Thread: Arrgh!!! Frustration!

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I am so aggravated right now I could... Ok, I've been revamping my FCG and found out not to long ago, that the motor I'd ordered (a 7 rpm gear motor) was waaaay to loud for use in the FCG. No problem, except that I've already used my heavy duty rotisserie gear motor in another prop. No big deal, I have several different wiper motors laying around. That'll do the trick, right? Sure, no problem. I had one that was perfect for the job. I'd already cut the mounting points off the frame for the motor (the legs were designed to mount to a angled surface, so the mount brackets weren't on the same plane).

Being a bit narrower than the rotisserie motor, I narrowed the FCG frame by 3/4" to fit perfectly to the motor. Mounted the motor to it, tested it. Then I did some other little tricks like harnessing the wiring up nicely with braided sleeving, put quick disconnect molex & pci 4 pin connectors on the ends. Adapted an extra 80 mm cooling fan to cool the motor just in case it ran hot under full load. Threw in a set of 4" uv ccfl tubes/ballast so that it would be a modular unit. Idea being that you hang it, plug in, and switch on...done. Tested everything, worked perfectly.

I decided to add a little more bracing to the frame earlier, removed the psu, and cut the reinforcement gussets. Attached them, then reassembled everything. Now, I'm ready to hang the ghost and everything should be peachy, right? Wrong. I ran the power cord up to it, and flipped the switch and ***crickets***. You have got to be kidding me!?! Seriously? It was just working fine an hour ago! So, I start trouble shooting it, thinking maybe the psu just gave up the ghost (pardon the pun). Oh no. Unplug everything sequentially, and after the wiper motor is unplugged, it suddenly powers up. Of course, it's the $*#$!@#@* motor!!! After all of the modifications to accommodate this motor specifically, the $#$@*# motor just dies, out of nowhere. Yeah, with no freaking load on it at all. :/

Life has just urinated in my cheerios. /end rant

From the Glass Half Full camp... at least it happened in December and not wait until October!?!

UGH! bummer.... At least you know how to fix it. I'd probably still be standing over it going, "Huh?"

True, true. The real downer is that it's not a normal, off the shelf wiper motor you could simply source from any haunt supplier. Nor one that you could get at an auto parts store, and not even the OEM manufacturers any longer.
I am stuck having to source the exact same model of motor, & modifying it to fit. All because I narrowed the frame instead of just fabbing a motor mount plate, and no other wiper/gear motor will fit it now. Hence my frustration.

Pffft, chalk it up to a learning experience.