Grave-Popper triggered via X-10

Difficulty Rating:

We've done the grave popper before, however, this one is using X-10 to manually trigger this remotely, WITHOUT WIRES! (insert old-time TV suprise sound here).

Anyhow, I figured, more than one HOW-TO on how to do things is better than just one. This one will also be far more detailed. As the old German saying goes, "the devil is in the details", or at least connected to a 120VAC circuit.

Materials List - PART 1 (X-10 setup / Trigger Mechanism / Pneumatics)

• Cheap Extension Cord - any length will do, mine happened to be one of the many I have from Home Depot, available for about $1
• 1/4 NPT Solenoid Valve
  • I used a Peter Paul Stainless Steel 3 Way Normally Closed Exhaust to Atmosphere 1/4" NPT Solenoid Valve, model # 23HJ9DCV, purchased off of eBay for $10.
• X-10 Appliance Module
• X-10 Tranceiver Module
• X-10 Palm Pad Remote
• (2) Twist cap electrical connectors
• 1/4 NPT Polyethylene Tubing - comes in 25' rolls for about $5 from Home Depot, I used the Watts brand.
• (1) 1/4" FIP Brass Pipe Coupling (Watts Product #A-732) from Home Depot
• (1) 1/4" MIP x 1 1/2" Brass Pipe Nipple (Watts Product #A-471) from Home Depot
• (3) 1/4" OD x 1/4" MIP Plastic Quick Connect Elbow (Watts Product #PL-3009) from Home Depot (i only used one of these. My cylinder came with 2 brass quick connect fittings already)
• Regulator (I used a cheap $6 unit from Harbor Freight)
• Air compressor (duh)
• 14" stroke 2-way air cylinder (I found 2x Bimba 14" stroke cylinders for $15 on eBay)
• Some electrical tape for good measure
• Loc-Tite

Materials List - PART 2 (The Grave Popper)

• 6' Steel 1/2 tube with holes... yeah, VERY technical description of it, huh? You'll see it, it's what makes up the stand
• (2) 3/4" Wide X 1/8" Thick x 3' long aluminum stock (Home depot)
• Just get a box (x-count) of the following... they are cheap, and you'll eventually use them...
  • 1/4"-20 TPI (Threads Per Inch) x 1"L Machine Screws
  • 1/4"-20 x 2L 20 TPI Machine Screws
  • 1/4 washers
• get a load of these too, you'll use them as well!
  • 1/4"-20 Nylon Locking nuts
• (1) 8' 1" PVC Sched. 40 pipe
• (1) 1" PVC "T" Connector
• Bucky skull from Anatomical.com with spring-attached jaw
• (3) mini bungee cords
• s**tload of zip-ties
• (2) 6"x6" "L" brackets
• 3" metal pipe clamp
• Poultry nettting (chicken wire, duh) around $5 for a 2' x 10' roll @ Home Depot
• Landscape fabric (think black weed blocker stuff) around $12 for a 3' x 40' roll @ Home Depot

Tools List

• Wire cutters
• Wire strippers (Whoa! Strippers! Giggidy giddity!)
• Adjustable wrench
• Another wrench...
• Hacksaw, or reciprocating saw, whatever floats your boat.
• 18v cordless drill with lots of attachments, drills, etc.
• beer
• more beer
• did I mention beer?
• air compressor (need to power it somehow!)
• electricity (just like those warnings on coffee that it's hot, no really, coffee is HOT! unless you let it sit for a long time, then it's cold and OK to dump over yourself, if you're into that of course...)

On to the HOW-TO section for building this thing...

PART 1 - X-10 setup / Trigger Mechanism / Pneumatics

The tools
Nipple, Coupler, Poly tubing, and Regulator
1/4" Quick Connect Elbow
14" Stroke Bimba Air Cylinder
The solenoid. Check your solenoid for the correct input and output valves, so you wire this thing up correctly. This particular solenoid valve is labelled with IN and CYL, so you know where the INput is, and where the CYLinder connects to.
Now, on to putting this all together... First, lop off the end of the extension cord (leaving the plug in tact), and strip the ends where you just made the cut.
Now, connect the ends of the electrical cord to the leads on the solenoid, and screw cap them off.
Connect air to the regulator. Note the darkend arrow showing the air flow, the arrow points from the input (air compressor) to the output (solenoid). You can also see where I have attached the coupler and nipple to the regulator.
Connect the 1/4" Quick Connect elbow to the output of the solenoid
Connect the air via the regulator to the solenoid Make sure you have your regulator dialed in LOW first!!! before connecting. Start off around 20 PSI, and then work your way to what pressure you need to use once the cylinder is attached. YOU DO NOT want to blow out the cylinder!!
Cut a length of tubing using a razor, and make it as clean of a cut as possible, and attach the cylinder to the solenoid.
Plug the solenoid into the X-10 Appliance Module.
Now, set your X-10 codes and connect the appliance module to a power source. Also shown in the Palm-Pad Remote.
Connect the plug from the extension cord that is wired to the solenoid valve into the X-10 appliance module, and give it a go, see if it triggers the solenoid, and air is passing through when ON, and not when OFF. And that's it, you are good to go!

