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The Tools You'll Need:
I didn't actually need the electrical tape. But you
might need it.
Use care with the speed of the powerdrill. You only
want to go slowly with it, as it'll make quick work of the soft plastic of the Air-Wick unit. You just want to drill out the
plastic rivits that hold the unit together. This is a touchy operation. So it's best to drill a little, and check to see if
you've done enough.
The stuff you need:
The Air-Wick Scented Oil Heater Unit. Plugs right into
a wall outlet.
A couple wire nuts. (One'll do, but if you loose it,
then what?)
A few small screws, to fasten the unit back together
again.
FS-2 (Flourecent Starter #2)
FS-2 Base Socket. (The FS-2 is inserted into the holes...
Then it is twisted clockwise to lock into the base.
The Extention cord has three outlets on an end. If you're
like me, I use the molded plug-end to outfit the other props I make, and I just buy extention cords mecause it's cheaper than
buying the cord & plug separately. So I have a number of these tri-outlet ends laying around.
I also have quite a number of these FS-2s in the shop.
What's hard to find is the Base Socket that they fit into. I usually have to buy the flourecent tube socket that go along
with them.
Interestingly enough. The flourecent bulb sockets are
called "tombstones" in the electical trade. Whoedofthunkit?
}'-{1}
Let's get it started, huh?
The first thing you'll need to do is drill out the plastic
rivits that hold the two halves of the unit together.
It's worthwhile to take yout time and be carefull, NOT
to use too much pressure to drill out the rivits. They ARE made of a soft plastic. Once the drill "bites" into the plastic,
it just wants to bore right through.
You DON'T want to do that. Youll drill out the plastic
that is intended to hold the unit together, once you've replaced the rivits with small screws.
Be carefull and go slow.
Once the rivits have been drilled out, the unit will
just fall to pieces. There's nothing very complex here. Basically, it's just four simple parts. The front half, the back half,
the electical unit, and the Scent Orafice. I'm holding the electrical unit in this image.
The plug is designed to rotate a 1/4 turn. so the plug
can be oriented horizontally, or virtically. Look along the edge of the disk that the plug is molded into. You should see two
slightly curved slots. Along the outside edge of these slots, is a tiny little groove. This is the Snap-Stop used to lock
the plug in either position.
Inside the back half of the shell is a tiny post. The
edge of this post is what "snaps" into this tiny groove. (More on that later.)
The Scent Orafice is what regulates the heated oil scent
from the unit. This has a slot on one side of the tube. When it's rotated, the slot size is varied. But the slot is of no
use to us.
I was trying to put this together once before, and I
discovered, that this Scent Orafice is too long. It actually prevented the wire from being installed. So I had to clip it
back so there was room for the cord to pass into the unit, and be connected internally.
The ORANGE LINE is where I trimmed it off at.
Why bother and save the orafice? It acts like a cord
protector, and makes the unit look nicer.
This is the front half of the shell of the unit. (It's
the back half that has the big round hole in it.) Since there is no real need to modify anything on the front half of the
shell, just place it off to the side. There's no need to do anything to it.
There is a "T" configuration of what I could only call
"Walls", inside the back half of the shell. These walls have to be removed. It's an easy enough task.
The Mini-Ceramic Heater Element is something that's
gotta go. The FS-2 Socket base will be installed in it's place. Simply cut the wires as closely to the ends of the heater,
and dispose of the evidence properly.
This is the heater element. Just a small rectangle of
junk. But if you need something that gets kinda hot... you might opt to leave an inch or so of lead on the unit, so you can
splice more wire to it later sometime. But since I have no use for it, the leads are about 2mm long now. Suitable for the
"circular file" if you ask me.
As it is, the leads are pretty short. Just barely enough
to allow the project to be completed. If you left leads on the heater element, you'll find that these leads will be much too
short. You'll HAVE to splice some wire to these somehow.
If, however that you went and trimmed off the heater
leaving next to nothing as leads ON the heater, you just may escape unharmed.
I use wirestrippers that can be custom adjusted to the wire size. This
is no time to make a mistake and accidentally cut the wire shorter, rather than strip the insulation. So care must be taken.
Strip away 3/8" to 1/2" of insulation from the wires. This will give
you plenty of "connection" for later...
Remember when I said that a few internal walls had to
come down? Well, here's where they have to be cut & removed. You could use a razor knife or an exacto to slice through
the walls, adjacent to the screw/rivet anchor tubes. But I used my wire cutters. I snipped right alongside the screw anchors,
and snipped apart the wall that intersects with the long, curved wall.
See where I have circled with ORANGE? THAT'S the little
post, that snaps into the groove of the disk, that rotates the plug on the back of the unit. Try your very best not to destroy
that post, or you'll loose the Snap-Stop feature of the plug swivel.
After the walls have been cut free of the virtical supports,
you can take the needle nosed pliers, and by starting at one end of the walls, you can slip the needle nose down, over
either side of the walls, to the base of the shell. Grip tightly, and twist the wall, like you were opening a can of sardines.
