# Drop panel progress with pictures



## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

After picking up the first round of supplies yesterday, I started on my drop panel tonight. I am going to use a great idea that I found on the forums of having a white board with the title 'was it scary' and tally marks below. A marker will be hanging from a string next to it. When someone approaches to 'vote' the marker board drops down revealing yours truly.

My haunt is done in a garage using tarp walls, so I need to construct a free standing frame that will blend into the wall once it's setup. I also want to transport the prop and store it easily, so I am building the main frame in two pieces.

Here is a picture of my progress at the end of tonight. The lower half still does not have supports - and I plan on adding angled corner braces as well as vertical braces to hold up to the impact of the panel crashing down.

More details to come!
charlie


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Frame looks great so far. How are you dropping the panel?


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

madmomma said:


> Frame looks great so far. How are you dropping the panel?


Thanks. I am going to hold the panel up with a gate latch (I saw someone else use this method) and use drawer sliders for the movement. The drop is either going to happen via gravity or manual using a handle at the top edge of the panel. That is my current plan anyway - we'll see how it translates to the real world.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I used the drawer guide method last year and this year and won't build them that way anymore.

Your going to want to incorporate some kind of stop for your marker board. If the panel reaches the end of the drawer guide when dropped it could break the guides. Then you end up with a non-working panel and little ball bearings everywhere.

From now on I'm going to frame out the hole in my wall and have the actual drop panel behind the wall mounted in a groove on either side and some sort of a stop for the panel to land on.

Here's a video of one on Youtube very similar to what I'm talking about.


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

Thanks for the insight Joker. My design is already too far along to incorporate the panel inside of the frame. However, I am planning on adding stops to prevent any vertical stress on the rails. I like the way the rope is used to trip the latch - I will probably steal that idea 

charlie


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

After night 2 the frame is complete. Two 3/8 inch bolts hold the top and bottom firmly together and there are now feet sticking out on each side to prevent it from falling over. I picked up more supplies at Home Depot and plan to attach the front next (hopefully tonight but it might get pushed until this weekend).


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## Psyc0 Walrus (Sep 1, 2009)

i used a hook and eye with a handle from a drawer to create the motion for the drop i just made a track out of some old scrap wood lol worked like a charm then i made the walls out of blue 1 1/2" foam board


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