Thread: Merry Go Round

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We are doing a haunted playground/nursery for halloween this year and this is the merry go round we I built. Im not great with building things especially when it comes to making things move. So my question is; Does anyone have any suggestions on making my merry go round move slowly around?

How about an upside down ceiling fan? I am sure you can find a cheap one on craigslist or your local Goodwill store.

How much does the prop weigh? You could use a wiper motor. Is the base that blue/pink board at the HD. Shiny on one side, blue on the other. Also the PVC is light so I guess it weighs around 3-5lb. which should work fine.

I think a ceiling fan will be very fast even on the lowest setting. Just hook it to the low setting which will give you around 40RPM per min. Supply less power to slow it down even more.

Is it kind of like a lazy susan?
You might could use a motor with a small rubber wheel on the shaft. Mount it so the wheel is pressed against the side of the merry-go-round to make it turn as the motor spins.

I think you are being too modest, that looks great!! I agree with the wiper motor idea. Good luck.

You could also use a rotating tree stand like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-Rot...item4cfa5f6c19

Originally Posted by DaveintheGrave

Is it kind of like a lazy susan?
You might could use a motor with a small rubber wheel on the shaft. Mount it so the wheel is pressed against the side of the merry-go-round to make it turn as the motor spins.

That's how many of the real carnival rides (Gravitron, small roller coasters, etc) work. You haven't seen scary until you've seen a Gravitron full of kids spinning at high speed with a flat tire, so it's wobbling all over the place.

Thanks for the ideas. I really never thought of rigging up a rotating xmas tree stand. I ordered one last night so we will see if that works...

The rotating tree stand will work great!!!! We just built a merry go round for our babies and we used a very inexpensive rotating tree stand. Piece of PVC thru the middle acts like a tree trunk.

I used a rotating christmas tree stand. The one at Walmart for $30 is rated at 85 pounds.