Nuts and Volts - September 2014

prop! I decided I needed to build more. With just three weeks left until Halloween and with a successful Flying Crank Ghost build under my belt, I started looking at the leftover parts on my workbench and went to town. As a result, my very first home haunt debuted with my Flying Crank Ghost and three additional motion activated props. I was well on my way to creating my favorite and most elaborate prop to date: the Crypt Creature. My philosophy for building props is, “Use what you have first, then buy only what you need.” So, the Crypt Creature is animated by a hacked cordless drill I had laying around (Figure 3), and the sound effects were made using a surplus laptop that was triggered by the guts of an old USB keyboard (Figure 4). The sounds were amplified through an old car stereo amplifier and speaker system. The entire system was powered by a 12V 18 Ahr battery, and triggered with a salvaged wireless remote (Figure 5).

Toying With an Idea

The idea for this prop came from a small battery powered Halloween toy I found at a local drug store. The toy was a six inch figure of a prison-garbed skeleton in a cage (Figure 6). When its rudimentary motion detector was triggered, it lurched forward, spread the plastic bars of its cage, and said something rather corny through its tinny sounding little speaker. However, when I first walked past this thing, it actually startled me! I think it was the combination of the interesting motions and well-timed sounds. It really got me wondering how hard it would be to scale it up for a life-sized effect. Could I turn the little toy into a big scare? Finding out became my obsession.

Getting Ahead

To inspire myself when making Halloween props, I always start with a scary head or mask; it helps to get my creativity going. For this prop, I found a witch-like full head skeleton mask that was very creepy. I sat it on a post in my garage/workshop and would look at it every time I came in, imagining how it would move. The idea was to start with the head hanging down and then raise it up to startle people just like the little six inch toy had startled me. Once I imagined the neck moving forward and the top of the head being held back with a string, I knew I had it! The rest of the mechanism just seemed to fall into place after that.

One of the most interesting things about this build was just how many motions could be accomplished using only a single motor. The mechanism began with a wooden 1 x 6 acting as a base. To that, I attached a 1 x 3 plank standing vertically in the front to hold the creature, and another in the back to hold the winch rod (Figure 7). On the front vertical plank, I used a single bolt to attach a second plank that could pivot forward and backward. This was to act as the creature’s torso, and the single pivot point would allow for the lunging motion. To the top of this torso plank I attached the head with a neck swivel joint to allow the head to move freely. I also attached a string from the back of the head to the rear vertical plank.