| SKULL FOUNTAIN |
| I made this fountain in 2006. The construction is pretty straight forward. I have received a lot of positive comments about it, and it is truly unique! It has been used in the graveyard and in the Haunted House for the last 4 years. |
| PROJECT PARTS LIST: 1 - Plastic Fountain/w pump feature. This fountain was purchased online at Target for $25.00 1 - Plastic Hollow Skull. This one was purchased from Fred Meyer for $8.95 1 - CLEAR plastic toilet plunger - Purchased at Lowes. 1 - Can of "Stone" textured spray paint. 1 - Can of gray primer spray paint. 6 - Red flashing LED lights. Purchased at Radio Shack. 1 - Four Cell AA battery holder. Radio Shack. 4 - AA Batteries 1 - SPST (Single Pole, Single Throw) switch. Radio Shack. Appx. 2 feet of automotive vacuum tubing - O'Reillys 4 - Vacuum tube straight connectors - O'Reillys 1 - Vacuum tube 4-way connector - O'Reillys Several Hot Glue Sticks & Glue Gun 1000 Grit sand paper. Rosin-core solder and soldering iron. 14 Gauge wire - Radio Shack |
| Step 1 Take all of the fountain parts and lightly sand them to ensure good paint adhesion. Wipe off all of the sanding dust with a cloth. Then paint all of the pieces with the stone spray paint. |
| Step 2 Take the skull and drill the holes for the eyes. They should be the same diameter as the clear plunger handle (or SLIGHTLY smaller so that the pieces are held in place). Also drill the holes where you would like the "blood" to come out. I chose the bottom of the eye sockets and the nose. These holes should also be the same size or SLIGHTLY smaller so the vacuum connectors are held into place. |
| Step 3 Cut off 2 pieces of the plunger handle long enough to go from the eye sockets to the middle of the skull (they should almost "meet" at an angle). Use the sandpaper to rough up the ends that will be showing in the eye sockets. This helps diffuse the light from the LED's. Use a cigarette lighter to slightly "melt" the ends that will be in the skull. You want these ends to be as smooth as possible. This is actually a form of fiber optics. Space is a major problem in the skull. Work from the bottom (top of the head) towards you. Insert and glue the vacuum tube straight connectors for the eyes into place and attach the vacuum tubing. Next, glue the pieces of plunger handle into place. Then finish by gluing a straight vacuum connector into the nose. Attach all of the tubing and glue that into place. Leave one port open on the 4-way connector. This is where you will attach the hose for the blood supply. |
| Step 4 Solder all of the leads of the LED's together. The LED's should be grouped together and should all point in the same direction. Use the hot glue and glue them together. Be careful, LED's need to be hooked up in correct polarity (i.e. long legs together and short legs together; anode and cathode; positive and negative). Glue these into place in the skull pointing directly at the plunger handle pieces. As you can see, I marked + and - so that I wouldn't get confused. Attach a piece of vacuum tubing to the supply port, with enough so that you can attach it to the fountain base (remember you will need enough to get your hand in to attach it to the pump.) Solder in your wires and run them out of the bottom rear of the skull. Keep enough wire so that you have enough to reach the underside of the fountain base. I used black and red so that I would not mess up polarity. (Red = Positive = Anode = Long leg of the LED. Black = Negative = Cathode = Short leg of the LED). |
| Step 5 Test hook-up your LED's to the battery pack. You are approaching the road of no-return. After you are sure they are working correctly, use hot glue to cover ALL of your electrical connections inside the skull so that there is no exposed metal. Using a small amount of aluminum foil, cover the LED's and plunger handle pieces so that you can't see the LED's flash from inside the skull. This is important so that you don't get any light coming from underneath the skull, this would ruin the effect. However, make sure that you create a "tunnel" so that you don't block the light FROM the LED's TO the plunger handles. Glue the aluminum foil into place. |
| Step 6 Plug in the pump supply vacuum line, make sure the wires for the LED's are going out of the back of the skull, and glue the skull into place. The "blood" should hide the glue that you use to attach the skull. Attach the battery pack under the fountain bowl with hot glue. I chose to put my on/off switch on the back of the skull head, but you can locate it wherever you feel it will be hidden and easy to get to. Connections are quite simple. Connect the black wire from the skull directly to the battery pack. Connect the positive wire from the skull to one side of the switch. Connect the other side of the switch to the battery pack. (This is the best pic I have of the wiring. I don't know why it's so long in this photo, but it should go straight from the skull to the battery pack.) |
| FINISHED! Here's the final product! I used red and blue food coloring and water to make the "blood" water. Never use anything but water so that you don't ruin the pump. I don't like to give aways "secrets," however, if you want the water to GLOW... Don't waste your time with breaking glow-sticks open. They contain glass, and will ruin the pump. Instead, use a black light. Take 3 yellow high-lighter markers. Take out the felt ink cartridges and submerge them in regular water in the fountain. This creates an awesome effect!!! Happy Haunting!!!!! |
