# Meet Karl, all 14' of him.



## niblique71

Well I'm at it again. My visions are always huge, and my budget is always miniscule. BUT, thanks to a generous donation of cylinders last year, I wanted to do something with at least one of them. The one that immediately caught my eye was a 1-5/8" X 16" throw. It's an unusually LONG throw for a haunters style cylinder so I wanted to take advantage of that. When inactive he's folded down to about 14". When activated he should rise to aprox 14' tall. My challege, and worry, has been, "Will this cylinder lift him?". I suspect it will with a full 120psi, but if Not I have a backup plan.

I plan on making Karl into a half plant and half human thingy with vines and leaves all over him and perhaps a pumkin head (evil of course). I'll have to see how much weight my cylinder can bare before I flush Karl out. So without further adeau, Here's the in progres pics of Karl which I started yesterday with a small scale wooden model to get the geometry right.

THe Base plate


















And the basic design assembled for testing.


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## niblique71

Here's Karl standing up with some PVC added for the shoulders. Sorry the pics are a little dark. That is a 6' tall step-ladder next to him for scale.









And here he is Folded up. I purposely ended the metal part of Karl at a convenient spot so he can totally fold down into a compact 3' X 4' X 1.5'. It will make storage so much easier to have his upper section removable. Besides PVC is lighter than steel. His movement won't be violent, it's his shear size that will make the impression. Also, to prove that all my brain cells aren't completely dead, I designed him to have casters permamantly attached so he can be "Wheeled" in after halloween. He'll probably weigh 150lbs total when finished.


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## Spooky Dave

I love it. I'm a huge fan of massive pneumatic props. Keep us posted!


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## Dark Angel 27

looking good so far!


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## fritz42_male

If the cylinder has trouble lifting the weight, just rig a counterbalance with springs or weights n pullies.


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## Haunted Spider

From using a few professional pneumatic props, I can tell you that 120 psi is probably way to high. Springs help to pull up or down when needed. Higher psi will just get a more violent reaction and take a chance of breaking a main hinge point. I could be wrong but I think you want something in the 60 range.


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## niblique71

Spiderclimber said:


> From using a few professional pneumatic props, I can tell you that 120 psi is probably way to high. Springs help to pull up or down when needed. Higher psi will just get a more violent reaction and take a chance of breaking a main hinge point. I could be wrong but I think you want something in the 60 range.


I'm hoping that 80psi or less will do the trick. The cylinder is an industrial model that can handle 150psi, so I'm not worried about that part. To help prevent any structural failure, I used extremely thick wall tubing in the base and the main lifting arms and pivot points. I then graduated to thinner and lighter metal as I built the higher points to help reduce the weight. I'm also using 3/8" bolts which should be beefy enough to prevent any sheering at the main pivots. I also designed the main lifting point (where the cylinder pushes) with an offest to give the cylinder some additional mechanical advantage.

I did some experimenting late yesterday, and I was able to initiate movement by pulling on the upper cylinder mount. My guess is that I'll have to generate about 70lbs of force from the cylinder to get Karl to stand up without any assistance. If I'm not mistaken, a 1-5/8" cylinder can generate at least 100lbs of force at 100psi. If he needs assistance I could add a second cylinder (on the same selenoid) directly under the lifting point just to get karl started. I'll also experiment with springs and/or counterweights if I run into any issues. I'll find out on friday when the fittings arrive.

As far as his movement? I will add flow adjusters to keep him smooth up and down. I actually want a slow to medium speed on his ascent. I was also happy that he seeems very stable when he's erect.


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## niblique71

Well I was immensely curious about how much force it would take to get Karl to lift. I devised a pully system to check it out. It turns out that it takes approx 94lbs of force to get Karl's lift started, which is the most geometrically difficult part of the lift. Once he's past that initial point, he moves quite easily.




























Using This Pneumatic Calculator I can generate 125lbs of force @ 60psi from my cylinder. If I go up to 80psi, I can generate 165lbs of force which is almost double the needed force in his current state. That gives me a lot of confidance that I can now add a head of some sort, arms, ribs and some covering. If all works out, I might even be able to add some secondary movement of the arms.

Today I'll add some gussits at the rear pivot mounts, and some re-enforcement to the cylinder lifting point. I might disassemble my lunger to borrow the fittings just to confirm everything before I go forward.


