The first thing that started me on this
project was people's general fear of clowns.
I like to work with natural phobias, instead of just the zombie pop-up norm.
2008 was the first year I found myself walking through a local Spirit store.
Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I chose my props carefully.
As soon as I made eye contact with the hanging clown, I knew this was the one thing I must have!
I like to work with natural phobias, instead of just the zombie pop-up norm.
2008 was the first year I found myself walking through a local Spirit store.
Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I chose my props carefully.
As soon as I made eye contact with the hanging clown, I knew this was the one thing I must have!
All the evil of this prop is in the
airbrushed eyes.
When you stare into this clown's
eyes, you can feel it.
I still did not know what to do with this darn
clown yet, but that soon changed.
The company I work for was cleaning out their old
storage building and it was full of old office furniture.
That is where I picked up the cool, but super heavy
file cabinet.
This cabinet was designed to hold giant drafts pages.
Its natural movement is for the top and the front
to simultaneously open at the same time!
Of course I modified the movement a bit to suit this
project.
I simply welded a few mounts in just the right place
and installed an old air ram.
You will love this part, in order to be sure I got the
mounts welded in the right spot,
I climbed inside with a flash light and completely
closed it!
I am 6 feet tall, so I did not fit inside this cabinet
very well.
Now that I have the door
opening and closing with air, I moved onto the pop mechanism.
I decided to use PVC, instead of my normal
welded steel mechanism.
What a mess! The first attempt was a PVC
straight slide pop-up.
The movement was very limited and the action was
ugly, so I scrapped it.
I then decided to go with a 4-bar type pop
mechanism.
So this pop would have to new first for me,
using PVC as a main frame and using the 4-bar concept.
Getting the maximum throw out of the 4-bar
without hitting the enclosure was another challenge!
I did not get it on the first attempt so I had
to cut it down a little.
After a little rework I was happy with the
motion.
I glued a piece of PVC into the head so that I
could mount it to the 4-bar frame.
Then I filled the head void area with Great
Stuff foam to give added holding power.
Nothing worst than some kid coming up to you in
the beginning of Halloween night saying,
Hey Mister, the fell of your
monster....
Next, I mounted another air cylinder to the side
of the 4-bar, to give it that great popping motion!
Then I hooked up an air regulator and a couple
of solenoids.
My air fittings have speed valves, to help
control the up/down and open/close speeds.
For a break-down of the function, please let me
refer you to my video below.
Now that I got the mechanism working
just the way I want, I neatly mounted all the parts.
Then I bolted the head on and hot
glued the clown suit to the front door to manage fabric upon
closing.
Here is a little video showing it all
dressed up...
