Silent Library – Machine for simultaneous Punching AND Kicking!
I’ve made things that punch people, and machines that kick people, but here’s a machine I made that kicks and punches people at the same time! Increases productivity by 100%! The foot and fist are both set in motion by pneumatic cylinders, with a foam foot inside the boot and a foam fist, so that [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Hand Tenderizer
I made these urethane rubber hammers to smash the hands of Silent Library contestants, and set up a pneumatic mechanism to make the hammers swing up and down.
Read more »Silent Library – Stinky Gelatin Octopus!
I’ve never had to cast an animal before, but there’s a first time for everything. To keep the hot plaster from melting the octopus into a pile of reek, it was frozen. Its tentacles were flattened against a sheet of aluminum foil so that there wouldn’t be too many undercuts on the mold. Katie Akana [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Executive Stress Machine
This prop needed a revised mechanism to clobber Silent Library contestants in the head (I changed it to work with pneumatics instead of the original electric motors .) I also cast the giant foam balls which did the clobbering. The balls have volleyballs in their centers, to save the cost of some expensive polyurethane foam.
Read more »Silent Library – Pasta Haircut
This pasta wig was made to be eaten off the head of a senior citizen on Silent Library. I cooked the pasta lightly so that it would be flexible, but not mushy. I held all of the pasta together with some remarkably sticky gelatin. I shaped it to be one of those sideways haircuts that [...]
Read more »Kikkerland – Giant Cloud, Giant Lightning
I made a giant (12′ across!) cloud and lightning bolt for the Kikkerland booth at the ICFF this year. The components were made out of several sheets of blue foam sandwiched together, with an MDF and solid wood backing for support. I put together a homemade hot-wire cutter to shape the foam, along with my [...]
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Silent Library – Electric Chicken
This electric chicken mixer was made to scratch Silent Library contestants with its sharp talons! I removed the guts from an ordinary hand mixer and modified them so that they would fit inside a rubber chicken; I’m very happy with how it came together, especially how the power cord comes out the chicken’s mouth.
Read more »Silent Library – Indian Burn Machine
Designing and building this machine was one of my biggest challenges on Silent Library. Figuring out a way for the hands to rotate around a point where I could place no pivots was tricky - so I made a semicircular track for a set of rollerskate wheels, and attached a pair of silicone hands to [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Egg Gatling Gun
My task on this project was creating an automatic mechanism that would fire a dozen eggs at contestants on Silent Library. I experimented with a tennis-ball-style launcher first, but settled on a gatling gun setup, powered by a disassembled t-shirt gun. The revolver chamber is made out of sections of PVC tubing ringed with UVA [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Wrecking Ball Crane
This seven-foot-tall crane was made to strike game show contestants in the groin with a sand-filled plastic wrecking ball. The frame is made from steel, with plywood panels, heater vents, lawnmower wheels, and some video arcade switches. Courtland Premo helped with the electrical system, and I managed to hit the poor contestant in the groin [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Phony Ostrich Eggs
This was a fun challenge! The writers for Silent Library wanted to hit the contestants with ostrich eggs... but since ostrich eggs are expensive and are so hard that they need to be opened with a hammer, I needed to create some fake ostrich eggs that would make a mess and not kill anyone. I [...]
Read more »Silent Library – Wheel of Rulers
I cast my hand a whole bunch of times on the third season of Silent Library - in this case, six times to make a machine to slap contestants with rulers. The vinyl rulers are sewn to the hands with fishing line so that they don't go flying off in dangerous directions, and the wheel [...]
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