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## BIGANT

looks great! cant wait to see it finished! 

also i bet a used torque converter would be great at holding up a static prop on a pvc pipe, wish i had thought of that before throwing a bunch away! haha


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## niblique71

BIGANT said:


> looks great! cant wait to see it finished!
> 
> also i bet a used torque converter would be great at holding up a static prop on a pvc pipe, wish i had thought of that before throwing a bunch away! haha


Ya know??? That's WAY too funny!!! I'll bet a piece of PVC would fit perfectly in the splines and stand quite well.

I got a lot more done today on Karl. Since I had some headroom as far as lifting power, I decided to build the Mech to make the arms move through geometry alone. I found a perfect mounting point and made the removable torso complete with a custom metal hinge to allow his PVC arms to Lift upwards as Karl rises. More pics tomorrow.


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## morbidmike

awesome start


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## niblique71

More progress today. I managed to connect the linkage to have Karl's arms rotate forward as he lifts. The mechanism works flawlessly with no apparant stress anywhere. The arms aren't properly preportioned yet. I want to make them longer.

Now I just have to button up some tack welds and finish the mount for the cylinder then disassemble him and paint him before I can move on to make him look Half Human, half plant.





































And here is where the cylinder will be positioned (Hopefully later today). I have it propped up with a piece of wood underneath.









Good thing I'm out of work [GULP] so I have the free time to do this. It's hard to be creatively inspired when you have butterflies in your stomach all the time. It is what it is, and I'll keep pressing forward. I just hope the phone rings soon or the poor ToT's will be getting rocks in thier Candy sack.


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## Spooky Dave

Man, he's a monster. I can't wait to see the finished product. Sad to hear that you have all this free time for such a less-than-exciting reason. May your phone ring soon enough! Until then, looks like you have plenty to keep you busy...

Dang, he's huge.


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## Dark Angel 27

looking good! I sure hope the phone rings soon! It's a hard to find a decent job these days!


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## SoCal Scare

That thing is fantastic! Can't wait to see it in action!


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## niblique71

I worked on Karl all day today. I swapped out some fittings and mounted the cylinder. Then plugged in the air and to my surprise Karl rose right up. His arms extended as planned and everything looked really good. Then I went back to the air compressor to see what I had the pressure set at and to my dismay I had 130lbs at the regulator. So I backed it down to 80psi, and Karl wouldn't lift. I finally found that I could lower it to 120psi to get him to lift reliably. That's a BUMMER. because my compressor kicks in at 120psi. With other pneumatics running all night, they will be keeping my compressor running a lot and probably just barely at Karls minimum pressure..

The bottom line is that his upper portion is just too heavy. I Tried counterweights and Bungee chords and they seemed to help but not as much as I would like. I got him down to 100psi. 

So I have to shave a few lbs off Karl tomorrow. I have several options to reduce weight, and I think I can get it done. I'd like to get him down to 80psi, but I'd accept 90psi.


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## morbidmike

is he made of steel tubing???? change to aluminum tubing might help and if you could use pvc pipe for a spine you could shed a few pounds.....just thinking out loud.....I built a lifesize prop last year based on a deer motor...BIG MISTAKE I didnt realize how much torque they DONT HAVE so I feel you pain ..still looking great none the less


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## niblique71

Progress!! I kept looking at Karl, puzzled at to what to do, then it Hit me, Just shorten him up! So I took him apart. and in pairs, I shortened the geometry by a mere 3" (per piece) by drilling new holes and cutting 3" off of the bars.. That gave back a Huge mechanical advantage to the cylinder. He now lifts reliably at 80psi. And that's without lightening the spine area (Which I can still do). In the process of trying to "Cure" him yesterday, the geometry went askew and just didn't look right. Now, with the new modifications, he's back in good form.

Now I can begin the process of making a head of some sort and adding some ribs and generally flushing him out so he doesn't look like a steel contraption. I was so discouraged by the end of the day yesterday, but I'm better now 

Video later today.

So Karl is no longer 14' tall, He'll be more like 12' -13' tall when the head is attached. Still impressive though.


