Thread: The Mad Lab Lounge

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Every year for my annual party I set up a very modest mad scientist laboratory in my basement. It’s a small table with lights, test tubes, beakers, aquarium bubblers, and Erlenmeyer flasks filled with water and food coloring. I’ve wanted to expand it for a while and make it more of a centerpiece.

I would like metal cabinets covered with different apparatus, switches, buttons and blinking lights, real traditional mad science stuff. How to do this?

I plan on making simple wooden frames for the cabinets covering them in foam core insulation and painting it silver. For the dials and buttons I’ve recently found out you can buy old T.V. and radio knobs on Ebay. Although I may go looking around on the up coming heavy trash pick up day for freebie opportunities.

As for the blinking lights I saw a simplified way to do this here on Halloween Forum I think. One of the members drilled holes and covered them with the little colored plastic tops you find on hairspray bottles such and simply ran Christmas lights behind them.
I’m no electrician so this is the best bet for me to come out unelectrocuted.

For the apparatus I’ve always wanted to do this:
http://www.garageofterror.com/2006crawler.html

I have a tube shaped aquarium for the “creature”. But my creature would actually be underwater. I think it would add much needed realism to the prop. And since the only thing from the motor set up that would be inside the water is the fishing string used to attach the creature it should be completely doable. And a sinker attached to the bottom hidden inside natural looking gravel should stop the creature from floating to the top.

On either side of the aquarium I would put bubble tubes like this:
http://www.hauntedattraction.com/art...or-your-haunt/
I like the bubble tubes in this how-to because once again no wiring required.
This will go inside the frame for the cabinets, somewhere.

The beakers, test tubes and such will go on, in and around this, hopefully, cool looking set up. And finally I’ll have a specialty drink table with assorted test tube shots, Jell-O shots and syringe shots in front.

I plan to call it The Mad Lab Lounge

Let me know what you think of my idea.
And if has tried to make Mad Lab cabinets similar to this I could use a few pointers as this would be the most complex and in depth project I have ever undertaken.

We set up our bar as a mad scientist lab table every year. I picked up cheap aquarium bubblers at Walmart and put them into jars with small dollar store body parts (eye balls, fingers, etc). Watching the body parts bubble and swirl around was an inexpensive and cool effect. We even served some specialty shots in decorated lab flasks.
As for the cabinet parts....check with your local e-scrap recycling center. They get mountains of old computer, and electronics parts and might let you choose a couple to take home if they know you are re-purposing them

Sweet thanks for the heads up badgirl.
I'll definitely check it out.

Happy haunting!