# How to get a rocking chair to rock?



## TheCaver (Sep 6, 2005)

Electric motor with a cam...........

JC


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## is11mlo (Sep 27, 2005)

Sorry for being such a newbie... What's a 'cam'? What kind of electric motor would I need?

Thanks,

Marc


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## torgen (Sep 25, 2005)

The problem would be hiding it. 

A cam is a non-round object/disk attached to an axis. Think about the side-view of an egg.

Jc is suggesting mounting a small motor on the inside of one of the runners, that turns a cam. The "long end" of the cam is long enough to push against the ground and tilt the chair forward. The "fat end" turns without hitting the ground, so the rocking chair will rock back.


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

There's some pics of a rocking chair setup on this page. Check out the video to see how it works.
http://haunt.vectormotion.com/props.php

I did a Bucky in a rocking chair on my front porch in 2002. The setup was similar to what is shown on the page above but I put the motor under the porch and the line went up through a slot between boards. The Bucky does make the motor work much harder and it did make the fishing line stretch quite a bit which reduced the amount of rocking.


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## madmax (Dec 28, 2003)

Here's a good site to show you cams and linkage...you can use in a number of props.

http://www.walterruffler.de/Animat.html

http://www.walterruffler.de/Andrive.html


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## torgen (Sep 25, 2005)

Awesome photo, Woody!


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

Another site for mechanisms and linkages.

http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms/pages/cam.html

http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/mechanisms/index.html


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

torgen said:


> Awesome photo, Woody!


Thanks torgen


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## jrzmac (May 28, 2004)

i made one a few years ago http://www.hauntpics.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=35&pos=0 . i basically built a stage for the chair and mounted the motor on the platform behind the chair. it's not an easy prop to build but if you try it and need help let me know


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## scareisburg (Nov 3, 2004)

Here is a how 2 link http://www.scary-terry.com/rockchair/rockchair.htm


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## is11mlo (Sep 27, 2005)

This is great information! Thank you everyone!  

I'm leaning towards a system where the mechanism is hidden. The kids will be in close proximity to the chair on top of an elevated porch. So ideally I'm thinking of a motor underneath, cam, eye hooks, and fish line.

Would love to have it setup with a motion detector... Any good sources to recommend for a motor and detector?

Thanks again!

Marc


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

is11mlo said:


> ...
> 
> Would love to have it setup with a motion detector... Any good sources to recommend for a motor and detector?...


A cheap way to get motion detection is to use a motion sensor floodlight. 
There's a good how-to on this page.
http://www.hauntedillinois.com/motion.php

Lot's of options on a motor. It depends on the speed you want. 
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=400&type=store is a good place to start looking.


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## Otaku (Sep 10, 2004)

Check Scary Terry's site - www.scary-terry.com. He has a page that shows how to set up a wiper motor to rock a chair.

Edit - Ooops! Didn't see the previous post about Scary Terry...


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## Lynn (Aug 23, 2005)

We were thinking about using a turn tabl to make the chair rock..... Will that work ? we have a way to have it hidden so thats not an issue.


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## ghostie (Apr 17, 2006)

Know this is an old thread, but we just finished one of these...

http://littlekeylime.com/hill_house_haunt/hauntedrockingchair.htm


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