Flamethrowing Jack-O'-Lantern

A flamethrowing jack-o'-lantern keeps the trick-or-treaters a safe distance from your house and is a fine addition to any anti-Halloween arsenal. At the first sign of any sugar-obsessed imp, simply press the trigger button and wirelessly shoot a one-second burst of flames out of the jack-o'-lantern's mouth. This plume of hellfire will make even the most bold of people think twice about approaching your door. Very few people are willing to risk life and limb for the chance of a tiny box of milk duds.

WARNING!: This pumpkin is extremely dangerous and you definitely should not make one of these. The instructions were posted here are for entertainment purposes only. I do not condone the manufacture or use of flamethrowing jack-o'-lanterns. Seriously, nothing good will come of making one of these. Don't do it.

Step 1 Go get stuff

For carving the jack-o'-lantern, you will need:

- A large pumpkin (mine was probably about 18" in diameter)
- An assortment of cutting knives. Serrated seemed to work the best.
- A marker
- Paper and pencil
- Scissors
- A spoon
- Other scraping implements. I found a chisel worked very well.

For the remote controlled flamethrower:

- Door lock actuator
- SquidBee transmitter and receiver. I had these lying around from a previous project. Any Arduino/Xbee combination should do.
- An extra ATMEGA168 or ATMEGA28 (only if using the Squidbee setup above as the receiver has no chip)
- Small can of WD-40
- 12" x 12" x 1/8" sheet of black acrylic
- SPST 5V relay
- Perfboard
- 5" x 2.5" x 2" project box.
- SPST momentary pushbutton switch
- 10K resistor
- (x2) 9V battery snap
- (x2) M-type plug adapters
- Misc. long zip ties
- 16" x 2" x 1/4" aluminum extrusion
- 3-1/2" x 1/4 bolts
- (x6) 1/4 nuts
- Tea light
- Matches

Comments

[tinker234]

wow that be so funny to make it work at a angel above trick or tr eater and blow flames

[Lego Manic]

LOL, this is awesome, what if someone passed by and the pumpkin starting throwing fire out of its mouth!!

Dude who is passing by: pit pat pit pat, walks up stairs to knocks on door*
Flame throwing Pumpkin: Starts breathing fire out*
Dude: AHHHHHH, jumps back and falls of patio*
Flame throwing pumpkin: MWHAHAHAHAHA

[black hole]

This is hilarious! You've got my vote.

[bernynhel]

Cool! I did the same thing with my articulated cardboard skeleton on the front door of my pad using a flex line to extend the natural gas from behind my kitchen range/oven to the peephole on the door - motion detector > solenoid > flex-line to nozzle from a fireplace ceramic log kit to concentrate/direct flame at peephole. Adjusting the gas flow at the source resulted in flame range from the answer to "Got a light?" all the way to the center line of the street in front of the house! There were 18 of those nozzles to share the gas feed in the fireplace kit I cannibalized the nozzle from so... chose halfway between front door and the sidewalk, and, being self contained with unlimited fuel supply, you can just turn it on, cross your fingers that the Gas Co delivers @ constant pressure and forget about it!

[vinnyjojo]

Awesome as always, Randofo. Keep em' coming

[nspirit]

I WON'T ring your home for sure XD

[tha_jaker]

wow........ not much else to say......

[lbachschwell]

BUILTED XD


But i used servo and a 555 timer ic another remote and a lever to trigger
great project

[ytashi]

OWH MY GAWD!!!! THIS IS SO DAMN COOL! now i want like a DOZEN? hehehe!

[tgray1]

Pretty impressive. Assuming that I don't make one of these, how long would the can of WD40 last? (How many 1-second bursts, say)

[bassemads]

I would say about 100-200. I don't know exactly how large the can is though.

[astroboy907]

hey randofo, me again :) what is your video edit software? I just use iMovie but I have final cut pro (which I dont exactly know how to use...)

[randofo]

I'm sort of a barbarian in terms of video editing. I typically use Quicktime Pro and Photoshop.

[chicopluma]

insane jajaja

[canida]

Sweet! Now all you need is a motion/proximity sensor...

[Alpvax]

The problem being you then have to warn people not to get too close... have it inside a cage for example, so the flames won't reach the person

[randofo]

Maybe next year...

[astroboy907]

lol... +1 for no warning :)

[Mechanic2011]

I got to get this made for Halloween.
This should keep the kids from grabbing my pumpkin and smashing it in the street !!

[PokemonInterpreter]

hey, you're right! I usually go on my roof with an airsoft sniper rifle (i shoot at their feet) with four other friends on gate night and play what we call "tower defense". chase off pranksters without taking damage to property. I start at 8 PM and we go in shifts until 6 am. We even have snacks and refreshments in a box up there for the snipers. This is a secondary defense we will use

[Electronics Man]

WOW awsome job!

[User1]

Thanks for warning me! I didn't make one. :-)

They'd probably just turn the thing around, around here anyways.

[mangomango]

i love this idea man, great 'ible! im currently working on a flamethrower for my RC car using the innerds of a nerf thunderstorm and i'll probably use your transmiter/reciever idea now, thanks alot!

[ed.alexander]

If you don't want on demand You could probably just use an air freshener glade has one, has motion sensor and timer. Just need to make sure the can fits.

Blast wouldn't be as long, but steps would be much easier.

More dangerous and would need to put completely away from access (like on roof) cause it will go off on it's own.

[rclancy914]

Thanks, been looking for a way to keep the squirrels from eating my pumpkins!

[Ninzerbean]

Randofo, you are the best!

[ScottyAlmanjoy]

Add a speaker with a recorded evil laugh.

[your dog]

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet... but congrats on making Gizmodo!

[Lindie]

Didn't I teach you not to play with fire? Be careful!!! Your mother! Lol

[randofo]

Huh? I must have missed that lesson. Can you remember when exactly this was?

[Lindie]

I would have thought you learned how dangerous fire could be when the dog started one! I won't mention the other lesson!

[ytriem]

I wish I had the nerve to make this. Maybe next year.

[fuzzyguy]

Here is another thought. Instead of WD-40 and flame use the actuator to squeeze a can of silly string. You would also need to remove the tea light because silly string is flammable. Silly string shooting out of the Jack-o-Latern should also have shock effect without flames.

[dannemillerd]

maybe because i dont program things, but it would seem this would be a lot easier a number of different ways. the simplest would be a 12v source and a spst momentary switch all hard wired. if wireless was a necessity then a cheap wireless doorbell from walmart, wired to the actuator, would accomplish the same results cheaper and easier. awesome instructable, i think i might try it a different way

[AmyLuthien]

I saw "Flamethrowing Jack-O'-Lantern" and knew I just had to come! Awesome job on it!

[Dr.Paj]

I'm just waiting for someone who went through 3 bottles of hairspray for their costume to go up in flames from 20 feet back. The fumes alone from some people who go overboard during Halloween are enough to cause an interesting costume which (unintentionally) incorporates a flaming hairdo.

[roftranspo]

Sweet! I have been wanting to do a flame thrower above my waterfall just like this. thanks :)

[pgoloskie]

You are twisted and demented, and I mean that in the best possible way. This is truly awesome.

[jhd04]

This is the first and last word in pricelessness/awesomeness. Fairy Princesses of the world, BEWARE!!!

[-A-N-D-Y-]

So this would be use number 2001 ;)

http://www.wd40.com/uses-tips/