How I build my Axworthy flying ghost. This is my 2012 edition, third year appearance for Halloween. A TOT favorite!! Music intro from Kevin MacLeod "Right Behind You"
The pulleys were purchased at a local home improvement store. Home Depot or Lowes, both have the same item. ( clothesline pulley ) The trick is to trim off one arm of the bracket holding the wheel to create access for the line and a clear path for the hanging ghost. They work surprisingly well.
What a fun and creative project! I was delighted to hear your wonderfully clear, easy to understand and well enunciated tutorial that explains why each piece is the way it is, and really appreciated the great photography!
WOW, great information! Thank you so much for making such a video that explains everything I need to complete my project! A standup mixer for your motor, brilliant! I found this 7 years later and is still relevant for creating flying ghosts/ghouls!
Your axworthy ghost is great! You have explained it so well that I might be able to talk my husband into helping me build one! Thank you for the great video.
I realise this is an old video but after only just discovering the Axworthy Flying Ghost effect your video explained how it works so wonderfully, thank you! I'm going to have a go at building one to haunt my yard this year :)
I worked on putting one like this together for two weeks. I couldn't find any large pulleys at Home Depot or two other hardware stores I checked, but Home Depot gave me some big, plastic spindles (from the "chain" section, used to wrap the chains around), and I mounted these on foam paint-rollers, and they worked great :-). The local bicycle store gave me an old wheel. The only motor I could find at the thrift store was a fan motor, and it worked finewithout any tension, but as soon as I put the string on it, it wouldn't turn. So before next year I need to find a bigger, more powerful motor, and I should be in business. Thank you for the detailed instructions, I watched the video a dozen times and it really helped!
The motor works fantastic. It's very strong and does not overheat. It runs constant for about 4 hours on halloween without a hitch. I burned up two other motors before turning to this one. (one was a sewing machine motor which some haunters like to use) It was an accidental choice but it makes sense that anything designed strong enough to mix thick ingredients could handle this chore easily. Picked it up from a Goodwill donation center.
Good Vid, I have wanted to do this for the last couple of years. Waited a little late this year but I think I am going to steal some of your ideals for next year
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it and if I run into trouble I will contact you, but to be honest you really made it easy with this video. I appreciate it! I thought I left a comment on this video awhile back, but apparently I didn't. I know it is hard to make up tutorials, but thanks so much for taking the time. We really do appreciate it! :)
Yeah, I found that the deep channels of the clothesline pulleys keeps the line on pretty well and it runs all Halloween without coming off. Definitely nice not to have to worry about it.
Great job! You explained it very well. We didn't do ours this year because I wanted to enjoy Halloween in my yard this year and not on the roof fixing it every ten minutes LOL! Maybe we'll try again next year with your method.
I have seen a few of these setups and always wondered why you need a large bike wheel pulley at the motor instead of just using another small pulley as used at the other points? Edit: just realized the bike wheel has a rubber liner to keep the line from slipping and acts as the drive pulley.
The best advice I can give with this prop deals with the biggest issue I had running it: keeping the line from falling off the drive wheel! Two improvements made in 2016. 1. Replaced the narrow bike wheel with a wider channeled wheel. 2. Raised the drive line (by way of pulley on post at corner of house) so that it rides closer to the upper lip of the wheel. The line will run level but the ghost does have enough weight to it ( esp. when it gets wet) that it causes the line to sag as it approaches the drive wheel, too much and the line can slip off the bottom lip. These two changes prevented my ghost from dragging the line lower than center of wheel. Now I can run it all night without worry as it was a huge pain trying to find the black line in the dark and rethreading through all the pulleys. Good luck
Dismal Hill Cemetery thanks for the reply. I think I've sourced all the products now, and watched loads of videos. And picked up loads of tips like the one you've just shared.. so I'll cross my fingers for a relatively trouble free set up. Lol. What did you use for guide wire. I was thinking of using the thinnest washing line we have over here in the UK. Or will normal heavy duty garden twine be ok Thanks again.😎
I used line you fly a kite with. I don't know if it's nylon or even the diameter but it's super strong and doesn't stretch too much. I like to put in on really tight. Because it's white, I ran it through some black paint to conceal it, this also helps give it some added traction
Interesting Q, I see what you mean. I don't remember stripping it down this far but looks like I took all the spokes off one side of the hub & then cut the hub in half. Tightened the spokes on the remaining hub side & slipped a 3 or 4 inch bolt through it & into the mixer. A hole drilled through the end of the bolt & the metal "port" on the mixer allowed me to connect the two by slipping a short nail thru the holes & bent it to keep it in place. A rubber innertube strip lines rim for traction.