The walls should shear-off right at the base, giving
you a half-way decent trim.
The green lines here show you where the walls WERE.
Notice (if you can,) that a bit of wall is still left, on the tubes where the screws will be run into. It's best to have as
much space as possible to fit the FS-2 Socket base into this small area. So if need be, use a razor knife or an exacto to
slice through the soft plastic and trim the plastic back to the tubes themselves.
Believe me, you'll need the space.
This is a visual representation of where the FS-2 Socket
Base is going to be located. I didn't think of it at the time, but the hole that the FS-2 will slip into will be on top
of this red block outline. So, the FS-2 would be standing virtically, kind of covering the big hole of the back half of the
shell.
The Wire: Most lamp cords and small household extention
cords are made from what is known as "Zip-Cord". It get's it's name from the fact that once the insulation BETWEEN the two
wires is cut, it allows the wires to be separated, with the insulation intact, like a zipper.
Separate the wires about an inch, to an inch & 1/2.
You really don't have much space inside to pack extra wire. So be stingy!
Strip the insulation back about 3/8" to 1/2". Make sure
the wires are sorta equal in length.
Using a camera phone sux for doing this sort of work,
but here I twisted the wire strands together. Shame you can't see it.
Since I tried to make this before. I strongly recommend
that the wires be tinned with solder & a soldering iron. "Tinned" means that the wire strands are heated with a soldering
iron, then solder is allowed to melt, allowing the solder to seep in between the strands thoughoughly. You sould still be
able to see the strands through the surface of the solder.
This will beef up the wire so that it can make the proper
connections to the wire nut and the FS-2 Socket base. But if you can't get a soldering iron, try to wiggle the wire into the
slip connection at the base (side) of the socket. It can be done. But it takes some patience and a little inginuity.
At this point, I wanted to remind you of the basic wiring
diagram that I had placed at the top of the page. By now this diagram might look a bit familliar to you.
At the top, is the Plug swivel.
Moving down from there, are the two white wires, one
wire slips into the base of the FS-2 Socket Base...
While the other white wire is connected to the one of
the wires of the brown extention cord.
The remaining brown extention cord wire, is slipped
into the base of the FS-2 Socket Base.
DON'T FORGET!!!
The brown wire has to be slipped through the Scent Orafice.
The mushroom-like head of the orafice should be closer to the outlets at the end of the extention cord.
Below are several images of the wiring configuration.
I hope these give you a better idea of what it actually looks like.
The innards have been lovingly and firmly cohorsed into
the casing. The small screws have been installed, and the unit is ready for it's maiden voyage. Will it fly, or will it blow?
Who's to know?
But first, a message from our sponsor.
This is the first Flicker Unit that has the rotating
plug feature. It's Casing is tough enough to withstand being stepped upon, and still allows the FS-2 canister to be replaced
at a moment's notice. Nearly any incandecent (light bulb) lamp can be plugged into the Flicker Wall Wart. Since the blades
of the plug are of the same width, (NON-Polarized,) the unit can be pluged into an upside-down outlet.
IT IS NOT WATERPROOF!!!
Be on the look out for the Air-Wick Heated
Scented Oil Unit
in a second-hand store near you.
Or possibly these other fine stores...
Salvation Army
Dollar General
Goodwill
Big Lots
Or at
yard or
garage sales
in your area...
In it's original condition, the vial of oil scent
would be inserted into this circular opening. Now, the FS-2 unit is able to be inserted. The Socket Base is just inside. The
unit is now going to sit, in the wall outlet upside-down. This will allow the cord to run down the wall. But, since the blades
of the plug are non-polarized, you can flip the unit over and plug it in, so that the cord could run up the wall instead.
With the rotation feature, you could also rotate the
unit, (and depending how the plug is oriented to the wall and the flucker unit,) you can even run a cord off to the left or
right, along a wall.
Since the unit is made of plastic, you could also
use the spray paint called "Krylon Fusion", a spray paint that bonds to plastic. (I used the paint, I recommend it.) When
painted black, or a deep green or brown, it can be used on the end of a power cord. and nearly disappear into the lawn, bushes
or surroundings of a haunt.
It stands off from the wall slightly, and it's designed
with the swivel plug so close to the end of the unit, that it won't block other outlets, when located in the last
outlet of a power strip.
Good thing all you have to do is slip it in the hole,
line up the slots and give it a good clock-wise twist to lock it in place. To remove the FS-2 for some other rating FS, simple
twist it counter-clockwise, and it'll slip right out again.
For my next hack...
Another "How to..."
Home Electrolisis
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Please be sure to visit "How to Halloween" A new up and coming site on building your own Halloween decorations for next to
nil!
The Halloween-L is a great website & forum. You should go there NOW! Ok, after you view my website. But right after that,
go there! (If you know what's "Boo" for you!)
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