Bill and Ted's Phone Booth Antenna

[greenmachines]

Much better on the height. I think this is a passable round one. Ya, I said that before but it was too tall. Future treatment on round one, if I get to it, is glitter red or glitter orange if that exists in spray paint. Looking for my next sacrificial umbrella for round two.

 

[VashDstampede]

Wow, thanks for starting this thread. It made me want to get back to working on my phone booth which has been gathering dust in my backyard.
My antenna was just a quick project, but I’m glad you’re doing it justice.
Mine is just popped on temporarily:

 

[greenmachines]

Wow, thanks for starting this thread. It made me want to get back to working on my phone booth which has been gathering dust in my backyard.
My antenna was just a quick project, but I’m glad you’re doing it justice.
Mine is just popped on temporarily:
View attachment 1729226

I love that it is exactly the same. Did you flip your umbrella over like I had to?

 

[VashDstampede]

I love that it is exactly the same. Did you flip your umbrella over like I had to?

It’s been so long since I made it, but I believe I did.
I don’t recall if I took pictures along the way, but I think I just eyed the lengths of the splines.

 

[greenmachines]

I picked up five compact umbrellaa at thrift today, Salvation Army, for a total of 13 dollars. This is one of the cheapest replicas I have worked on but one of the most fun. At this price, I could begin to leave them up on the old booths I find. With this pile I will start round 2, the moving popup version and round 3, the lightning version. I am going to make a second round one base model and add some sparkle to the red paint for more contrast when up on the booth.

Local urban legend that happens to be true, Oregonians can be divided into two groups using one simple characteristic difference. If you were born here, you do not use an umbrella, even if you own one, when it rains. Those that have moved here will stand out like an elephant in a bunny farm the moment they pull out their umbrella. So, a curious side effect is the great number of unused umbrellas at our thrift stores. Kind of ridiculous cool for my project.

 

[greenmachines]

I have removed the hornet's nest from the booth so I should be able to get a first draft picture soon. I have started stripping down two more umbrellas and have found that one is rightside up as I had guessed. This one is not a match to the movie version so I will stay with my assumption that it was a compact model turned upside down. This newer one has longer initial arms and one less fold mechanism so the end arms will be rods instead of the folded sheet metal. However, this does give me the ability to construct an auto opening flip up version. It is the one on the left (below).

The spring will likely need replaced as it is very aggressive. The goal is to get it to flip up and deploy as it does in the movie but I also want it to then collapse and fall back to closed when done. The second half of the process is harder than the first.

 

[greenmachines]

I will also need to place a stop catch pin at the correct deployment amount to screen match.

 

[greenmachines]

 

[greenmachines]

I very successfully broke one leg on the auto umbrella. The spring is far too aggressive. I am working on soldering a fix this weekend. It did work correctly with a new cross pin that stops it at the right expansion. I intend this auto to be stage 2 that swings up and expands for a good video opportunity.

The original round one has survived at the local booth now for about a week. I figured it would be stolen well before that.

Round 3, the lightning night version got painted today and I found another very nice stainless center rod out of my dissected inkjet printers. They really do have quite a lot of good material in them. Round three will be like round one in that it will always be open. I will build a much wider base as it will carry the battery packs for the lightning ropes and a few strobes. All is already purchased so it is just a matter of putting it together.

 

[greenmachines]

Finished the paint on my second round model. Tomorrow, hoping to work on mechanical lift solenoid or cable pull.

 

[greenmachines]

The store, where the booth is, has asked to make a larger version. I had not completed the light up version but will get back to this now with another static version to replace the current one on the booth. It will no longer be accurate to movie size but will be easier for photos and group shots at the store. My current larger umbrella is accurate without being flipped upside down. Meaning, this build will be MUCH easier. I will clip off the cloth tomorrow and get the end clipped and ready for painting.

 

[greenmachines]

For the tilting version, remove the load spring and attach an arm to the side it tilts TOWARDS on the way UP. This will allow the arm to slide up the staff during lifting and will push the mechanism up into the spread open position. It will retract the spread on the way down as well. Finding the best hinge spot is just a matter of tilting it fully upright and placing the arm in this position, marking its lower hinge point. I will show this in pictures when it is completed.

 

[greenmachines]

I found a twin to the larger umbrella (above) that had broken one spline from the agressive spring. I realized that the spring is completely unnecessary so just needed to be removed. I had it stuck in my head that I would need to cut it to save the lower black slide guide. However, I don't need that guide either. This means that the prep for this version really is 1) remove cloth, 2) Cut the tie wires between the upper and lower center guides, 3) Remove the lower handle (one screw):

and slide all the bits off the bottom.

Now to cut the spline ends to length in comparison to the same ratio from the movie (my umbrella is larger so just going for ratio).

 

[greenmachines]

The bottom already has the holes I need to hinge the post and attach the solenoid lead. I am researching a gear drive so I might add the half moon gear at the bottom yet. Since goal is to make this very easy to replicate, I am hoping for just a solenoid build. Simple on and off.

 

[greenmachines]

I got the splines cut and the central post is already tall enough for this build. Since this one is just replacing the static, unmoving one already on the booth (just larger), it is time to glue and paint. I will glue the slide in place at the correct height to match the movie and then hit it with the metallic red and flakes. Once this one is in place the next model is the flip up. I already have the next umbrella so it should be no more effort on that part and now time for building the hinged lower housing and experimenting with the drive portion. The one part I will add to this build is a set of solar charged walk way lights that will cone on at night and light up the antenna. Dollar tree has these at dollar and a quarter. I will place 4 with the lights toward the middle. There is enough of a bowl space on top that these sjould not be seen from standing outside the booth.

 

[greenmachines]

Cool side note: While looking in the booth a car pulled up and the driver said "Did you find it?" and then explained that this same booth is on a geocache treasure hunt site and the sign in book is up inside the booth.

 

[greenmachines]

Realized I hadn't been posting my trials and successes. Went through another version or maybe 2. The request for a larger one was completed and then the red glitter version but I was a bit silly and sprayed it with glow in the dark paint not knowing that late in the evening the street light kicks on and it will never glow. The overspray killed the sparkle entirely.

I then did another and the sparkle was unimpressive. This led to the search for MASSIVE FLAKE GLITTER. Found a medium large:

But still not the biggest, the shelve spot was empty at Joanne's crafts.

Then the weather went bad and we have been stuck in fog for months. Weird year for sure. But today the sun is out and got pics. short vid and a nice shot of how the diffused sparkle grows bigger than the glitter itself, pretty cool.

 

[greenmachines]

So, big note, the glitter does not sparkle unless dry, so, fog and rain drop it back to just red.

Next is strobes and a switch inside the booth to turn it on. The foggers are working in my tests and are 5v usb so i got a handful at 1.50 each at dollar tree to put on top of the booth. They will run off solar charged unit sitting next to them on the booth.

I will set up a demo soon for the foggers.