[Minnesota82]

Hello to anyone reading this!
I need some help. My Pumpkin Guardian of the Grave telescoping module isn't working at all, he won't rise up. I tried to open the thing up but there is a stripped screw so I won't be able to open it. If anyone knows what is wrong with it and knows a solution or has one that I could buy that would be great.

 

[JW Halloween]

Do you hear the motor running and it just doesn't move or is it really dead?

 

[Minnesota82]

Do you hear the motor running and it just doesn't move or is it really dead?

I'm gonna check right now

 

[Minnesota82]

I'm gonna check right now

Ok I had his volume at mute and put my ear by the telescoping module and heard nothing.

 

[Minnesota82]

Do you hear the motor running and it just doesn't move or is it really dead?

I put my ear by the telescoping module and heard nothing besides some clicking noise

 

[Restless Acres]

Fair warning, I took apart a working Pumpkin Guardian and was not able to put it back together. I was a little cavalier opening it for sure, but it has the funkiest mechanism I have ever seen. It rises in the unique circular fashion it does because of a coiled metal ribbon. I have significant experience with prop repair, and this is the only working prop.i ever opened and wrecked. Be very careful opening, pay careful attention, and take photos at every stage.
Also, while stripped screws suck and are annoying, if that is a significant obstacle for you, I would not bother trying to repair. There are no truly easy fixes.

 

[Minnesota82]

Fair warning, I took apart a working Pumpkin Guardian and was not able to put it back together. I was a little cavalier opening it for sure, but it has the funkiest mechanism I have ever seen. It rises in the unique circular fashion it does because of a coiled metal ribbon. I have significant experience with prop repair, and this is the only working prop.i ever opened and wrecked. Be very careful opening, pay careful attention, and take photos at every stage.
Also, while stripped screws suck and are annoying, if that is a significant obstacle for you, I would not bother trying to repair. There are no truly easy fixes.

Alright thanks. I have the right screwdriver but for some reason the screws don't want to come out. What I might try to do is get as many screws out and try to pull it from there

 

[Minnesota82]

Fair warning, I took apart a working Pumpkin Guardian and was not able to put it back together. I was a little cavalier opening it for sure, but it has the funkiest mechanism I have ever seen. It rises in the unique circular fashion it does because of a coiled metal ribbon. I have significant experience with prop repair, and this is the only working prop.i ever opened and wrecked. Be very careful opening, pay careful attention, and take photos at every stage.
Also, while stripped screws suck and are annoying, if that is a significant obstacle for you, I would not bother trying to repair. There are no truly easy fixes.

Do you happen to have a picture of the inside?

 

[Restless Acres]

I may have some photos, but unfortunately they would not be dispositive, as the coiled band sprung out at me when I opened it, and I could never quite figure out how to put it back properly. I had never had a prop do that before, so was unprepared. Also, if I recall correctly, I had or caused a couple of screw mountings around the spring housing to break. Using less screws/connections when putting a prop back together is usually no problem, but this prop had very tight tolerances and nowhere to make additional connection points, which compounded my problem of getting the tightly coiled band back properly.

 

[Restless Acres]

I may have some photos, but unfortunately they would not be dispositive, as the coiled band sprung out at me when I opened it, and I could never quite figure out how to put it back properly. I had never had a prop do that before, so was unprepared. Also, if I recall correctly, I had or caused a couple of screw mountings around the spring housing to break. Using less screws/connections when putting a prop back together is usually no problem, but this prop had very tight tolerances and nowhere to make additional connection points, which compounded my problem of getting the tightly coiled band back properly.

 

[Restless Acres]

Here are the only photos I took at the time. My memory was faulty; it was a ridged plastic coil, like a gear chain, not a metal one. You can see it. It is under tension but isn't affixed in one end, which is why it spring out when I took off the circular cover. You can see where I tried to jury rig screws to hold it back on, but the narrow rim gave me fits. So trying to jury rig the cover back on, while trying to figure out the plastic gear chain (which I had never seen before) was just too much of a hassle. Especially as, my opinion, the quality of the materials used on the head and fabric are very poor, likely because of weight issue (the unique mechanism to rise the Pumpkin in a circular fashion is very weak), but still.