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

[dennist1]

With arduino and a distance sensor, this could make quite a security system! Don't try this at home or anywhere else though - the idea would make this even more dangerous than it already is!

[dennist1]

Neat idea, for sure ... but Arduino is a bit overkill. All ya gotta do is power up the actuator. Even real fancy, use a 555 and the relay to limit the on time (to save baking the pumpkin).

[baited]

This is a cool project. You may want to place a diode across the coil on the relay to protect the electronics. And depending on the relay a transistor may be needed to handle the current.

[instructamaker]

You could havee used the ruler :D

[JensonBut]

I'm rating most of your i'bles 5! Awesome stuff, affordable and compact.

[resistanceisfutileiflessthan1ohm]

awesome! i wish i had known about this far enough in advance of october 31st to construct it. seems a fairly simple idea just having a remote controllled aerosol can to spray over a flame. i would like to know if there is an easier and cheaper way to set up a remote control system for other projects, i do not have an arduino but surely i can make a transmitter/receiver from basic electronic components or rewiring a remote control car.

[randofo]

RC car would be my suggestion.

[mangomango]

I'm working on my own creation for this halloween and i was wondering if you had problems with your candle getting blown out?

[Liam.great98]

I don't think they actually made this, remember?

[stephenham5511]

tooo awesome!

[canida]

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

[kmiller29]

a few simple things for a motion prox sensor is to get a cheap motion light from menards or lowes or some store like that and add a relay from 120vac down to what ever your control voltage is this will give you (in test mode) a 5-15 second trip on a 555 ic timer

[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 :)

[ElectroFlex]

Not that I'm trying to make one of these or anything... But, if I were, theoretically, and the actuator was not, hypothetically, not strong enough to press the spray nozzle, how would I make it? Should more battery power do the trick?

[randofo]

The motor I use is supposed to run of 12V. Hypothetically... A little more voltage / current, would not hurt.

[dlchambers]

Pretty cool, but the Arduino/XBee is overly complex/expensive.
A 1-channel RF remote like this would be much easier/cheaper/faster:
http://www.lightobject.com/Multi-function-1CH-RF-with-water-proof-remote-control-P702.aspx

[Thundermoon99]

this is probobly the most epic pumkin i have ever seen.... ever

[thecrazymagnetman]

i am geussing you don't get many trick or treaters huh

[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......

[s00500]

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

[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.