Thats where i got mine. (all electronics) But i live near them, so i was able to go and check it out for myself. i paid something like 12 bucks if i recall, and it works fine.
Another place that is just unreal [u]if you happen to live in the So Cal area</u> is Apex electronic surplus in Sun Vally. You will be shocked when you walk thru thier electric motor isles ! There are piles and piles of old surplus and used motors. Without exageration probably more than a million of em. 2 isles about 40 yards long piled almost to the ceiling with every kind of motor known to man. It took me a couple hours to go thru a fraction of them the first time i saw this. They also have an equally staggering selection of relays, pots and other electronic stuff. I got my axeworthy motor here for about 10 bucks.
I have a question (or two) regarding an idea I have for my FCG (well, not cranked yet, but that's why I'm asking):
I am suspending my ghost upon lines connected to a pole approx 30 feet away from where I will have my motor and crank set-up, but what I want to use is a pistoning rod, which will pull/push 3 levers (each a different length), which will in turn pull each individual line (head and 2 hands).
The 3 different lengths will allow different travel for each line.
For reference, I'm using a styrofoam ghost (skull, 13 vertabrae, 5 sets of ribs, 2 full arms) which I was able to suspend from one line last Halloween. I have given it an overall coating of black light sensitive paint (clear), used simple shredded chiffon for the burial shroud, set aluminum foil in the eye sockets and placed a "rave flasher" (tiny LED flasher with rare earth magnet) in the center of the eye sockets, which produced terrific flashing eyes.
I have it suspended about 15 feet in the air from one length of 50lb fishing line, directly over one of my gutters, where I have a black light shining upward (the gutter effectively shields the light from ground level, even at a distance).
The wind blew it beautifully (I live a half mile from the ocean in Southern California), and everyone loved it - most people couldn't figure out how I had it suspended in mid-air (there is nothing over it) - I even recall one father telling his children it was actually a hologram projected from one of the 2nd floor windows.
So my questions are:
Has anyone run a "long distance" set up before?
What kind of power did you need for the motor? I'm not sure what kind of tension I'm going to encounter - I'm not worried about snapping a line (I had to truly pull on last year's to break it), but I don't want to stall out the motor.
Sorry for the length, but I've yet to see anything that describes this on the net.
I don't want to talk out of school, being that there many of the guys that post on this site are much more experienced and qualified than I to answer your question, but personally speaking for the sake of being a Halloween lover, I think that your ghost must have been incredible. I often think of those types of ideas and concepts, being that I like effects that don't have a powering source or area in which viewers can "figure" out what you did. What was nice for my creation, is that in my area, no one other than "hard core" Halloweener's know what an FCG is, so when they viewed mine, I had the same sort of completely off the wall explanations surrounding me, for the ghost I created, when no one was even close. The only thing I would try is finding an appropriate conterweight setup. You will hear many pro's and con's concerning counterweights. Like you, I am still learning what will and will not work. I can see that running a long distance rig will only increase the overall weight of your ghost, unless you find a way to either use a stronger motor, or weight it properly. There are many links on some of these pages that will introduce you to some motor manufacturer's that have some good pricing as well. If you get something up and running, please take some pics and post them, I would love to see what you came up with. You will most likely see some posts below mine, that can better serve you, good luck.
Screamhaunt, many thanks for a good point on the counter-weight - I've seen it referred to many times, but it somehow escaped my cranium for this idea. I keep trying to plug the leak, but I can't keep my finger in my ear forever.
I did take pictures, but as I am a REALLY lousy photographer, all I ended up with of it was green and blue blurs - but you couldn't tell where the line was (ha ha).
I'll have to take some in a more controlled environment to show what the ghost itself looks like, and I'll keep the forum updated on progress on the "long distance" rig - positive or negative.
Screamhaunt, many thanks for a good point on the counter-weight - I've seen it referred to many times, but it somehow escaped my cranium for this idea. I keep trying to plug the leak, but I can't keep my finger in my ear forever.
I did take pictures, but as I am a REALLY lousy photographer, all I ended up with of it was green and blue blurs - but you couldn't tell where the line was (ha ha).
I'll have to take some in a more controlled environment to show what the ghost itself looks like, and I'll keep the forum updated on progress on the "long distance" rig - positive or negative.
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