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The Scene of the "crime".
Inside, I have already cleared off the top shelf and installed a stiff paper "ramp" that ensures
that ALL of the ping pong balls are going to spill out. This is how I made the ramp...
I measured how wide the interior shelf is. In my case, it was 13". How could I BE so lucky?
The depth of the shelf is 3".
I measured up the back of the cabinet, 3", and lo and behold, this worked out to be 4", from
the 3" mark on the back of the cabinet, (just above the shelf) to the front edge of the shelf. Making a rough 45 Degree angle.
I marked out on stiff paper or cardboard (like Poster Board or something) the 13" width of
the shelf.
I then marked off the 3" depth of the shelf. (This gave me a general demention of the shelf
itself.)
Along the 3" sides, I extended another 4" of cardboard. This additional material will
be folded, and will serve as the "ramp" sitting on the shelf.
The 3" line is the "fold" line. The shorter side of the fold is going to support the ramp
along the back edge.
Place the ramp on the shelf, with the 3" side towards the back so that the ramp slopes downwards
towards the front of the shelf.
I also used a bit of tape to hold down the front edge of the ramp.
As for my hands? I left a blacklight on while I was taking these shots.
I wear the gloves to hide the fact that I'm really an alien from outer space.
(But in order to pronounce my real name, I would have to rip out your tounge.)
I bought 24 Ping Pong Balls, (as luck would have it... Wal*Mart actually
had ORANGE ones.) Don't buy the PRO-MODEL ping pong balls, their larger and almost twice as expensive. The one's I got are
called 38mm RECREATIONAL. only $1.28+tax.
I'm only testing with 6, because
I don't want to pick up 24 ping pong balls.
Place the ping pong balls in the grocery bag. These bags are perfect as they'll
easilly slip out of the top of the medicine cabinet after the door is closed.
I also snipped off the little handle loops to prevent the loops from catching
a ping pong ball and preventing me from removing the bag from behind the closed door.
Fold over the opening of the bag, just once. It's a little bit of a struggle
if you fold it over a few times, as when you try to withdraw the bag, it has to unroll to release the ping pong balls inside
the cabinet.
Carefully place the bag, UPSIDEDOWN inside the medicine cabinet. So as not to
let the ping pong balls spill out.
Be sure to leave a bit of the bag hanging out along the top of the medicine cabinet,
like I have done, (in the upper right corner of this image.) This will allow you to grab the bag, and pull it out, without
opening the door of the cabinet.
If your cabenet opens on the left, (hinges on the right,) then let the bag protrude
from the upper left instead.
While holding the bag in plase and folded closed, you can then swing the door
to the closed position, gently, until it's right on top of your hand. Then quickly slip your hand out and snap the door closed.
If all goes well, a bit of the bag is left protruding from the top and no ping pong balls have escaped the trap.
Removing the bag took a little manipulation in this case. I simply held the door
closed with one hand, and slid the corner of the bag back and forth to kind of "wiggle" it's way out, spilling it's contents
inside.
The trap is set!
The trap is sprung!
Here you can see it's results. Laying amidst my myriad of hair care and dental
hygene products, is the fruits of this labor. Glad I only tried 6 ping pong balls. They all fell out
due to the ramp I installed.
Ok, you might say...
"So Wolfie, where do the nosey peckers hide the ping pong balls
so as to escape discovery that their so curious?"
Well, I have a plan for that. I figure, if their so snoopy, they might choose
to hide them anywhere. Believe me, on that night, I plan to remove any real hiding places like wastebaskets and somehow seal
the under-the-sink cabinet. The only other place will be the large walk in closet. And boy oh boy, do I have a plan for that!
The bathroom has a large walk-in closet, which may proove tempting for the curious. (I haven't
made anything for this just yet,) but my plan for this little room is "monsterous". A severed head floats off the shoulders
of a full-sized body, and a strobe light triggers to freak 'em out.
The head is rigged to the door. Fishing line, run through pulleys, around to the back wall.
The head is hung from another pulley, threaded with a guideline, that is run from the back wall, downhill to the door.
