- Product Designer for playful and educational experiences

Daily Archives: June 30, 2010

Silent Library – Machine for simultaneous Punching AND Kicking!

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Hand Tenderizer

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

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.

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Silent Library – Indian Burn Machine

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 1-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: willkrause, silent library, Props

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Egg Gatling Gun

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, foam

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Wrecking Ball Crane

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: willkrause, silent library, Props

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Phony Ostrich Eggs

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Wheel of Rulers

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

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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