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## RoxyBlue

Shoot, he'd be impressive at 10 feet tall:jol:


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## niblique71

Here's the video of Karl in action. Now I just have to trim off some unessary metal and possibly convert the spine to something lighter. Then off to paint, lube, and dress him up. I'm still not sure what kind of head he should have. I've toyed around a pumpkin head, or the creature from little shop of horrors, or maybe something else. Whatever I make it's going to have to be extremely light.


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## Lunatic

You say pretty cool, I say way cool! Really nice mechanism. I have a 10 foot static prop that I built a pvc frame for and damn wouldn't that mechanism be perfect for it. Great job Niblique!

By the way, all my best in landing a job soon. Enjoy your down time to have some fun.


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## morbidmike

very cool cant wait to see him done


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## RoxyBlue

Hey, niblique, maybe you should change the thread title to "Meet Karl, Was Going to Be All 14' of Him"


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## morbidmike

Carl Childers mmmmhummm


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## killer20

It looks great cant wait to see this one done


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## curley

Nib! That thing is no joke!!!


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## Up_Up_And_Away

When I first saw this thread, I read it as "Meet Karl, all 14 inches of him." I thought, "I bet Karl is *very* popular..."


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## Lunatic

Up_Up_And_Away said:


> When I first saw this thread, I read it as "Meet Karl, all 14 inches of him." I thought, "I bet Karl is *very* popular..."


Isn't that the name of a porn flick?


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## Dark Angel 27

i like him alot!


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## Spooky Dave

niblique71 said:


> I'm still not sure what kind of head he should have. I've toyed around a pumpkin head, or the creature from little shop of horrors, or maybe something else. Whatever I make it's going to have to be extremely light.


If you go with the LSOH head, you've gotta' change the name from Karl to Audrey III!

And for the record, if you can make a head like that, that would be my vote all the way, since this is a half plant kind of thing. That would rock!


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## niblique71

I had an epiphany (Sp?) today. I really wanted to do the LSOH head, but realized that it could be rather heavy when finished. Either way it would be an unknown weight and weight is important given the leverage (or lack of) it will take to lift it. I could spend days makin a head that Karl just couldn't lift. Then I remembered that I have one of those large plastic pumpkins. You know those 2' tall ones with a light bulb inside and made of plastic. Well, I dig it out and it looks entirely too friendly. BUT it's relatively lightweight and I plan on modifying it to make it more evil. So I cut a rough mouth opening (More of an access point to mount him to his body). Then mounted him up and Karl did lift im. I had to up the pressure to 90psi but it worked.

Still I was having some concerns since I will still need to add more weight to finish him, so I decided to fabricate a spring assist setup using an old race car coil-over spring to get him past the hardestg point of the lift. With that spring, I got him back down under 80 psi. So now with only a few more lbs of weight to add, I'm confidant this was the way to go. His head won't be permamantly mounted, so I can change him out for next year if I want.

Soo, I want to modify this old relic of a pumpkin head to make him more sinister. Does anyone know if there are issues with mold latex adhering to that type of plastic?? It looks like it's a two piece mold and it's the same plastic as the Lighted Santa's and the ghosts with light bulbs inside of them. If the Latex will work, I'll have some nice options to get him to be more sinister.


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## SoCal Scare

Karl is great, what an attention grabber. Great job!


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## niblique71

I started Karl's head today.

I started with one of these.









Added some LED's and these clear plastic eyes. Those clear lenses are just recycled candied apple packaging that I cut two of 'em out and hot glued in place. I intend to color in the iris area so that the red LED can shine through the pupils.









And here's where I'm at so far. I've made teeth and I'm building up areas that I will cover with latex and cottenballs later. I still have to add some eyebrows and possibly some cheek area. I wanted to add more teeth but I need access through his mouth to attach him to the lifter.


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## niblique71

I thought I was done for the day with Karl, but I had some additional inspiration. I wanted to buld out the eye and mouth area before I add latex. Well before I get into that I realize that the more prosthetics I can make for karl, the lighter he'll be so there woll be more to come before I get to the latex part. Thanks Stolloween.

So here's what I ended up with today. I'm mentally and phisically beat, so yea, this is the final post for today. Remember that this is only bulking up the facial features before I add detail in latex. I'm not a great sculptor, but I'm learning fast.

Baxter and Karl having a moment together


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## hpropman

Greg He is turning out awesome! I think that would scare me!