As the door is opened, the fishing line slacks and the head moves from the shoulders of the
dummy, forward about three feet. Considering the closet is nearly six feet deep, (maybe 7,) IF the dummy is standing in the
center, the head will just about make it to the door.
A "trigger switch" that contacts the door will be held in the OPEN position. This ensures
that the strobe light will remain OFF until the door is opened. When the door is opened, the contacts of the switch are closed,
and the strobe light will turn on, and the head begins to slide down the guideline to the door.
I kind of wanted to change this walk-in closet into a crypt entrance, but I can't afford to
invest in the materials at this point. Plus the total lack of power tools, and I'm all "claws" when it comes to the details.
(Wolfman waits much to long for the laugh... He hears crickets instead.)
Urm, uh, So I decided another action prop is going to be created in here. But first it has
to be illuminated somehow. So here we are in my mini-shop, where I keep my magical essentials. Mostly electrical doo dads
and stuff. Okay, it's mostly junk.
After a few moments, I was able to track down this...
It's missing a powercord, but it's no problem for me to replace. But it's a lamp socket that
is supposed to be mounted inside a closet door jamb. When it's mounted properly, it acts a lot like the light in a refrigerator.
Open the door, and the light goes on. Close the door, and the light goes out. So this little puppy's going in the closet,
to switch on and off a strobe light.
OOOooohhh! Such fun!
In the switche's normal state, the electrical contacts are closed. This allows the electricity
to flow and light up a lamp. But for this application, I've installed a socket to outlet adapter. So I can control anything
I happen to plug into the outlet. In the closet's case... a stobelight.
I've installed the trigger lamp socket on the door frame (or "header" as the carpenter's
call it) over the door to the walk-in closet.
The inside surface of the bi-fold steel door did not go all the way to the top of
the outside of the door. (I guess this made it easier for the manufaturer to spot weld the metal together during assembly.)
But there was two ways I could of gone about making it work...
One idea was to add a bit of material to the top of the bracing structure. This would
of extended the inside surface further to the top of the door. Sort of like adding a block of wood or something.
The second was to lower the socket about an inch from the top of the door frame/header.
Using some sort of spacer to extend the swith down so it will contact the door and thus the switch pushed in and shut off.
I opted for the second idea. I would of had to create screw holes in the header anyway,
and trying to find something to place on top of the bracket would of been another step to the job.
You'll find that this wolfman is lazy. I don't like to do things if I can...
A: Come up with a reason not to do extra work...
B: Having little or no materials to work with...
C: Drink coffee instead...
D: Figure out a better, less costly alternative.
You'll also find out I'm also a cheap wolfman too.
Here I managed to locate the switch so that the "plunger" on the back, (that's the tip
of the switch that is pushed in to break contact,) is pushed in when the door closes.
I used some 2 1/2" sheetrock, or beugle head
screws, and some lamp parts. The lamp parts are the small, threaded tubing used in the manufature of lighting fixtures, table
lamps, etc. (One of my hobbies is creating lamps,) These threaded tubes were about an inch long and they lowered the
socket nicely. The screws got a great grip into the wooden header, so the socket is firmly anchored. It's not going anywhere.
I placed a socket/outlet adapter in the socket. The adapter
changes the socket into an outlet. This is a great gizmo to stock up on, for you home haunters.
You can use them in a outdoor lamp socket and control lighting from the switch inside your
house.
I plan to power this from a nearby outlet in the bathroom. I have to find a cord for it, and
solder the cord to the cord contacts inside the socket housing. No biggie, I can make another "How-To" tutorial on Basic
Soldering as I do the job.
Here is a tight little close-up of the rig in place. Notice how the steel door bracing falls
short of the height of the front of the door? This is what gave me the big headache. But I got my head around it and the switch
is firmly mounted in place.
Normal sheetrock AKA: Wallboard, is only 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. It's not a very strong material.
