Thread: Free-fall spider

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Hi all....hope everyones Halloween and Holidays were good.

Thinking about this years prop possibilities and had this idea:

A large spider dangling above the TOT's and when activated, comes falling down...to a certain SAFE point. Then would retract back up.

PROBLEM: need some sort of motor, with a clutch I guess, so that when released, it free-spools.........

Any ideas?

Not totally free-fall, but you might be able to use a seat belt motor like this to raise and lower the spider.

How big are we talking? I have a turantula sized one that is motion activated. Picked up a couple years back.

Here is the one I have, purchased from a different source though.
Dropping Spider - Spider Of Doom - Decorations & Props

Bigger would be better! Maybe 16-24" diameter......
I like the largest one in your link, Dealer! (a tad out of my budget)

Thanks for the help, guys and ghouls. Keep the ideas coming please.

I tried to find a link to one at a store but I can't so you'll have to wade through a video I made to see the dropping spider I got at Michaels for $10 clearance. It was originally $20. It works great and I think is big enough to scare anyone. It drops fast! Fast Forward to 2:40 to see the spider drop:

YouTube - Halloween 2008

Thats pretty cool, Terra. And thanks for the help/advice.

Question for you: How is the upstairs window done on your house? The knives being thrown, etc.?

That's called Hallowindow. It's made by one of the members here, Mark Gervais AKA Skeletal. Hallowindow - Mark Gervais

I projected it using my laptop hooked up to an InFocus projector and a WalMart white shower curtain. I routed the sound through a lightning machine and some speakers I threw out of one of the side windows. The kids LOVED it! They were like zombies on my front lawn staring at it. It was like a bunch of free animated props. Hee!

You might beable to make something like this work Herbach & Rademan, electric motor, power supplies, timing motor, solar panels, fans, transformers, H: Spring Wheel Winch

I ran across these a while back on SurplusCenter.com and thought they might be useful for dropping a prop like that. You would have to wire in a switch to reverse the polarity for winding it back up, though.

Burden Sales Surplus Center Item Detail

I plan to eventually order one for experimentation.