A Halloween Haunted House Box

A Halloween Haunted House Box

Side view

Back view

This Halloween haunted house box has a witch which is wrapped around a lamp post that can twirl when rotated.  The silly witch has lost her bearings when she hits a lamp post and breaks her broomstick. Four happy Jack-O-Lanterns sit in front of a gnarly tree. Cats, haunted trees and ghosts are hovering around to add their holiday spirit to this Halloween haunted mansion scene.

The box is six inches long and about 3 1/4 inches wide so it can hold a lot of Halloween candy.

Here is the PDF.  I used 65 lb. cardstock. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14FH8tg1-UBlboWcQ4GK8BtPx2XBRS2jM/view?usp=sharing

Here is the .Studio file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I0VC5K-0xz5dJouk59CUUTkMDFKABFP8/view?usp=sharing

Here is the SVG. The SVG file goes beyond the viewable area.  To see the entire file, zoom out.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jd2EjqqwVKmAGTwmsXdEltb4l41e0GE_/view?usp=sharing

Make the box

Crease the box edges as shown.  Glue the two corners together to make a rectangle. Repeat for the other box edges.

Apply glue to the inside of the top of the box.  

Adhere the solid top piece. Make the bottom of the box by gluing the two bottom rectangles together and gluing this to the bottom sides of the box. Set the this aside

Make the Haunted House

Glue three ghosts to the haunted house

Align the rectangular base as shown above.

Apply glue to the tab of the haunted house so that the tab will face the front edge when it is inserted into the slit of the rectangular base.

Align the vellum to the back of the haunted house.  It will be glued later.

Bend and insert the tab of the haunted house back so that the tab is facing the back edge. Apply glue to this tab and adhere to the base.

Apply a few drops of glue to the vellum after the back and vellum have been aligned to the front of the house.  Make sure the windows are centered correctly.

Crease the gate tabs as shown above.

Glue and adhere the gate tab towards the outer edge.

Repeat for the other gate.

Insert the side tab of the gate sandwiched into the backside of the haunted house.

Repeat for the other gate.

View of the gates.

Apply glue to the tab of the back of the haunted house.  Adhere the tab towards the back edge.

View of the tabs that have been glued.

Apply glue to the backside of the haunted house.  Adhere to the vellum and the front of the haunted house.

I noticed some buckling so I applied additional glue to some areas.

Make the square beam support for the tree.

Make a beam at the bottom of the tree with the cat.

Insert and glue the beam to make a 'T' on the backside of the tree.

Glue on the pumpkins.

Insert the two tabs of the tree, apply glue and adhere the tabs towards the front.

Apply glue to the bottom beam of the tree.

Crease the ghost with dotted lines and glue in back of the tree.  

Make the lamp post by creasing the pole.  The lamp post can be folded flat for gluing and adhering.  Once the glue adheres, make the lamp post into a tube. Make the top of the lantern into a pyramid and glue the other portion of the lamp together.

Insert the lamp post into the center of the circle.  Apply glue to the tabs.

Adhere the tabs.

Slide the lamp post into the hole in the base.

I used a diode to simulate a light.

Insert the diode into the lamp post.  Glue the light together. Glue the witch to the lamp post. The witch can be slightly creased around the post to make it seem like she has hit the post.

Apply glue to the top of the box and adhere the base of the haunted house.

Make support beams on the bottom of the three trees. Glue the trees where desired.

Add additional ghosts as desired.

Happy Halloween!

A STEM Project: A Geneva Drive Mechanism

Geneva Drive Mechanism 

A drive wheel is on the left spindle and a Maltese Cross on the right spindle.

Video of the Geneva Drive Mechanism in action

The Geneva drive mechanism is also know as a Maltese Cross.  It is a gear mechanism that translates a continuous rotation movement into an intermittent rotary motion. In this model, a drive wheel with an elevated circular disc rotates with an attached pin. The elevated circular disc locks the drive wheel in place. When the pin reaches a slot located in the Maltese Cross, the Maltese Cross is rotated by one step.  It takes four steps for the Maltese Cross to make one complete revolution because there are four slots in my Maltese Cross.

Geneva drives have been used in watches to convert the tension of the spring into the ticking of a toothed gear for the second hand movement. When looking at an old watch, the second hand appears to stop and then move forward.  This action is created by this mechanism.

This mechanism has also been used in the film industry to stop a frame of a continuously moving film so that the film will be exposed in front of a picture aperture where it can be projected onto a screen.

Here is the PDF.  I used 65 lb. cardstock. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ly-NSiCrQ7OCuvMZkdYbw1zJYvXZqJeJ/view?usp=sharing 

Here is the .Studio file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1owyyvhtBmgkZYmq290Jo7loEzIwJZcV2/view?usp=sharing

Here is the SVG. The SVG file goes beyond the viewable area.  To see the entire file, zoom out.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n2GF89mHjGQKjDv3oOCSG9P_O4OkSlVc/view?usp=sharing

Cut out the above pieces so that the similar pieces may be glued together to make them sturdy.

Three pieces of each component have been glued together. The pin and spindles are shown above.

Apply glue to the tab and fold the pin in half to adhere the glue. Once the glue adheres, make the pin into a tube. Repeat this operation for the two spindles

Thread the pin though the drive wheel.

Glue and adhere the pin to the back of the drive wheel.

Thread the spindle through the washer.  Glue and adhere the tabs of the spindle.  The tabs will make a star shape. Repeat for the other spindle,

Glue the driver to the drive wheel with the circular cutout facing the pin as shown above.

Glue the spacer by aligning the holes to the right side of the base.

Place the drive wheel assembly on the left side of the base and align the holes.

Thread the spindle through the hole in the base and the drive wheel assembly.

Thread the spindle through the hole in the base and the Maltese Cross. Thread the acetate sheet through the two spindles so that the spindles will remain at right angles to one another. Make sure that the pin can rotate successfully.

Thread the knob on the spindle and glue the tabs of the spindle onto the knob.

Apply a drop of glue around the base of the Maltese Cross as shown.  This will adhere the cross to the spindle to complete the Geneva drive mechanism.