Here is a link to our primer on Using X-10 in a Haunt

PART 2 - The Grave Popper

The setup for the grave popper for this prop was gleamed from Vile Things' Simple Grave Popper, however, not so simple, as you need to do a little trial and error, which I indeed did. But hell, it's all for the sake of knowledge and enlightenment, right? Or is that just the beer talking... So I was at the store... wait, what was I talking about? OH YEAH, on to the details. Are you still even reading this? Hello? Hello? Testing...1.2.3... is this thing on?

To start the popper off, here is the finished project, without any of the real window dressing.
And here it is actuating like crazy. Don't ask about the spraypaint on the wall, it came with the house. Have I mentioned the people who owned the house before me were just dumb AND STUPID? And since I am lazy, I have not yet removed it. Excellent combo.
Here we have the base and top without the skull and bones attached so you can have a better look. I used a 6' piece of steel 1/2 tubing with holes drilled in it (it came that way, I swear), like the stuff you have on metal shelving units. I cut that into (3) 3' lengths, and bolted them together at the bottom (closer look in the 2nd photo), and used two 6" pieces of steel stock to add stability to the base (also shown in the 2nd photo). I used (2) 1/4"-20 x 2" machine screws and nylon locking nuts to secure the base, and (4) 1/4"-20 x 1" machine screws with nylon locking nuts to secure the steel supports. Trust me, you will need this, as it's only held by a single bolt on each corner (that's two), so it will move about.	\
On top of the cylinder, fastened on either side of the threaded rod with bolts, is a 1" PVC "T" connector, which holds it nice and secure. I just drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the center of the "T" connecter, and ratcheted the bolts on REAL tight, and used some Gorilla Glue to hold it in place. (I would have used JB Weld, but then I would never get it off, and I will most likely repupose some or all of this in the coming years to another prop).
Attached to the "T" connector are two 9" lengths of 1" PVC Sched. 40 tubing, and attached to those are 6"x6" steel "L" brackets. I drilled in 4 holoes to connect to the PVC tubing, and fastened them on with 1/4"-20 x 2" machine screws with nylon locking nuts (these things are used in airplanes, and they generally stay together... why NOT use them here) on both sides, so they are VERY secure. The zip-ties shown here were only to old on the "L" brackets when attaching them, so I could keep them steady when drilling the PVC and getting the bolts on. As you can also see from the photo, I set the brackets at exactly 2" from either side of the "T", so they are an even distance apart (this is important kids!) so when I am using bungees to life the 4-bar arms, from a separate anchor point, they both raise the same height, and at the same time.
Here you can see the 1/4"-20 x 2" machine screw holding the base of the cylinder to the main post. I also spaced zip-ties up to the top of the cylinder, and they are in there VERY tight and secure, I have run this prop about 200 times since building it, and they haven't moved. I will probably replace them each year however, or, use metal pipe/tube clamps at some point, but for now, this works for me. That is also a nylon locking nut on the end, so it will not move.
I then took some small bungee cords, and drilled holes on the ends of the bottom "arm" of the 4-bar setup, and attached the bungee cords there, and to the post as a fixed point. What this will do is pull the arms up as the cyninder is actuated, so the arms raise up, because the bungee cords are attached to a single point. For all of the joints, I used 1/4"-20 x 1" machine screws, with washers on either side of each bar, and a nylon locking nut, slightly loosened to allow for movement. The top bar is 10" long, and the bottom and forarm bars are each 14" long.
Here is a close-up of one of the 4-bar arms when actuated, and raised by the small bungee cords.
I was figuring out what I wanted to do for a "head" on this guy, and looked over and saw one of my anatomical.com skulls that I used to make a latex cast from for plaster skulls last year, and it was perfect. It has speings that allow the lower jaw to move, so I added an additional mini bungee cord to the mix. I drilled a small hole in the back of the lower jaw, and attached the hook in there from one end of the bungee cord, and secured the other end of the bungee cord to the top of the post & cylinder using a metal pipe/tube clamp so it cannot whip off and hurt someone. In the first photo on the right, you can see the bungee cord and where it attaches to the cylinder with a pipe clamp, this is with no air applied to the cylinder.
And in this shot, you can see a close-up of the jaw open because of the bungee cord being pulled taut when the cylinder is actuated.
Here is a close-up of the under-side of the skull. I drilled a hole in the base to attch it to the "T" connector mentioned earlier (shown at the top of the "T" connector in the bottom photo), so it slides right up in there, and you can also see the small hole drilled in the bottom of the jaw where the bungee cord attaches.
Another item I would like to point out, is that I have two small screws positioned about an inch or so below the bar where it connects on the "forearm" of the prop, so that it cannot travel any further than that, as it can bind up.
Measurements
Nuts and Bolts
And here he is, finished product. If you're wondering where the poultry netting and landscape fabric from the materials list went, here it is. If you took a look at the Vile Things' website for their Simple Grave Popper as mentioned before, was used to build up the "shoulders", and the black stuff is landscape fabric.

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