Thread: Rocking chair prop... hey, Otaku!

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I'm hoping Otaku sees this...

I've got a lovely adult sized rocker that is over 40 years old, not antique, but enough age on it to sort of look like one.

I want to have it rock gently, scaring the crap out of any TOTs or party guests that happen to notice it. I want to have the actual chair empty and covered with dust cobwebs.

The cobwebs and aging I can handle, the motor setup I need help with.

I saw Otaku's rocking chair - creepy little girl skelly (awesome!), but I'm not quite sure how the motor attaches to the linkages to the chair.... the video I found cuts out right as he moves to the motor area.

I don't want to do the scary-terry version where he uses a lawn chair, I want to hook a motor to my rocker. It's not a big deal to drill a few holes or anything on this either.

So Otaku or anyone that has a simple way to do this (and extra credit is given for any way to do this with the motor/mounting out of sight so it's really not obvious)

Thanks!

Just attach a small motor to one of the legs with a cam and just have it push off the floor a little each time it comes around causing the chair to lean back.

Hi FG,
I'll take some pics of the chair linkage in the next couple of days and post them for you. I'm not sure that my linkage will work with a full size rocker, though. I have seen a neatly done linkage for a full size rocker somewhere - I'll see if I can find it for you.

Frankie's Girl,
Here's a link to the full-size rocking chair. It's not a how-to, exactly, but you can see how the linkage is designed.

Haunted Rocking Chair at Hill House

THANK YOU Otaku!!!

I did several searches over the last couple of days, and kept striking out - the link you posted is pretty darn near perfect for what I want... you are awesome!

(and thanks, Pod for the info too - I'm one of those mechanically challenged folks that has to see pics - LOTS of pics to get any sort of clue on how to put stuff like this together. )

No problem, FG. The way I attached the motor on my chair was to use a central wood shaft (1" X 1") with a hole drilled in one end to attach the motor linkage. This minimized the tendency of the chair to rotate while rocking. I still got a bit of rotation, though, so I used a small bungie cord to anchor the central bar to the board that the chair sits on. The bungie is located close to the center of the rocker, so it doesn't pull the chair in any direction or interfere with the rocking motion - it just holds the chair snugly against the base board. You'll see how this works when I get the pictures for you.

FG,
I have pics and video - I don't have a good .jpg editor on this machine, so I'll post everything in the morning.

Here's the video and pix of the linkage and how I mounted it:

HalloweenGallery.com - Talking skellys/Rocker 1
HalloweenGallery.com - Talking skellys/Linkage 1


Rockerlinkage.flv video by Otaku1031 - Photobucket

Thanks, Otaku for the pics and video - it all makes sense now!

I have a couple of antique china dolls that I think I may try out in the chair once I get this built...

Looks great, Otaku! My wife procured a rocking chair through Freecycle and has informed me that I will be making on of these for the front porch this year. This really helps!

I have a question: is the motor you used an auto wiper motor? If so, what make/model is it from? I like the speed that you have it set at. Did you use 12V DC?