Oak Lane Cemetery

05/31/2026

Productive afternoon! I made a quick cover to shield the motor housing from rain, then sat down and started learning to program the PicoVolt. Figured out how to record an idle animation. I think I messed up and didn't put it into park mode though. Easy enough to fix. Hopefully I'll be able to get a triggered animation going too so he will violently lunges a few times when the sensor is triggered, then go back to gently rocking the tombstone. Making progress slowly but surely.

05/27/2026

Today I spent a little time getting my wiring neatened up and a plug installed on the motor so it can be disconnected. I didn't have a 3 wire plug handy, but I did have a bunch of 5 wire, so I just snipped off two wires to make it work. Everything is soldered and heat shrinked. The controller is a PicoVolt from Frightprops. The PIR sensor I'm using was made by Jekyll Labs. I have not hooked it up and gotten it working just yet. For my inlets and outlets I used weatherproof cable glands and a larger 3d printed grommet that lets the large plug of the power supply to pass through easily. I'll post links to everything in the comments.

05/26/2026

So the big question on my mind... who or what the hell do I put on here for the Epitaph?! I thought maybe I'd add some bat wings to the skeleton and make it an Ozzy tribute tombstone, or maybe Ray Harryhausen, then thought perhaps Ash Williams/Bad Ash from Army Of Darkness. I want something or someone skeleton related, but nothing is feeling quite right yet. Gimme some ideas!

05/26/2026

Took the tombstone off to do some work on it and realized that this guy has a lot of potential for other things too! And without the weight of the tombstone to push he animates a lot easier and smoother.

Music - Mr. Boo Jangles/Graveyard Shift

05/21/2026

What's going on in the Blood Shed?

05/20/2026

With the Pumpkin King repairs done I can get beck to tinkering with this guy. It's still a long way from being stable or reliable enough. I had to completely replace one arm because the plastic cracked at the elbow. I switched to using bolts as stops instead of screws in the elbows to try and strengthen them a little and prevent the plastic from getting flexed there. I may need to find a better way of getting the arms to push the tombstone when the body starts moving forwards. The way it currently is does not stand up to long term testing and either binds up or stops pushing the tombstone, which makes his chest slam into it. I also have started making the control box for it using a picovolt controller. Right now it's just running wide open with no control. The plan is to keep a fast animation, have it lunge fully once or twice when triggered by a pir sensor, then settle back into a resting/waiting "home" position. Been watching all of the videos on setting up the picovolt.

05/19/2026

Lots of questions about the Pumpkin King!
Here are the answers to most of the questions! There were some later changes to the lighting in both the head and base to convert it all over to 12v LED flickering bulbs, but it is still pretty much the same as when I built it 9 years ago.

The actual total build of this was done over the course of two Halloweens. I made the pumpkin king and post the first year, then the base the second. I gathe...

05/17/2026

Got the Pumpkin King set up this morning. He is looking pretty good! A sale has already been made pending pickup.

05/16/2026

Rubbed off any loose paint or latex, patched a few damaged spots, then repainted it, stained it and sprayed on a new clear coat.

05/16/2026

Total Terror is open tonight at the Powhatan County Fair from 8-11PM! Tons of stuff going on at the fair all day and night, admission is free to the fair, Total Terror is $15 per person. There are a lot of crazy clowns waiting to see you tonight!