Thread: Need help - wriggling bodies and opening drawers

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Of course, the links I saved for these projects are now dead, so now I need some new guidance!

I am looking to do 2 things:

1 - I have about 8 life-sized "bodies" made of foam and styrofoam, wrapped in pantyhose and hung by a meat hook in a large clear plastic bag. I need them to wriggle. This can be constant, not motion-activated. The mechanism needs to be able to be secured within the body or attached to the bag without moving itself downward or tearing up the bodies/getting tangled in the pantyhose. It also needs to be small. It can run off of a power source, it doesn't have to be battery operated.

2. We have a wall of morgue drawers that are - right now - just painted foam core over empty holes. I want to make 5 or 6 of drawers open and close at random, maybe opening 8-12" before shutting, and ARE motion activated in sequence. I am planning on using standard cabinet drawer glides (I have about 2' of space behind the wall) but am unsure of what mechanism to use to (a) get the drawers to move in and out by themselves and (b) be motion activated in sequence (I know how to make ONE drawer open by a motion detector, but can't figure out how to trigger the others from there). My first thought was a wiper motor, but doesn't that move in an arc? That would screw up my tracks pretty good.

Any ideas?

Stacy

1) Bumble Balls ( Crazydog brand Petsmart)
2) reverse piston with forward/backward moving arm?

What are you hanging the body parts from? Is there a way to make a mechanism that vibrates an entire hanging frame, instead of each individual body part. There was a thread that recently surfaced about a hang man that uses a fan as an oscillator. Perhaps if you attach it to some sort of free hanging framework horizontally you could make a swinging vibrating frame.

Fro the drawers you could use a wiper motor for each drawer. If the wiper has a "park" position use that for full close. a 6" arm on the motor would give 12" of movement. A comtroller would simplify the random movement

First thing I thought of for the morgue drawers was a variation on the haunted bookshelf:

http://demonware.horrorseek.com/bookshelf.html
http://www.firediving.com/projects/h...ookshelves.htm

There has to be a way to translate this over to a larger version that would work for the drawer movements.

For the bodies, you could use something like this:
http://www.spirithalloween.com/produ...haunted-hedge/

This may be a bit complicated but. You could spring load all the drawers to be open. Then use a wiper motor like a winch. A pulley behind each drawer on the wall and a pulley on each drawer at the back except for the last one. That drawer will have the end of the cable attached to it. All the drawers will have a simple spring loaded catch to hold it back. The last drawer will have a flexible string attached to it's front between it and the next drawer. This string will attach to the catch for the next drawer. Each drawer except for the first will have a string attached to it's front on the side of the next drawer and that string will attach to that drawers catch.

So this is how it would work. The wiper motor would run in one direction until it pulls the cable tight. this will pull all the drawers closed. All the drawers will latch closed. By using a heavier spring on one door, you can use that drawer to control the clutch on the winch. I would use a mag clutch for that. So the control drawer will close a micro switch that will be wired to normally closed. So when the drawer is released the power to the mag clutch is on and the power to the motor is on. So you want the very first drawer to have the heavier spring. This will insure that it will be the last door to close. Now for the tricky part. You will need to delay the switch from returning to normally closed to allow the final drawer to fully open before the mag clutch and the motor get energized to pull all the drawers back to a closed position. This could be done with a circuit, but you could go low tech. A simple shock absorber from a off road car will do the trick. You will need a strong spring micro switch with a long tang. The shock absorber will attach to the tang from the back and will slow the micro switch from returning to it's normally open position. This will give the first drawer, the last to open time to open before the switch supplies power to the motor and clutch. One solenoid triggered by your motion detector will be attached to the latch on the last drawer. The cable will free spool because the mag clutch is de-energized. When the drawer reaches it open stop it pulls the latch to the next drawer. Then the next and the next until the final drawer latch is pulled. This drawer will open and the delayed switch will start the motor and turn on the mag clutch and the cycle starts over. The only electronics you will need is a motion sensor circuit that can activate a single pull solenoid.

the bodies are easy to deal with.
small motor, and an offset weight on the shaft.

Should have similar results to an out of balance washing machine.
You can secure the device in a small wooden/metal/tin box and just stuff it anywhere inside you bodies.

And how about this for your haunted drawers



set up a pivot arm and linkage. Add a return spring so the top drawer is always open when powered down.

Place a wiper motor (with its original arm/post) to push the pivot bar out of the way (closing the top draw and opening the bottom draw at the same time.)
and the return spring will open the top drawer and close the bottom.

You could run a similar set up with air also.

hth

Icy,

Where is the chair video? Did you get the drive worked out?

I've been so busy, I just haven't had time to make it to the other side of london to pick up derailer gears.
Once I have those, I'll be well on my way.

Cool beans