[GeekMomMakes]

Hi everyone!
I’m totally new here, this is my first post!

I’m currently turning my toddler’s Little Tikes Cozy Coupe into a Mini Ecto-1. At first I was planning on doing something super simple, but then I found Code 3 Garage’s page about Ecto and… there was no turning back LOL! I decided then and there Mini Ecto-1 would have as much stuff as I could fabricate on time for Halloween!

I’ve figured out most of the parts, but I would appreciate your help with the sniffer and half-dome dish. While I know how to make these, I’d love to make them move too! That would mean a back and forth swivel for the sniffer and a full 360 degrees rotation for the dish.

Would you have any idea how to make that happen?

Keep in mind:
- I’m building at about 19% scale. The ASR-5 is going to be 6” and I’m actually cheating, because it should be 4” wide! So anything that gets fitted in there needs to be tiny and powered by AA or 9V batteries
- I have very little knowledge of circuits, wiring, electricity, etc., though I’m trying to step up my game here. Please explain everything to me as if I’m a 5 YO, so I can understand

[prodestrian]

Possibly doing something similar to these in future (miniaturized Ecto roofrack props), so I've been thinking about how I'd approach it too.

I quite like the small 5V geared motors you can buy, something like this:

The good thing about these is that you could potentially power them from a USB powerbank, or just 4x1.5V (AA?) batteries.

For the Dome you'd just need a way to attach it to one of the gear ends so it rotates 360 degrees.

For the Sniffer it's a little more complicated, you'd need a way to turn this into side-to-side movement. I think I know how this kind of mechanism would look (it involves a wheel attached to the motor and a shaft connected from this to the base of the Sniffer shaft), unfortunately I can't seem to find a name for this mechanism and can't find a good diagram to explain how it works.

Either way you shouldn't need any Servo or Stepper motors (which use more power and require digital controllers or an Arduino to run them), these motors are as simple as "connect the power and it spins" (and reverse the wires to make it spin in the opposite direction). Literally just "Battery => Switch => Motor => Battery".

[GeekMomMakes]

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Ok so something like this would work?https://www.amazon.ca/Gear-Motor-High-T ... 3247&psc=1

I already have a 3-6V push button switch, hoping to integrate it to the design somehow (it lights up when whatever is being powered works… a toddler’s dream!), so if I understand correctly, I’d just need to connect that to 4 AA batteries with wire in the sequence you told me and I’m good to go (assuming I can find a way to fit my dome on there, but I’ll figure it out lol)? What gauge of wire do you recommend me to use?