The Lite F/X 1741 fogger was cheap and readily available a few years ago. Many of us have one or more of them that still work great. One down-side to these fog machines is that it’s tough to find fog timer remotes and wireless remotes that actually work with them. I’ll show you how to make common remotes that are readily available work with these foggers.
You know you love Dr. Who and want to be a Dalek for Halloween:
I’ve always wondered how well it would work to use a video camera and an LCD monitor to simulate a gaping hole in one’s belly but I’ve never got around to trying it out. Apparently it works pretty well as this fellow shows us:
Update: Here’s a video and some pictures of a 2-way version of this concept in a “Death Becomes Her” costume.
There’s a new how-to over at Automat3d showing you how to hack a Gemmy skull so that it can be controlled via MIDI. This would let you sync the skull with whatever soundtrack you wanted rather than relying on its built-in sounds.
Yard-light motion sensors are a great source of cheap haunt automation. The problem with them is that out of the box they can only control things that run on 120VAC. Automat3d has an article that tells you how to mod these sensors so that they have a switched (dry contact) output so you can use them to control low voltage things, MP3 players, props that have a “Try Me” button, etc. Pretty much anything that can be controlled with a switch or button can be controlled with a hacked motion sensor.
Gary Adams was kind enough to send in this great article on how to repair the pump in a Lite F/X fogger. Gary reports that he was surprised to find that it was a spring in the pump that had broken, not the O-ring that he suspected would go first.
This is part 2 of the Rooftop Flying Crank Ghost article. In this half you’ll see how to make the ghost itself, connect it to the motor and install it on your roof for all your neighbors to see.
The “Flying Crank Ghost” has become a popular prop to build amongst home haunters. There are plenty of instructions on the Intertubes on how to build them, but I decided to go a slightly different direction with mine. I wanted it to be more cartoony and ethereal than most. It also had to be pretty big because I wanted to put it on my roof. Also, I wanted to be able to adjust the motion fairly easily without having to drill new holes each time. It turned out pretty well, so now I’m going to show you how you can make your own Scott-style cartoony roof flying crank ghost.
Your doorbell works hard day in and day out letting you know when somebody wants you to come to the door, but it probably doesn’t see as much action all year long as it does on Halloween night. Just in time for the scariest night of the year I’m going to show you how to transform your boring old doorbell button into a creepy disgusting eyeball that must be poked and squished by unsuspecting victims if they have any hope of summoning you to give them candy.
So you spent a whole $20 for your Lite F/X fogger so you can use it in your haunt, play or whatever. You are nervous because your fog cue has to be right on time or the whole effect is ruined. The critical moment arrives, you push the button and nothing happens! The fogger doesn’t want to make fog right now because it is busy heating up.
I’ll show you a quick, easy and free mod for these cheap foggers so that you can get a burst of fog any time you need it regardless of what the heater is doing.
