Clock pendulum motor... HELP!

J

jacobzking

Well-Known Member

• Jan 6, 2017

• #1

Hopefully this is the right place for this thread, but I need a little help with a prop. I built a large "13 Hour Clock" from the Haunted Mansion. The pendulum is a long piece of light wood with a devils face carved in to the bottom of it. I need to find a motor that emulates a clock pendulum. I bought a large pendulum motor, but its just too hard to get it to work because the pendulum is not balanced like a normal pendulum would be.

Any ideas?

 

Jintosh

Master Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jan 6, 2017

• #2

It's a BEAUTIFUL clock !

I know some other Haunted Mansion threads where the person would love such a clock.

Sadly, I don't know about pendulums.

 

TJackFx

Master Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Jan 6, 2017

• #3

What about a windshield wiper motor?

 

propmaster2000

Sr Member

• Jan 7, 2017

• #4

If the pivot was down on the pendulum a few inches, you could put a continuous duty, slow moving, AC, quiet clock motor with a cam to push and pull the top
of the ''shaft''. So it rocks back and forth.

 

propmaster2000

Sr Member

• Mar 17, 2017

• #5

Hi jacobzking,
There are 120V AC clock motors on eBay with varying speeds.
The one I show in the video below is a 120v AC 60hz, 3w, 1.5 rpm continuous duty motor.
It is very quiet and has good torque.
It turns very slow, so I would make a cam with multiple hills and valleys to make a pendulum move back and forth
several times per one revolution of the cam.
The pendulum would have a pivot point a few inches down from the top which would press against the cam using
a spring to hold it against the cam body to push and follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvztNCy5grk


.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2018

propmaster2000

Sr Member

• Sep 22, 2017

• #6

I am not familiar with wiper motors and there lever set up so I will try my best to explain my idea with an AC continuous duty
1 rpm motor.
If you have the means to make a cam that will attach to the motor shaft, you can use it to push the pendulum somewhere at the upper
portion and use a spring to have it return to follow the cam.

You can also attach the pendulum to the cam via a small lever that will hold it while it swings back and forth.
These are just some thoughts, and of course there are other ways to do it.



The cam / motor set up can be above or below the the pivot point.