All,

I have an idea for my magic act. Basically I'm going to have a spectator pick a card from the deck and show it to the crowd. Then I want them to toss the deck into my hat. Then I take my Judy mouse and throw it into the hat and it starts throwing cards out in an intermittent spray. Finally the chosen card pops up.

I can do most of the work, electrical, a microcontroller, etc. What I need to know is if there is already a mechanism that sprays cards. I just need to be able to load a deck of cards in a bracket that, say has a rubber friction wheel that presses on the top of the deck and spins to toss them out at high speed.

I've tried searching for various terms on here and I can't find anything.

The help is much appreciated.

Perry D

What about gutting one of those really cheap card shufflers? Or stepping down an RC car motor or a small motor from Radio Shack? I have seen card fountains in the past, but I am pretty sure that the rig you describe is the simplest way to get the effect you want.

Good luck!

Pix

I would think you could use a card fountain, Add a 555 timer circuit with a JK flip flop circuit set the time interval short pulse the the JK and restart the 555 timer until the fountain is empty. You could just put a push button switch to control the card fountain motor so you would be in control of when you want the cards to shoot out of the hat.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. And as it turns out there are a few card fountains out there. I don't know why I didn't think 'Fountain.' I tried searching everything else I could think of.

All the same I will have to custom make it. At first I didn't think so, but now I'm certain of it. The problem is that the cards must remain restrained in the bracket when the device is inverted and the hat is on top of my head.

@wa-na
The timing thing doesn't concern me much. Both this mechanism and the one that lifts the final card will be driven by an arduino. I'm thinking about adding some sound effects too. Maybe some loud squeeking between the bursts of cards. That kind of thing.

Thanks all

Lookup Nick (remoteguy) He makes really great stuff

You might try getting a the how to build a card fountain dvd from mcguyver magic. I haven't seen it, but it says it shows how to build one for $20.
http://www.macgyvermagic.com/6.html

To keep the cards in the houlette all you need is a wire with a lever to move it to the side. I also recommend the DVD for making a card fountain for under $20, I have the DVD and it is good, but it works with a push button not remote control.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think the lever idea will work. I'm planning to use a lever that holds the cards in place hooked to a selenoid that swings it out of the way. The arduino will make all the automation easy anyway. I'll start experimenting and post something up here when I have it.