vibrating floor

[wipp]

ok this one is a lil hard to describe but i will do my best.back in 1995ish era i went to a haunted house that used metal floor sections as a startle prop.you could not tell the diff between this and the real floor unless you looked real hard.so anyway as you walk through the haunt you step on the panel and it would make a loud sound and the floor would vibrate.is this a homemade prop?anyone know what im taking about?

btw no sitting on the vibrating floor jim

[Jim Warfield]

Big steel grain bins full of corn get hung up sometimes, the corn gets slightly moist or something and they have big vibrators to shake it loose.
It might shake the fillings from your teeth too?
Everything within 20 feet of such a powerful vibration should all be screwed and lock-washered together or at least checked every so often.
Was the concept to make it seem like an electrical shock?

[SSP]

The farmer who owned the haunted barn I worked at was a little crazy, and he made his own. Don't know what it was called, but it's a vibrator kind of thing that is used to either break up concrete or something heavy like that. It's a funny lookin thing, a motor on one end and then a long 15 foot tube-like thing that vibrates like crazy. He had that snaked to the underside of a floorboard, mananges to shake the hell out of ya when you step on it. The only problem with that is with the fact there was no trigger, it was constantly on.

Another friend of mine created a similar effect, but not as violent. He built an elevator prop, and to simulate movement he placed a quite large low frequency speaker beneath the floor, gave the room that vibrating sensation, not exactly what ur looking for but I figured I'd mention that technique.

[Jim Warfield]

Your farmer's tool sounds like a concrete vibrator for making the freshly poured concrete work down into the forms. They work so well that you can pressurize the forms and break them if you get alittle bit carried away with it. A wall in my tunnel shows what I mean, quite an unusual bulge in it.

[Matt Marich]

The Vibration is usually cased by scene shakers known as... Butt Kickers" Your audio track drives what is actually a Transducer. Anyhow, contact Stan at Digital Sound and Lighting. They had a demo years ago at the show triggered by dinosaur footy steps. Very Cool! We use them in corridors with elevated floors and pop strobes hidden within tangled wires to simulate arcing electrical.

[gadget-evilusions]

I have used both hopper vibrators bolted to the floor, and (when there is no budget) an air hammer pointed up at the bottom of the metal floor. Both work supprisingly well. As much as everyone would probably love to use those buttkickers, they arent very cost effective more most haunts I know of.

[wipp]

gadget you nailed it,thats the word i was lookin for when i said a loud hammer sounding sound from underneath.an air hammer.so the hammer is always on but when pad lowers it hits the bottem of the metal floor?

[gadget-evilusions]

The last one I built actually had the hammer's trigger zipped tied down, and then I controlled the on-off with a 2 way solenoid valve that actuated at the same time as a pneumatic jumper of a guy working on a electrical substation. The electrician jumped, strobe turned on, and the air hammer started hitting the metal floor the customers were standing on all at the same time. It worked all season without any hiccups. I could sketch how I mounted the hammer if you need it. You have to support it, and guide the bit to make it work properly.

[Jim Warfield]

I bought a brand new, in the box Wagoner power stripper a vibrating tool with a small edge/blade thing on it's end for scraping paint .
I securely mounted this inside a box and took a piece of 1/4 inch steel and hung it infront of the blade that moves back and forth very fast, it sounds like a machine with a bell, or maybe a machine gun with a bell?
It is loud, obnoxious and sudden, the three requirements for such a thing.
Of course timing is what it is all about for maximum effect, timing in concert with misdirection.
If I do misdirection in my parking lot people would end up in a 35 foot deep ravine!
"Ravens Grin Inn valet parking!" I would narrate as the video showed the 1959 Chevy upside down and burning at the bottom of the cliff for my front room video.