Thread: quick and easy (CHEAP) pop up air ram

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OK I am building a pop up air ram for my haunted house this year and here is where I am so far.



This is the selonoid with an air hose fitting on one side and a 1/4 compression fitting on the other. I had the selonoid already but you can get them at any plumbing supply store. The fittings I picked up at home depot for like $8.00



This is the ram body. It is a 1 1/4" PVC pipe 2 feet long with a cap at the bottom which has a 1/2" threaded opening. (next pic) I then took a 2 foot long peice of 1" PVC pipe and added a " T " on the top. (The" T " has the opening blocked on the single side to prevent air loss. The 1" PVC pipe then fits perfectly into the 1 1/4" pipe thus making your ram.



This is the bottom of the ram. I put in a 1/2" threaded to 1/4" compression fitting that will later be connected to the selonoid.



Here is the ram mounted to a stand I built out of some 2 x 6 I had laying around. I drilled a hole in the 2 x 6 and fed the bottom of the ram in from underneath and epoxied it in place.

Now I just have to connect the air lines and a teather so that the air ram doesn't shoot off and then add what ever mask, hand, skellie, etc... you want.

I will post more pics as I finish it in the next few days.

Keeping in mind that I had the selonoid and wood I am only into this prop for around $25.00. Not to bad for what I hope will be a very scary effect!

I just made one myself. I installed a spring inside so the ram goes back down. I also drilled small holes close to where the quick connect and on the top of the cylinder to release the air. I used a bath tub drain plug for the seal on the ram. I used a silicone spray for lube inside the cylinder. Works like a champ

What is the finished product supposed to be/do? :S

Crunch, it will make something pop up real fast. I am going to put a upper skelly torso on mine but you could put anything on it really. use it under a table and have an alein shoot up through a body or a head shoot up out of the darkness, it is limited only by ones imagination!

I am going to have a ghost pop up behind a tombstone with mine.

Thanks for the post! This is my biggest worry, since I've not delved into the air ram building yet. I did however already purchase a sprinkler valve etc. in preperation of getting to it.

My prop, is PLANNED to have a static, MM prop with a gasmask holding onto a barrel. The barrel will have fog inside, with green lights. (Chilled fog so it doesn't cover up everything, plus it's still neat even in a barrel) and then have it activate with a toxic burned, corpsed foam skelly top. May even just go with a burned mask)

I plan to use the solenoid on a Power Supply from a PC, a Strobe and an MP3 with looped sound effects, connected into a Powered External Speaker setup all tied into a Motion Detection light setup with a 4 port plug in. Set to test it should activate the prop for about 20 seconds and then shut off.

... but, I need a RAM! lol.

So again, thanks for posting. I have a question however, what solenoid are you using and how does it trigger / you plan on triggering it?

~{Autopsy}~

Originally Posted by Autopsy

Thanks for the post! This is my biggest worry, since I've not delved into the air ram building yet. I did however already purchase a sprinkler valve etc. in preperation of getting to it.

My prop, is PLANNED to have a static, MM prop with a gasmask holding onto a barrel. The barrel will have fog inside, with green lights. (Chilled fog so it doesn't cover up everything, plus it's still neat even in a barrel) and then have it activate with a toxic burned, corpsed foam skelly top. May even just go with a burned mask)

I plan to use the solenoid on a Power Supply from a PC, a Strobe and an MP3 with looped sound effects, connected into a Powered External Speaker setup all tied into a Motion Detection light setup with a 4 port plug in. Set to test it should activate the prop for about 20 seconds and then shut off.

... but, I need a RAM! lol.

So again, thanks for posting. I have a question however, what solenoid are you using and how does it trigger / you plan on triggering it?

~{Autopsy}~

The solenoid is on the sprinkler valve. It is the part that the wires are attatched to. Attatch one wire to power supply(24 volt transformer), then attatch one wire to motion sensor or what ever kind of switch your using. Then attache one wire from motion sensor( or switch) to the power supply.

Ok, color me dumb. What kind of Transformer are you talking about? I mean,

I know it's probly super simple, but they call me Sparky at work (Yes, I still work with computers! haha) but, I HATE electricity and working with it, so I don't build too much with wires.

Thanks

I'm assuming the transformer is to bring the volts down from a 110v wall plug to 24v so it doesn't kill me right? Or burn the shop down?

The transformer that I am using does pug into the wall to reduce volts from 110 to 24. It is the same transformer that is used on sprinkler systems. They sell them in the sprinkler section at the local Home Depot I go to. Here is the link.
http://www.rainbird.com/homeowner/pr...parts/ut-1.htm

I got it. Thanks. Yeah I found them after some longer research. They might be my ticket.