Halloween Props: Trash Can Jack-in-the-box

Last year [Bob] didn’t let the little kids get some candy and continue on their way without giving them quite a fright first. His modified trashcan lures you in and then scares the bejesus out of you.

He calls it Oscar the Trash-bot. The image on the left shows a ghoulish-looking head peeking out of the partially opened lid of the trash can. It has some movement, but is slow and quiet. The small, slow movements catch your eye and seem safe enough. Until you get a bit closer. A range finder triggers when the unsuspecting victim draws near, causing a much bigger, faster, and bloodier beast to pop up and stick out a claw. Check out the two videos after the break. One of them shows the claw mechanism, which is made with the help of a brake cable and shows very realistic and blazingly fast movement. The other is an overview of how the entire setup works.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpjM76gNEY&w=470]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBFVg1RHt34&w=470]

[Thanks Alex]

15 thoughts on “Halloween Props: Trash Can Jack-in-the-box

  1. Just because it’s not Halloween yet, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to start designing and building stuff months before.
    Rome wasn’t built in a day and I can imagine this wasn’t either.

  2. When I saw the picture on the front page, I went straight to the comments to say… “OMG BOGLIN!!” but you guys beat me to it.. a bunch of you. I’m feeling the boglin love. I had that exact one. hurray for growing up in the 80s.

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