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## RoxyBlue

That guy could be a poster child for the "What Happens When You Don't See Your Dentist Regularly" campaign

And there's the dog, sitting so pretty as if it's perfectly normal to have a demented pumpkin head in your house:jol:


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## beelce

This thing is turning out great.......


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## Dark Angel 27

interesting start! can't wait to see more.

That's a really handsome creature you got there! (Baxter)


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## mroct31

Looking good! A skelerector has always been on my to do list. Someday!


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## HalloweenZombie

Liking this prop a lot!


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## bobzilla

So awesome! Great work


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## niblique71

I made a little progress last week and today.

Here are the results. And yes the dogs are in the pics to soften the blow since thier sooooo cute. I have mixed feelings about how he's turning out. but I must complete Karl soon so I can move on to my Casa Fear "Wall breaker". I'm not worried, I can always change him next year.










So this is Scooter on the left and Baxter on the right. and Karl far right......... Ummm, Duh.


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## RoxyBlue

The look is unique, almost tribal.


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## Dark Angel 27

Im really liking him!


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## Spooky Dave

Lookin' good! Can't wait to see the rest of him put together.


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## Ryan Wern

Did you name him after the guy from Slingblade? MMMM...gonna get some French-fried taters, MMMMM....

Looks great, can't wait to see it in working order


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## niblique71

I promised tp post a pic of the model I made to experiment with Karls geometry. I drilled holes at 1" on Center in some scrap wood so I could make some adjustments. This model really helped bring Karl into existance. THe Final result was surprisingly accurate to the model.


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## Dark Angel 27

looking good!


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## niblique71

It was raining this morning so I had a little time to work on Karl again. Yes I do have some work now (I'm self employed as a contractor). Thanks to those that were wishing me well.

So here's where he's at. I painted his head, made some ribs, and then a pair of hands. I was so close to being done that I kept going and gave him some Vine type texture. I'm not sure if I'm done with him or not. I'd like to add some thicker vines to him, but I'll have to be careful to keep everything out of the mechanism.

Should I add more?? He's really close, and I have 5 other projects that I want to finish this year. He might remain in this condition untill closer to halloween. He lifts fine at 85psi, but I think next year I'll buy a 2" diameter cylinder for that extra lifting power. If I add more it will just be some vines and such. I really can't add any more weight. I do want to play with the color of the vines and darken them a little bit.


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## Joiseygal

He turned out really cool! He will be a big hit for all the totter. You did a really great job! Your dogs are adorable also!


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## Ryan Wern

Looks good I recon...mmmmm-hmmm


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## killer20

wow that turned out great its got me wanting to build one


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## Spooky Dave

Lookin' great! Man, he's tall. Even the pumpkin is a lot bigger than I'd thought it was. Great job! As for adding more, I for one wouldn't mind seeing a teeny bit more substance between the ribs and legs, but I know weight is a concern. When I first saw the photos, I thought there was nothing at all between the ribs and legs, like he was kind of floating in two large pieces. Whatever you end up doing, or not doing, he's sure to be a hit. I know I would've freaked out--in an awesome way--if I'd seen something that huge rise up when I was a kid. Way to go!

p.s. Congrats on getting some work!


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## RoxyBlue

I would love to see a day and night video now of this guy in action.

And I wish we had a garage like yours


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## niblique71

Spooky Dave said:


> Lookin' great! Man, he's tall. Even the pumpkin is a lot bigger than I'd thought it was. Great job! As for adding more, I for one wouldn't mind seeing a teeny bit more substance between the ribs and legs, but I know weight is a concern. When I first saw the photos, I thought there was nothing at all between the ribs and legs, like he was kind of floating in two large pieces. Whatever you end up doing, or not doing, he's sure to be a hit. I know I would've freaked out--in an awesome way--if I'd seen something that huge rise up when I was a kid. Way to go!
> 
> p.s. Congrats on getting some work!


Thanks....

I'll fiddle with him a little bit more before posting him in the showroom. He does need something else in the torso area. The key is to make something that won't get caught up in the scissor mech. I did darken his "Vines" a bit and that made some headway towards preventing him from looking like a muppet. I can do a lot more with his texture, but it will have to wait till closer to halloween.

