Santa Pop Ups

L

Lgb0250

New member
Have no clue how to go about this and it’s probably too late for this year but I could use some help and suggestions with this idea.

We have a 90 foot wooden fence that fronts out onto the street. I currently have a chasing rope light the length of it. Also have three large (42”) lighted wreaths on it.

I was thinking of doing several motorized pop up Santa’s or other cutouts on it.

Whatever contraptions I can come up with with your help would have to be mounted on the 4x4 fence support post. I have a vague, very vague idea of how to do this but could use some guidance as far as what type of motorized device to use, etc.

Thanks
 
I haven't done it (yet [emoji14]), but look into head poppers. It is something the Halloween folks do behind tombstones. I bet if you look at a couple builds you can get a good idea of how to scale it up.

Keep us posted, I think this will be a great addition!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Dan from the tristate posted a link before Halloween about a guy who did a video of motorized props. I’ll look for the link but maybe someone else remembers. Wiper motors are pretty popular for that type of stuff.
 
How heavy are the cutouts?
Search Hauntforum.com
If you have a compressor, this sounds like a job for pneumatic cylinders. Check out FrightProps.com
Wiper motors can work but the mechanical side of things might get complicated.
I remember seeing a pneumatic design that used a 1.25" schedule 40 PVC base with a 1" schedule 40 PVC plunger (maybe it was 1.5" into 2"). Normally compressed air, cold temps, and PVC are a bad mix but this design has leaky seals and reduces or eliminates over pressures on the PVC.
 
Thanks for the input. At least now I know where to start my research. Will be a good summer project for next year.
 
Most wood cutouts are too heavy for the Windshield wiper method of headpopper. But there IS a simple solution to make the wiper motor handle the load.

Take two pulleys and some nylon rope. (no need for the expense of steel cables for this.) Rig up a counterweight with the rope so that the weight pulls the wood prop UP some. Then the wiper motor has less weight to lift upwards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top