Thread: Electric Chair Help

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This is my first year making an animated prop, I am trying the Mad Max electric chair. I have seen on some sites that the Saturn wiper motor is the best but can be hard to find. The one on Monster Guts looks like it moves too slow at even the highest speed to match that of Max's. I want this think to shake like hell. Any suggestions on the motor or what to use as a power source would be great. I want to go all out for next year with a prop 1 and all that but this year i am keeping it simple due to time.

I used a variable speed jig saw that I bought for 10 dollars at a used tool shop. It needed to be variable speed so you have more control over exactly how fast or slow you want it. I used a dryer pipe clamp around the trigger to hold it down. I turned the safety plate 90 degrees and drilled four holes in each corner and bolted it to the back of one of the cross members of the chair. The saw, the plasma light and the strobe light were all plugged into a power strip that was hooked into a remote that would normally be used to turn on a lamp or something like that from across the room. Found in the secruity section at Lowes.

Here are some pics.

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YouTube- Electric Chair

i did this last year. it was a hit. if you brows around my channel on youtube i have the completed chair and whole yard haunt setup

I seem to be having a problem pasting things in the message box....so I will finish this when I work that problem

yeah i used a spring as well in mine.. you just couldn't see it because of the black hood but if you watch the head movement you can tell... it adds a sort of uncanny realism that is slightly unsettling

I don't remember what type of motor I used but I know it was a older motor (1970s or early 80s) and more than likely a ford or Chevy. Most motors are different when it comes to speed and older motors seem to run at a faster RPM.

While the speed of the motor is important the linkage and the spring I used in the head of the prop was just as important to the over all movement.

The spring let the head flop back and forth, different from the body so that adds more movement to the prop. I will walk you through how I did it.

The motor and looking at it I would say it's off a Chevy. Fords usually have a wide built on crank.



I left the connection of the crank arm/piston (the metal strap ) loose as you can see in this picture. Leaving a little wiggle room lets the crank arm give the prop a little jerk instead of a back and forth even movement.



Here is what I used for the spring...i'm sure many other springs would work also as long as it's stiff enough to hold up the head. But I had a few of those laying around so I used one and it worked out fairly well





I cut a hole in the neck of the head, put the end of the spring in it and used greatstuff to hold it in place. Then I used a washer and bolt to connect the other end of the spring to the PVC and tape around the middle of the spring (adjusted till I got the head movement I wanted) .



This is a back view of the spring in motion



The test on the head movement....also you can see in this picture how the loose connection on the crank arm affects the movement


This picture shows the connection of the waist to the chair and the motor

1. 3/4 inch pvc

2.C clamp that goes over the waist on both sides ....the waist is 1/2 pvc and it slides through the 3/4 inch tee. This lets the body go back and forth

3. motor

4. crank...again I used something I had laying around. This prop doesn't need a large crank 1 1/2 to 2 inches to get great movement

5. is the crank arm/piston and like always I used what I had. The strap isn't connected to the pvc but wrapped around it an a screw holding it snug but not too tight. This lets it move a little and gives the prop a different movement



Here's the final test run before I moved it to the Electrocution tunnel I used it in




I hope this helps........also the arms need a loose connection at the shoulders or elbow so the movement will look more natural and wont look stiff


I used the 12v connection on a pc power supply to power my motor. You could also use a automobile battery charger

Thanks everyone, I already have the spring in the neck. The entire skeleton part is finish except the epoxy, I will do that once the chair is done and know where is arms need to be. I will see if I can find an old motor somewhere.

I have seen people use an old drill to animate their electric chair. They used a round piece of plywood with a bolt in the center and a bolt on the edge like a crank type mechanism.

found a Dayton motor at work that we use to build some of our games that I wanted to use until I saw the rpm's .... 1550. I'm pretty sure his head might fly off with that kind of power so I'll head to the junkyard this week.