@ Roxy. 
I still have to work out what kind of lighting I want on him for a Day/Night video. Lighting will play a big part in Karl's appearance. And I don't have a garage LOL, it's a carport, but thanks anyway LOL


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## Eldritch_Horror

Fantastic job! Any pictures of him at this point, but in the starting stance? Just curious to see what the ToTers will be walking up on.


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## niblique71

Eldritch_Horror said:


> Fantastic job! Any pictures of him at this point, but in the starting stance? Just curious to see what the ToTers will be walking up on.


I'm hoping to get a short video of Karl up this weekend. I still want to add more to him. But if I don't get to it, It'll be OK for Halloween especially with the lighting.


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## Dark Angel 27

he's looking really good! i can't wait for the vid!


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## Uncle Steed

I love this. Awesome job, very inspiring.


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## halloween71

Looks great!!!


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## niblique71

*Karl is FINISHED (I think?)*

As promised, here's the final product, or at least as final as he's going to get this year. I know I'll still tinker with his looks but I'm fairly satisfied with his looks for this year.

I went to Micheals and saw a bunch of great looking leaves but they were BOODY EXPENSIVE. So I went to the dollar store and found some leaves and vines for 1/4 the total price. Now He looks a lot closer to what I had envisioned.

Enjoy.






I wanted to post a "Showroom" thread for him. Can I still do that?? or would it be moved by a moderator?


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## RoxyBlue

niblique71 said:


> I wanted to post a "Showroom" thread for him. Can I still do that?? or would it be moved by a moderator?


I see you must have gotten your answer, since the thread is in Showroom And yes, you can, which you did, so never mind


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## smileyface4u23

Karl is fantastic!!! You did a great job on him!


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## Spooky Dave

Excellent! I love the movement. Slow and creepy is not a problem. Love the shimmy and shakes as he rises, too. Brilliant job on him!


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## TroyO

That reminds me of a scene in a Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher.
(Horriblly mangled and paraphrased)

"
What do I tell them about that? I can't say I was attacked by a Plant Monster, it sounds so...... Scooby Doo.
"I was attacked by a.... Chloro Fiend"
"A what?"
"A Chloro Fiend.... it's umm a plant based magical.."
"Ohhh, a Plant Monster!"
"Umm, yeah... a Plant Monster."
"

Great job, just the sheer size and the engineering involved is daunting! Awesomeness!


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## morbidmike

great work I really like the movement he will be a welcomed attraction to your haunt


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## Dark Angel 27

i can't believe that i never commented on this thread! I love him and he's gonna be a great success on Halloween Night!


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## DeathTouch

I noticed the more you add on to this project the more dogs you seem to get. How does that happen? LOL You must be up to 6 labs by now.


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## Creep Cringle

Great Job! How did it turn out for Halloween? Where you affected by the black out? I hope everything went well!


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## niblique71

DeathTouch said:


> I noticed the more you add on to this project the more dogs you seem to get. How does that happen? LOL You must be up to 6 labs by now.


ROFLOL, Yes it always seems that the doggies get a bathroom break when I'm filming Karl. Only 2 Labs, Brothers bought 1 month apart. They're like bookends 



Creep Cringle said:


> Great Job! How did it turn out for Halloween? Where you affected by the black out? I hope everything went well!


Karl was a HUGE Hit at Halloween. Due to the storm, the whole weekend was pretty much Postponed. TOTing was rescheduled for Nov 5th but we still had TOT's on the 31st. That whole week we had visitors comming to see our display. Sooo Karl got quite a workout doing his Deep knee bends. I was very happy that he worked flawlessly the entire week. I sent my brother down with my video camera to film a little. I haven't had time to see what he got. If I'm lucky I'll have a Good video of the entire haunt including Karl.

Thanks everyone for all the great comments. Karl really was a lotta fun to build. Now I justg have to figure out how to store him

We were exceptionally lucky that we didn't loose power. I had a backup Generator just in case though. Trees were down all over the place.


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## scareme

I love a tall man. Is he seeing anyone right now?


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## debbie5

I...I...think I love this prop.


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## niblique71

scareme said:


> I love a tall man. Is he seeing anyone right now?


I'll have to talk to him... Last I saw him he was deeply engrossed in a private conversation with "Peter Peter Pumkin Eater".... the controversey begins.


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