Thread: My first prop

Tweet

Hey guys, I'm brand new to this board and this is my first prop. I wanted to start with something basic, and this year I will be doing a zombie themed house, so I thought a pneumatic trash can popper would do the trick. It is about 3/4 of the way done, but I'm still shopping for a compressor. I'm using a solenoid valve from my stock of parts from work (I service medical equipment), and am planning on triggering it with an outdoor motion activated light. I'd also like to trigger fog, and maybe a sound? Do you guys have any suggestions?

I wasn't able to post a picture of it, but as soon as my posts are approved I will.

This is it so far....



His clothes still need to be dirtied up a bit, but the "Zombie 2" mask works well over the dummy head.

Nice! The mask is too cool.

Thanks man! When I went looking for masks, and saw that they had one from this particular movie, I had to grab it. I remember watching it as a kid, and loving the "splinter in the eye" scene.

I don't know about sound, but the can lid rattling may be enough noise. I've had some success using wall-wart powered computer speakers on an mp3 player. The battery operated player is playing in a constant loop with loud screams, but it is silent when the speakers are not powered. When the PIR is triggered, juice goes to the circuit powering the speakers and the screams are heard. I use this methodon my MIB/coffin combo.

I've also found with pop-ups that it's possible to get a decent scare just from the sudden well-timed (manual) pop of the monster.

The power used to activate your solenoid could be branched to light a low wattage bulb in the base of the can.

Could you pipe in a low level of fog (small fogger, set at low setting) through a hole in the back of the can? The air motion of the pop-up alone should be enought to "whoosh" out a bit of fog when triggered. The fogger would need to be on a separate power source to always keep the can primed with fog...

Just a thought...

Wow very cool!

Thanks for the input! Oh. does anyone have a good recommendation for an outdoor motion detctor/ light that has a short "test" setting for an instant "on-off" burst of power? I would hate for the zombie to pop out and remain in "scare mode" for 1-3 minutes before the power is cut to the solenoid, and I thought this might be a more economic solution.

i never knew how to build one of these. Could you please tell me before halloween comes.
Thanks

Well, there are a ton of step by steps out there, so i'll just give you a basic idea.

You need a source of compressed air to power your prop, so any decent compressor will do.

your compressed air will travel to a solenoid air valve.

Some people use spares from anything to washing machines to lawn sprinklers, so they are easy to come by.

The valve needs a power source to tell it when to open and power your prop. There are many ways to control to power going to your valve, I'm opting for motion-sensor. You can also rig it to power when activated by remote control, or a pressure mat.

When activated, the air is released into a pneumatic cylinder. Your prop is built with this device as its skeleton. There are several methods, some more advised than others. For instance, you can build one from PVC, but too much air pressure can make this dangerous. Some rig bicycle pumps to do the same job, and some use screen door cylinders. Any DIY method used must be done with great care and precaution, or not at all.

Your pneumatic cylinder must obviously be securely fixed to the base of your trash-can.

There are more advanced methods than this ranging from air bleeding to silencing your compressor. There are a lot of useful realted threads on this board.

Oh, and an even simpler method i've seen is to eliminate the valve and rig the pressure mat to trigger the manually operated compressor trigger.