Ideas for a timed book drop

618 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by captpete, Oct 20, 2015

atlas

Discussion Starter · Oct 19, 2015

Hi!
I am trying to create a timed book drop, such that two or three books are pushed off the bookshelf in a ghostly manner at a specific time. I am having a hard time coming up with an effective strategy for this. I cannot damage the bookshelf, power sources are near by, and resetting a prop would not be a problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

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Ugly Joe

· #2 · Oct 19, 2015

A rotisserie motor driving a shaft with some cams attached seems like the easiest way to go for this. You can stagger the rotation of each cam to push a book as needed. No holes or damage need be done to the bookcase, as it would be self-contained. Problem would be; it could only work for one shelf unless you drill a hole for the camshaft to pass through to the next shelf over.

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captpete

· #3 · Oct 20, 2015

Ugly Joe said:
A rotisserie motor driving a shaft with some cams attached seems like the easiest way to go for this. You can stagger the rotation of each cam to push a book as needed. No holes or damage need be done to the bookcase, as it would be self-contained. Problem would be; it could only work for one shelf unless you drill a hole for the camshaft to pass through to the next shelf over.

You could make it fairly compact by having the cams inside the fake books. A spring would return the book to its place after the cam pushes it out.
The end books would not move and they would contain the shaft bearings. The end book could also contain the drive mech. A belt or chain drive reduction would allow a small motor to turn it.

Pete

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