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Creepy Carport

Creepy Carport

It seems we have an "infestation" problem in our carport... And we just had to share!

Controls for this prop involve a Parallax PROP1 (the brains), a motion detector, and a Parallax RC-4 relay controller. Mechanicals include a motor, a fog machine, and lots of lights.

TOTs must first make it through our very creepy darkened maze that was our front porch, then are ushered into the carport, which will start out very dimly lit... A few seconds after everyone's in there, the lights will come up to a VERY CREEPY sight...

As always, click on any image below to see the full-size image.

The key to this prop is a motor (on queue) rotating a large pipe suspended above the carport; with a series of fishing-lines tied to the pipe and strung along the ceiling to eye-hooks, where we suspended a variety of nasty vermin. The pipe rotates in the dim carport, winding out the line, lowering the critters from the ceiling. At just the right moment, lights around the perimeter illuminate, allowing the victims to see what is coming down to get them! And to help them along, as we light up the carport, we fire off a fog machine hidden in what appears to be a large bug spray can!

The only technical trick was figuring out when the vermin had completed a cycle; I had to design a custom mounted micro-switch that the PROP1 controller could utilize to determine that the critters had fully retracted - and thus turn off the motor. Otherwise it would just keep winding up and down all night; and we only want it to unwind on queue.

The how-to begins with a low-rpm motor salvaged from a Christmas wire-reindeer. It had the ideal features of being available, and better yet - when it encounters any significant resistance, the motor automatically reverses direction. This made it ideal for our nefarious purposes. I need this motor to turn a long PVC tube; so I took a 1" PVC end cap, drilled a hole in the center just large enough to fit the motor's shaft through. Then, since the motor shaft had a small hole through it (previously had a cotter pin through it), I drilled another small hole across the diameter of the pipe allowing me to run a finishing nail all the way through - including right through the hole in the shaft. This should effectively lock the shaft to the PVC tube, allow it to turn the tube without slipping. **Lesson learned; next time we'll use a larger diameter PVC pipe. The speed of the motor turning the 1" pipe wasn't fast enough. A larger diameter pipe would bring the spiders down more quickly.

Here's a layout of the electronics I have assembled for this project. The PROP1; RC-4 relay controller; a wall-wart power supply to power the PROP1; a parallax motion detector wired to the PROP1; and a fog machine remote control with a wire "tapped in" (open the remote, locate the push-button that triggers the unit, and simply solder one wire to each side of the switch). The wires from the fog machine remote are then wired into the relay controller - so that when the relay is triggered, it completes the circuit, effectively making the circuit the push-button would have. Presto! Computer controlled fog.

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Here's the Parallax PROP1 and RC-4 relay controller that controlled the carport:

Next we mounted the pipe and motor to the ceiling of the carport. You can also see the strings of orange "icicle style" hanging light strings that were strung around the top of the carport (these are the lights that the prop turns on to light up the carport as the creepies reach head level):

Next we strung the creepies from the ceiling. We mounted eye hooks in the ceiling above each point we wanted a critter to drop. We tied the line to the critter, then ran it up through the eye hook, then back along the ceiling to the pipe. The line was then threaded through one of the holes we drilled in the PVC pipe and tied in a secure knot. As you can see, we also included one VERY LARGE spider - center stage - that also lowered as part of the ensemble.

The final technical challenge was rigging the switch to detect when the spiders and crew had fully retracted (so we could turn off the motor and wait for the next group of victims). A micro switch from Radio Shack became the basis. Mounted in a small chunk of wood (a small slot was cut out for it so the top of the switch was flush with the wood:

The switch was wired in the normally open position. Next I needed something to close the switch contacts. A small scrap of wood was screwed on top of the switch-mounted wood, with enough slack that the wood scrap could easily travel about 1/4 inch. A hole was then drilled through BOTH pieces of wood, allowing a line to be run through them.

Finally the whole assembly was mounted to the ceiling, lined up so a line to one of the spiders came down from the ceiling and passed through the hole in the switch assembly. From there I simply tied a nut onto the fishing line just below the switch, spaced so that it was JUST touching the switch assembly when the line was as high up as I wanted it to go. As the motor turned the pipe reeling in the spiders, this particular line (with nut tied into the line) would come up and be pulled against the switch - closing it - and also stopping the line from moving any further, which gave the motor the resistance it needed to automatically switch direction!

The PROP1 was wired to the switch and was coded to watch for a switch contact. Once the switch was closed, the PROP1 turned off power to the motor (via the RC4 relay controller) leaving the spiders at the highest point, and ready to descend on the next group of victims!

To set a proper "ambience", we surrounded the sides of the carport with appropriate scene setters, and closed in the entire (formerly open) carport with black plastic. Low lights (mostly recessed red bulbs) provided an eerie glow, just light enough to make your way through. A pathway was created that forced the victims to walk down to the back of the carport before they could get to the exit; leading them past (and under) all the creepies. As an added touch, we threw down a bunch of peanut shells on the carport floor - which made delicious crunching noises in the dark as victims walked on them. Here's some of the backdrops;

Here's Christopher building the frame to cover the front of the carport. Keeping this up was no small feat, as we had our usual pre-Halloween winds that sometimes exceeded 50mph!