Hello everyone,

I am new to the yard haunt and I have lots of ideas but most require motors. Can some tell me what motors beside wiper and rotissere (sp) motors can me used. I am not scared of electronics and motors and bashing them to do what I want I am just dumb when it comes to torque and RPMS. Has anyone used turntables, ice cream makers, humidifers,those over the tub whirlpool things foot massagers you all know all the odd ball stuff at thrift stores! Thanks for the help looking forward to some good stuff.

No one has any history with other motors? I really hoped someone had some EXP with them?

Andy,

I found a gear motor from Electronic Goldmine a few years ago that was 6 R.P.M and had at least as much torque as the infamous Dayton motor. It sold for $20. A board member by the name of Joel commented about it first. I should have bought all they had at the time, because they sold out soon. What I am saying is, keep your eyes open and take advantage of sales when they occur.

Google in "low rpm gear motor" to see what you get. For an AFG, I am partial to ceiling fan motors, which are cheap (or free) and do a great job of powering the ghost. After the initial layout of the power wheel (sheave), the rest is simple. No, they don't have a lot of torque, but they are engineered to run forever (well, almost) and area controllable with a simple light dimmer switch to fine-tune them.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Ron

I'm using all kinds of motors, wiper, Dayton, servos, but I used this motor Burden Sales Surplus Center Item Detail for the first time this year in some leering props and I also see where someone used it for a slow moving FCG this year as well It's got good torque, I used mine for a few days and didn't have one issue with them. I forgot to mention they're only $3! A great deal indeed!

It really depends on what you want to do. A lot of the things 3-axis skulls, some of the singing pumpkins, etc. use servo motors. Others use wiper motors for some of the pop ups and other props. Others use gear reduction motors. Most of what I have seen is usually low RPM, high torque motors. Again it depends on what you want to do, when you figure that out check the threads here or post a question and some one will help you !! There is a TON of talent here,and welcome to the forum!!

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Money won't buy you happiness, but it will buy me another case of beer

I used a floor-standing fan motor this year for an oscillating "Fan-man" this year (who later became known as Fan-Tom because I'm lame like that). It worked well until it started raining, and then I think I may have shorted the motor, because it stopped working. If you live in the desert, it might be a great idea - it was perfect until the rain because it was so quiet.

__________________
Recipe for haunting success-

Artist's eyes, surgeon's hands, and the heart of a child.

As has been said. Motors of all kinds can be used for props. For instance I am using a relatively high RPM Pittman motor in my Axworthy. It probably runs at 4000 rpm. Of course it drives a larger roller which reduces the speed of the Axworthy.

Just remember that you can trade RPM for torque using reduction. Friction drives work well in some applications and they are easy to change. Gear or chain drives are another option. Gearmotors are always a good choice and easily found. Electiric window motors are very useful.

With DC motors you can change speed easily with a variable resistror or POT. Keep in mind that in this case reducing speed also reduces torque.

I've used this motor for about a dozen different props.
It's even on sale now.

SALE! Super Power 12VDC Gear Motor-The Electronic Goldmine

Okay thank you all for the help so far and the many websites you are suppling they are helpful and the motors are the key word cheap!! However to expand on my question even more if you all do not mind. What should a used motor say on it like I ran across 1 amp 60 cycles is that strong enough? I am looking to do a few things:

Having a witch still a kettle
kicking legs
popups out of graves or behind tombstones
an axworthy

all motor no pneumatic someday I will do pneumatic but need a compressor first.

Again thank everyone for the help and the ideas and the webpages I am attempting to get an understanding on torque and amps etc.

Andy

The Burden Sales Surplus and the Electronic Goldmine appear to the essentially the same motor, however the Electronic Goldmine "sale" price is still double the Burden Surplus price. I bought 4 from Burden and really like them. I also discovered that a 1/4 20 bolt was just right. I powered a peeper head and another prop with them. When i called Burden Surplus, they also helped with the ordering of the wall warts I purchased to power them. My biggest question for next year is how many of them I could really power from one wall wart.

There is also a place that sales reindeer motors -- cwebdirect.

If I needed more motors, I would go with Burden -- unless there was something else I was getting from Electronic Goldmine and the shipping was combined.