I finally built a parrot to add to the pirate portion of my haunt. Here's the build video as well as the completed prop video.

Here's a video showing the method I use for running my 3 axis skulls - This board controls the nod, tilt and rotate of the skull. Controlling the jaw servo to get him to talk requires another board. I couldn't have done it without the work hpropman did on the random head code. It's what...

My Most Detailed Prop Build for 2013 FINISHED One of my goals for this year was coming up with a method to make my figures so that I could vary the poses from the standard straight style. Most of my stand up props are made with 2x4 legs and pvc upper bodies which work fine but it didn't offer...

After a long year of prop building, I've finally been able to complete my entire prop to do list for this year's haunt. These videos show short clips of the major new builds I took on this year. Here's the video for the early season builds - Thanks to all those here and those members of...

I've completed the third member of my witches coven. We started with the traditional witch stirring her cauldron, then added a second witch last year reading from her spell book with 2 axis head movement. To get a little more from the scene, I wanted the third witch to have more movement and...

The latest addition to the haunt for 2012 is my Skelerector built from the plans by Bourno. They can be found at http://www.teambac.com/web_hall/skelerector_how-to.html As soon as I get my skeletons out of storage, I'll finish it up.

TUNE IN TONIGHT -Video How to on Animating Your Display Join us this Friday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time as we continue our holiday display video how to presentations. The first 9 weeks covered lighting primarily used in Christmas displays but this will be the first presentation that focuses on...

In addition to working on the electronics projects, I have spent some time building props this year. Here's a short video showing some of what I've got done for this year so far. There are more detailed videos of each of the builds on my YouTube channel at...

I finally took the plunge and bought a welder and am trying to teach myself how to weld. Here's the results of my first attempts at welding up a pneumatic pop up. These will be combined into my Pirate display with an audio track and run by a Picaxe controller.

This project was not on my to do list for this year but when I found this old broken up Grandfather Clock I knew what had to be done. It will be installed in the parlor of the haunt along with the piano player and singer. The door is controlled by a 1 1/16 inch bore, 4 inch throw cylinder and...

In an effort to speed up the time it takes me to build my controllers, I decided to take the plunge and learn the program Eagle in order to make up PCB's for my most often used controllers. These now take 15 to 40 minutes to assemble instead of hours with much less chance of making a mistake...

This is the newest animated creature addition to my graveyard. I think he'll provide a few TOT's with a scare this year. I used a 3/4 bore, 16 inch throw cylinder and the prop was run with one of my Picaxe controllers.

My biggest goal for this year is to get all of my 3 axis skulls up and running and to put together a controller system that allowed them to be stand alone props. I didn't want to be connected to a computer and didn't want to have to program them in VSA. Since none of my skulls movements need...

I built this greeter so that he can be used with either the skull and a pair of skeleton hands or with the skull skin and the regular hands. It also has the joints from Spider Hill Prop Works for the shoulders and elbows so the position can be adjusted. I'll need to adjust the jaw closure point...

SteveO in his blog about the picaxe MP3 board shows his project board pimped out with screw terminals....here's the link http://www.garageofevilnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/sparkfun-mp3-trigger-howto In the documentation for the CHI030 and CHI030A it says when you put the terminals on you need...

I'm using a 08 Picaxe built to Fritz's VLC design to control my Vampire Pop up. When the Picaxe is triggered, it activates a relay which causes the audio to begin, the solenoid to activate and it turns on a light. After the routine runs, I've set a retrigger delay of 30 seconds before the prop...