to project sound from... i need somthing small and specific!

Thanks,
Chris!

You want a slow rotation like exorcist or a fast rotation like beetlejuice?

I'm trying to brainstorm a method that would recenter the head so when the Tots see it, its not looking backwards or whatever. If you use the motion detector, you could maybe get it timed out to stop in the right place when the motion detector cuts off from its usual activation time.. but what if someone keeps moving in front of the detector, you'd be screwed. Only thing I can think of is a prop controller, but thats definitely not gonna be cheap.

I'm not being very helpful, sorry.. just commenting that you've got me thinking on this one lol

no your being helpful lol! i think im goin to use a drill with a circular mount on a rod and the circualr mount will mount to the head and spin it!
m having trouble finding a possed girl head or mask!
but yes a slow rotation is best!

Well, I can't come up with anything clever, so i just went back to the KISS principle..

if your sister is gonna be in the room anyway, you could certainly conceal a momentary switch and just have her cut it on and then cut it off in the correct position



Or if you don't want to go to the trouble of wiring in a switch, just use a power strip with on/off

You could just use a simple foam wig-head very lightweight if you go with a low-torque motor.. pait it yourself or get a cheap latex mask. Maybe Terra will chime in on this.. she's all kinds of artistic and I'd almost bet she has an inexpensive solution to this one.

i think because its the distraction if it goes offf conatantly it might draw more attention i have time to figure it out haha
i gott a clown prop im working on too ill post pics...
im trying to get his amrs to move or something to move about him!
thanks everyone

and as for the doll again i might use the drill and have it triggered on and off by my sister she can press it to actuvate it and press it again to shut it off then do her scare and when they leave right next to the doll room out the window is the cemetaey so guests walk along the outside and enter back into the maze going through the bg hallway.. so its not a major point...

as for me im in the butcher shop part time... as the creater of the haunt i do go out to talk to desks and see how to improve im big on the voice of the people!

any prop ideas for my haunt would be awesome animatromics or anything!
please help out!
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