It's kind of like a chalky material. Crumbly, and it does not like to withstand much pressure or forces. So if you
have to mount something like this to a wall, it's best to use a stud sensor and locate the wooden studs in the walls. Use
a pencil to mark the locations. You can erase it later, or paint over the markings. Ink pens won't let
you do that. Ink won't erase and it bleeds through a coat of paint, like a magic-marker. Always use
a pencil.
Some places of walls have solid wood behind it, such as the header I anchored this switch
to. Other places are where walls make outside corners. There is usually a massive amount of wood framing in the corners. Inside
corners have some, but not as massive an amount.
Studs are generally located on 16" marks, (this is known as "On Center",)
so the studs are "centered" at 16" increments. Studs are only about 1 1/2" wide. So there's
really not much in the way of a "target" when running screws or driving nails into them. Stud Sensors are pretty
persice when locating studs. They can show you each edge of the stud, where it starts and where it ends.
Some sensors can even tell you if it's an electrical line or a water pipe you're sensing with it.
Usually, if you find one stud, you can bet that the next one is just 16" further down the
wall. But sometimes, the studs are located differently, due to the framework structural design. These structural liberties
are usually around the corners, ends of a wall, around door & windows, and even, sometimes around electrical outlets,
switches and ceiling fixtures and fans. Usually, it's to strengthen the structure.
Back to the closet door...
In the lower part of the door, at the "Pivot Point" (where the door is achored
to the track,) is a "Height Adjustment Pin" It has a slotted tip to it. If turned with a screwdriver,
the door can be positioned virtically in the doorway opening. Turning it clockwise, will raise or lift the door.
Ergo, turning it counter-clockwise will lower or drop the door.
The other pins are spring loaded. They also have a snap-catch to them. So
if a pin is pressed firmly into the frame of the door, a small latch will hold the pin in the "retracted" position. This is
so that people can remove the door for whatever reason, without having long spring loaded pins in the way, getting caught
on things and making your life miserable and have to go to a psycologist for years of costly analisis.
But I degress.
To get the pins back to their usual "springy-ness", slip a screwdriver beneath the catch
mechanisim and gently pry back the catch away from the pin. You can also give a light tap
on the back of the pin and it'll snap past the catch and release.
IF you take a door like this out of it's track, it's easy to replace...
Line up the bottom pin to the anchor hole in the lower track and position the door back into
place. Release the upper pin into the anchor hole at the top of the frame. The door is now anchored into place.
Line up the spring loaded pins, somewhere along the track and relese the catches to allow
the pins to enguage the lot within the track and the door is placed back on the tracks.
Here's my strobe trigger with it's guts hanging out on my kitchen table. The socket did not
have the normal screws to wrap the wires around. Since I bought this at a garage sale, I didn't know the cord was clipped,
and the socket was put up for sale.
Upon dismembering the unit, (just swist the knurled ring that held it to the mounting bracket,
until it comes free,) I discovered that the wires were soldered to the contacts. They actually LEFT some wire there.
This worked out to my advantage, as my El Cheapo soldering iron is mostly for working with
printed circuit boards. (It wouldn't get hot enough to heat the terminals, and allow the solder to melt & flow into the
strands of wire.)
So I simply soldered the new cord to the remains of wire that was clipped off instead. Works
just as well.
Here's a fuzzy close-up of the socket. Wish the focus of this cam/phone was a bit closer than
3 feet.
One of the things I rigged for the closet is a set of green Halloween lights on the back of
the closet door. This made a perfect test for the trigger for the strobe. I just plugged it into the socket to outlet adapter,
and the strings lit up, no problem.
The string isn't lit here as the door isn't open far enough to let the switch close.
The door is opened just a fracture more and on go the lights. All I have to do is mount the
strobe and the closet trigger will be complete.
The strobe was mounted to the door header. The cord rolled up and plugged into the trigger
switch. It works like a dream, or should I say "nightmare"?
I put an in-line switch on the cord that powers trigger switch. I think that this will
be a bit better than triggering the strobe EVERY time I have to go inside the closet.
All that's left to do now is build the prop dummy, hang the head on a guide line and rig the
fishing line.
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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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