Thread: The Spider - My First Prop

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Ok, I have been lurking a bit on this forum, but decided it was time to be a more active participant. Last weekend I completed a working version of my first pneumatic mechanism. First, many thanks to everyone who posts on this site – without reading your input I would have made countless errors.

Below are a picture and a video of the prop. It is basically a large spider made out of PVC, that jumps off the web to unsuspecting TOTs. (Currently, the spider is not attached to the prop, but is hanging upside down in the garage.)
I still have a couple of to-dos mainly paint the entire thing flat black to make it blend in and to use something besides scrap wood for a counter weight.

Also, I used the ladder system for the counter/ reset weight because the spider web gets supported in the middle by this ladder. I found that as long as you paint it black, most people ignore everything underneath a spider web even though they can see it.

I am open to any comments or criticism, so please post them.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Jim

It looks like the video did not take. So I am trying again.

Jim

Edit: I can't get it to embed from youtube, so here is a direct link:
Edit 2: Apparently, if you just put the link it embeds automatically. Cool.

YouTube - First Prop

contratulations on your first mechanical prop and more than a month before the big day..LOL

I have found that springs work better than weights are reset mechs as momentum can be a problem when you get lots of weight moving. Also, makes for a tighter assembly usually.

Congratulation on the Prop, I'm sure you scare the ??? out of some of the tots and the parenets too.

Here's some links that I have found helpful

Halloween
Mechanisms and Movement