Hello I have a question, does the string wrap around thr bike wheel so that as it spins the ghost moves? I am trying to recteate this even though I'm not handy at all. Wish me luck
@@npistor2878 that's right. I found the bike wheel to be unreliable (the line would drop out of it) so I replaced it with a cart wheel that has a wider rim (1inch) and is a little deeper which keeps the line in place
This looks great--especially with the speed control. How does the mixer motor hold up under the constant load? I assume the ghost is running for a couple hours at a time, at least on Halloween. Have you had any problems with that motor? I'd like to try this myself, but I don't know that much about motors. Thanks!
How did you get your drive pulley to "grab" the line? As my drive pulley turns, the lack of friction prevents it from turning the line with it...the line stays still.
I lined the inside of the rim with a band of rubber. I cut open an inner tube from a bike tire, that's all it took to get a good grip on the line. I cut the piece pretty wide so that the line wouldn't be able to get around and behind it.
I've seen other configurations which have made successful use of a wiper motor. Probably need to wire it correctly to get the speed you like. www.scary-terry.com/wipmtr/wipmtr2.htm
Excellent video. I've been trying on and off for a couple seasons to build one with old bicycle rims as pulleys and a sewing machine motor as the drive unit. Did you fabricate the pulley mounts yourself or did you buy them? If so, where?
I originally used a sewing machine motor but it didn't last and burned out in two years. I bought the clothesline pulleys (which come fabricated onto a plastic bracket with mounting hole) at Home Depot, same ones at Lowes. All the other mounts are homemade. Two pulleys are attached to wood sections and one is held in open space by bungee cords that connect to hooks threaded together through the pulley mounting eye hole. The wooden mounts have a bolt through the eye hole with just enough tightness to allow the pulley to pivot so that I can set the right angle to keep the line in place. One of the wooden segments is zip-tied to a tree branch, the other is a tall stand I built which leans against the corner of the house. It's actually held in place by the tension on the line pushing back. One pulley is attached by an adjustable metal bracket which clamps onto the flag pole I have on the porch post. Because of how the line travels around two of the pulleys, I had to cut off one of their bracket sides to create a clear path for the hanging ghost and line attachment clips. Good luck with your build. Once I came up with a system that worked I've not had any issues setting it up every Halloween and having it run problem free.
The line is on a spool. I clip one end to the drive wheel then walk it across the yard while threading line through each pulley. Once I return to the drive wheel I clip the line ends together. I have a lot of tension on the line so I clip them together first and then pull it over the rim of the wheel. It stays on all night w/o fail. Thanks for the comment!
I know it's been several years but thanks for posting, have seen this before. Would a drill used as the drive motor overheat while attached to a wheel rim? Are you using fishing line or something else?
I imagine a drill would work fine depending on speed and load. I use braided kite line that's initially run through black paint to color it and make it invisible at night
I didn't have much success with fishing line or materials like other people have used. I've been very pleased with the kite line I pulled off the shelf in the garage. I don't know it's thickness or weight strength but it runs smooth and doesn't stretch. I put it on the pulleys pretty tight which keeps it from falling off and keeps the ghost running without dipping low on long distances. And since the line is white I ran it through some black house paint which helps to hide it and provides a little more traction with the drive wheel.
Great video and explanation. You say the pulleys are clothes line pulleys. These days at Lowes they don't look like yours especially that metal bracket that holds the pulley to the support and allows the angle to be changed. Was that original to the pulley?
I actually bought my pulleys at Home Depot but it looks like Lowes also stocks them: m.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-2-1-2-in-Clothesline-Pulley/3469101 I trim off the bottom arm of the plastic pulley so the ghost can travel thru
