Halloween time machine simulator built into an outhouse

posted Oct 26th 2011 12:29pm by
filed under: Holiday Hacks

[Sam] is an avid Halloween builder and has been hard at work on a time-machine simulator for this year’s festivities (alternate link). He recently assembled the enclosure which is seen above. It’s got room for two riders who will be strapped in place, with plenty of interior items to keep them occupied. There will be three LCD monitors acting as front and side windows for the time machine.

In the video after the break (taken from his vblog on the page linked above) [Sam] walks us through all of the electronics that went into this. He’s got red lights controlled by a servo motor attached to a dimmer switch. There’s a vibrating seat to give the riders a jolt, and a control panel which shows the status of the time machine. The thing is, it’s not just the physical build that’s impressive. We know from his past projects that [Sam] is a showman and he doesn’t disappoint this year. He spent a lot of time filming and generating computer graphics and sound to really make the ride a multimedia odyssey.



24 Responses to Halloween time machine simulator built into an outhouse

  • Yoseph Asher says:

    Dude.. This is awesome!.. Makes me wish I could take a ride!..

  • Digitalundernet says:

    One might call it a Turdis

  • sean says:

    Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of an OUTHOUSE?

  • lorddominotwain says:

    It’s got room for two riders who will be strapped in place …
    Now where did he find a two-seater outhouse? :S

  • joe anon says:

    IS his next time machine conversion going to be that hottub that was shown towards the end of the video?

  • jon says:

    May I present to you, the greatest breakthrough in travel since Sir Rodney Tricycle thought to himself, “I’m bored of walking. I think I’ll invent something with three wheels and a bell, and name it after myself”: the time machine.

  • aztraph says:

    you know SOMEONE is actually gonna take a crap in that thing on Halloween? just for shits and giggles

  • pat ranks says:

    That is one awesome halloween time machine :) I am just getting ready with a blood bathtub :)

  • ScottInNH says:

    Oh, shame on you ALL for these allusions to Doctor Who’s Tardis… no one made a reference to “Amy Pond’s crack”.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_arcs_in_Doctor_Who#Cracks_in_the_universe

  • KillerBug says:

    Using an outhouse is a great idea…you can scare the piss out of kids without all the cleaning!

  • Loren says:

    Ah a suicide both, disguised as an out house.

  • Loren says:

    It’s all fun and games, till someone take a dump

  • Runeix says:

    To reduce mechanical complexity, why not do the dimming with a DMX dimmer rack and a USB controller?

    The only downside i can think of is that you’d need to write a separate routine for it.

    • Sam Seide says:

      what’s so complex about a servo attached to a dimmer switch? Plus Dimmer Switch – $5, servo – $20. DMX Dimmer Rack $80-200ish plus cost of DMX lights plus usb controller. Cost was an issue as the rest of the build was getting a little much. haha.

  • robomonkey says:

    See “Black Adder:Back and Forth” for the original outhouse time machine…

  • Tomasito says:

    I’m the only one who thinks in “Day of the Tentacle”?

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