Has anyone come up with an easy way to have the gimmicks on a head chest return to their original positions on their own. For the life of me I couldn't figure out a way to have this happen once the daggers are removed, the gimmicks stayed put.

I searched for spring hinges small enough but they were too strong and would push the swords right out of the box.

Advice?

You can learn to make your own. Here is a webpage I put together a few years ago, that shows how:

http://themagiccompany.com/sprg_hng.html

I remember that conversation some years ago.

-=tabman

Good to hear from you again, Tabman!

Regan

Tabman,

Holy smokes!! What a nice surprise!! Very good to see you here, my friend!

~michael

Thanks Michael and Regan. I'm glad that yall are still here stirring it up and that Steve has kept the Café alive and vibrant. As for me, Ive spent the past two years resting up and working on a couple of routines I learned from Jerry Andrus and writing a book called Tabman Magic. It's almost done and should be released in a couple of months at the most. Since I sold Tabman Tables to Ray, I must say that Ive missed the day to day creativity and interaction that being in the magic business provided.

It's really good to be here.

-=tabman

It's good to have you back!

Regan

WOW Tabman...I guess you frequent the Café as much as I have lately...lol

Michael...Thanks for the info...that is JUST what I needed

Yeah, that's true. After I sold Tabman Tables I was kind of depressed after the day to day for so many years. It's taken two years to figure out my place again in the scheme of things.

Anyway, I appreciate the welcome from some old friends.

-=tabman

Just out of curiosity, what head chest do you have? I have the MAK Murder Inc. and I found this post to be of extreme help for me. I had the same problem with the gimmicks to just stay in place after removing the daggers. I did not like some of the ideas about tilting the head forward. The set up on top of my dagger chest always made the move awkward.

Steven

Ace hardware and true value hardware both sell light springs that may fit your needs
bob

I have a Murder Inc. and I've always just returned the gimmicks manually during the process of removing the swords. I'm tempted to make these modifications. My only concern is that the spring hinges will make initially engaging the gimmicks a little more awkward. It seeems to me that you might have to hold the gimmicks in place until the sword is inserted to keep them from springing back. And will the sword hold them firmly enough in the proper position? One last question... how do you ensure that the spring tension is adjusted properly (i.e., enough tension to return the gimmicks all the way to their previous position without "smacking" them against a hard surface)?

For another way to do this try here http://tabmantables.com/tbmimages/headchest.jpg
Ray

That does look like another good option. Although still manually operated, it's definitely less awkward than individually returning them to their original position.

If you use more elastic on it, after sword is in place, loop the elastic to a screw on back. When the swords are removed the elastic pulls gimmicks back automatically. You will have to experiment with lengths and tension.
Ray

Thanks for those tips. I'm looking forward to tinkering with my head chest and seeing how these modifications streamline the process.

I haven't used my chest in a show yet because I just didn't like the movements I had to make to get the gimmicks to move into position and back to original at the end. After seeing this post I am going to play around with it and see what I can do. The only major draw back of the Murder Inc. is it does not break down to make it easier to carry. I bought a student trunk with wheels on it to carry it around. Works good that way. Magicbob do you use the stand that comes with it? I have not decided yet weather to use it or not. Sorry, I know some of this was not right on topic.

Thank you
Steven

I bought mine slightly used without a stand and then I made my own out of a cymbal stand base and a piece of steel pipe (with threaded end to match the flange on bottom of the chest). The height of the stand is adjustable and allows the volunteer to sit and not have to hold the weight of the chest on their shoulders. I also made a table top with a matching flange. For shows that I don't use the head chest, the stand serves as a table base.

Let me know how things work out.
Ray