- Product Designer for playful and educational experiences

Category: Silent Library

Silent Library – Rugburn Swing

Posted: September 15, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

The second in a series of swingsets that made me feel bad! I created a swing out of heavy black rubber to hold a contestant so that their knees would graze against a carpet as they swung, getting a nasty case of rugburn in the process. Sorry, contestant!

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Silent Library – Flounder Swing

Posted: September 14, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This challenge almost made me puke. I made a welded steel mechanism that swung three flounders into the face of a contestant as they played on a swingset. The fish are all put in motion by a pneumatic cylinder that rotates the fish in the opposite direction from the contestant. My stomach was churning as [...]

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Silent Library – Motorized Cheek Pincher

Posted: September 13, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

I cast these rubber hands and built them to pinch a contestant’s cheeks. A spring-powered clamp was modified to make the fingers pinch. Jason Singleton built the motors which moved the hands from side-to-side.

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Silent Library – Dual-Punch Elliptical Trainer

Posted: September 11, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This was a simple modification that only took a few hours to complete – an elliptical trainer that I welded arms onto, so that it could punch a contestant alternately in the stomach and groin.

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Five-Person Wedgie Machine

Posted: May 1, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This machine was built to give five contestants a wedgie… SIMULTANEOUSLY! I welded together the steel pipe and I-beam frame and hooked up two 12v electric winches to a bar, which in turn was connected to the contestants specially grommeted underpants (by official Silent Library grommeter Jessie Voris.) Courtland Premo figured out a way to [...]

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Silent Library – Running Water

Posted: April 30, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

Hitting a contestant in the face with a series of waterbottles was a fun challenge! I made a net out of some surplus green vinyl strapping, and a steel pipe frame to hold all of the bottles in single file. When a motor pulled on an end of the belt, they would drop into a [...]

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Silent Library – Groin-Punching Slot Machine

Posted: April 29, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

I modified an old slot machine to perform a complicated task: First, after the contestant pulled the slot machine’s arm the three tumblers were to spin and then stop so that a fist icon was facing forward. Next, lights were to flash, the winnings drawer was to drop open, and then a rubber fist would [...]

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Silent Library – Machine for simultaneous Punching AND Kicking!

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

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 – Stinky Gelatin Octopus!

Posted: June 29, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Executive Stress Machine

Posted: June 29, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

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.

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Silent Library – Pasta Haircut

Posted: June 29, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

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 [...]

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Silent Library – Electric Chicken

Posted: June 29, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Silent Library, Propmaking

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.

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Silent Library – Flyswatter Bicycle

Posted: December 12, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

I made this out of an old exercise bike, a right angle drive, PVC pipe, steel pipe, gears, chain, and four giant flyswatters. When the bike is pedalled, the wheel of flyswatters spins to hit a contestant in the face.

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Silent Library – Skill Crane

Posted: December 1, 2009-Likes: 1-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

I worked on this skill crane’s new head-sized claw and pneumatic setup. It could be kinda scary. Jason Singleton and Courtland Premo did lots of work on this machine – it was pretty rickety when it first arrived.

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Silent Library – Indian Burn Machine

Posted: November 22, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This machine uses shortened bicycle inner tubes to grab a contestant’s arm in three places. The clear plastic tube is also in three pieces, and the center piece can rotate to give an indian burn effect. Becky Holmes helped with the silver paint finish, which helped to make the machine look scarier.

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Silent Library – Rubber Hammer

Posted: November 4, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This hammer needed to have a new head made out of silicone rubber, and then be painted to look like an ordinary hammer.

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Silent Library – Wedgie Bike

Posted: October 10, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This tandem bicycle was modified so that the rider in back would be given a wedgie when the rider in front pedaled. I welded the bike to stands so that it would stay stationary, and modified the freewheel into a pulley so that the rope would be wound up to produce a wedgie.

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Silent Library – Kicking Machine

Posted: September 24, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library

This machine was welded together from steel so that it would be strong enough to kick the contestants in the rear, though I added some springs and flexible vinyl tubing so that it wouldn’t shatter any spines.

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Silent Library – Nipple Robot

Posted: September 19, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: willkrause, robots, silent library

Someday many years from now, my grandkids will ask me "Grandpa, were you ever a television robot star?" And I will be able to honestly tell them "Yes children, I was an EVIL television robot star. I built this robot out of all sorts of odds-and-ends. A funnel, bucket, two mini plasma spheres to make [...]

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Silent Library – Toe Snap

Posted: September 17, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

I built this machine to sequentially shoot a contestant in the toes with rubber bands. The mechanism works with screws which are placed around the barrel of a crank-operated winch every few degrees. As the crank is turned, the rubber bands fire off one-by-one.

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Silent Library – Pedal Pop

Posted: September 16, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Silent Library, Propmaking-Tags: willkrause, silent library, bike

I built this five-passenger bike by cutting apart and welding together the parts from three tandem bikes, and adding a bit of black gas piping where I needed straight tubing. It actually worked too, and I was able to take it for some wobbly rides in the studio! (Though the rear seat was responsible for [...]

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Silent Library – Rear Squeeze

Posted: May 2, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

I welded together a pair of steel hands to squeeze contestants' behinds. The hands were pulled shut by bicycle brake cables which were tightened by spinning a crank. I covered the hands with liquid latex coated foam. The arms wear sleeves stitched together by Jessie Voris, and the lower support was re-used from a catapult [...]

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Silent Library – Spanking Chair

Posted: April 28, 2011-Likes: 0-Comments: 2-Categories: Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, foam

This one was fun to make! I traced my hand, scaled it up 200% and then made a foam hand with acrylic nails from the pattern. The arm is made out of 2x4's glued together and swung with the aid of pneumatics. I scaled up a normal wooden chair 150% and built it out of [...]

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