[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.



So I realize that this particular thread will appeal to very slim fraction of you that not only want to own one of the more obscure props from Ghostbusters but go to the cost and trouble of acquiring the wrong model number(also rare) knowing that the cases used are identical and the correct model number seemingly never surfaces, especially these days.
The goal is to help you skip the troubles I had in the conversion, while offering some fun ideas on what one can do to make this little ghost nabber really stand out without sacrificing screen accuracy. This is a neat and rarely seen device used by both Peter and Ray in two important scenes so it is worth getting and getting right in my opinion.

The models 300-303 all preform the same task, were manufactured around the same time, and use the same case with only slight variations among the models. The correct 300 model was the bare bones model requiring the use of a hand pump for sampling and had a less accurate analogue meter so people who were in the market for high end portable gas detection devices would likely go for the slight up sale and get one of the better models with a motorized internal pump and pinpoint accurate LCD readout. Its simple antiquated design of the early 300 lot likely lead to its poor sales and thus rarity but also gave it all of it's- weird looking scifi device -charm.

The model I am am converting is a 303 I found on eBay a few years ago although this guide will also work for the 302 and 301 models. The original seller (not me) posted a video of it in action so if you want to see what this was like in use before I destroyed a expensive life saving device to create a costume prop to trick children at conventions with, then here you go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KdSUngkcM.
The best resource to figure out what your finial product should be like is still here of course http://www.gbfans.com/equipment/other/b ... h-sniffer/
Although eagle eye fans will notice some inconsistency with the meter of the screen used unit compared to the example unit but I will get into that later.


So there are 5 main things that need to be focused on to revert to the 300
1.Hand Pump-finding correct hand pump, hose, and attaching it
2.Probe-correcting color
3.Red Button finding match, removing piezo buzzer, and installation
4.Meter-Finding correct type, making it "work", getting rid of the LCD screen addressing holes left behind.
5.Labels Main side labels, logo correction, and meter backround

For this 1st post I will focus on:
Unit disassemble and installation of the Hand aspirator.
The hand aspirator is a lot of the charm of the piece and if you go by what you can actually make out in the fim it is one of the main visable differences between the 301-303 models and the 300 so it seems like as good of place as any to start.


For this portion of the build you will need:
1.An Asparator Bulb- this one will work http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sphygmoma ... ssure+bulb
2. Latex tubinghttp://www.amazon.com/Macks-Lure-4-Inch ... ZXKAW11G72
3.1/4th male hose barbhttp://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Metals-5 ... ZXKAW11G72


After a over a year of searching I did get lucky and stumble across the correct vintage aspirator bulb in excellent shape. In case you want to go the extra mile and try to recreate or find one for yourself below are some photos to help in your search, note it's oblong shape, has no center seam, and distinctive red plastic ends.

Ironicly has a no-ghost style piece on the inside.


First step is taking apart the unit, remove the probe and set it aside, it works on a quick connect system so slide the outer sleeve away from the case then remove the connector from the hose port.
1.
2.
3.

Next the 3 bolts in the bottom this requires a 1/8th Allen wrench the bolts will be held in their respective holes and the lower case sleeve should slide off.

From here two more bolts secure the battery tray, it is important to remove these screws before you try to separate the halves. Some models have a rechargeable battery, even if you are not doing a full conversion it is a good idea to get rid of these old batteries before they rupture and damaged the case, or whatever equipment they are stored with.
(side note) My model required 4 D batteries, I found playing with the unit before this conversion in order to keep the batteries in place two pieces of cardboard had to be slid on top of the batteries to prevent them from coming loose. If you have a unit and can't figure out why it doesn't come on, check this first. If you are doing the full conversion don't worry about this as we will be removing all of this anyway.
Next remove the 4 bolts on the face of the case two long ones at the handle and two medium at the side take these bolts out and set them aside (I used my lower case to house these parts during modification), gently slide the two case halves apart note the orientation of your strap remove it and set it aside.
Now the fun part, remove the lower hose port piece and all the internals. Anything glued in place, or penetrating the shell you can leave for now (trigger, hose ports, buzzer, pentameter charging connector, upper hose port are fine to leave) but for the most part you can unscrew the internals and take them out and cut connections to anything attached just make sure to leave extra length at the trigger to solder to later.

A look at the inside:


lower hose port

Now screw the to main haves of the case back together (no need to put strap back on yet) and SLOWLY drill and tap the hole where the lower hose port in the case to match the treading of your hose barb and screw the hose barb in place. If you don't have the ability to tap the hole drill out the hole and use epoxy putty to secure it in place on the inside. IMPORTANT only secure it to half the case other wise you will not be able to get the unit apart again. If you want to go the extra mile here first paint the base of the hose barb silver to more closely match what the original would have looked like or try to source an aluminum hose barb with a hex base.
Tapped hole
Cut 12-15 inches (30.5cm-38cm) of Latex Hose slide over the hose barb and the barb on the aspirator cuff and voila!
Step 1 done.


If you want more detail on how to upgrade your aspirator bulb check out step 4.5.

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

Part 2- The Probe


"Overall, the length of the probe is 30 inches. It has a 2 inch metal base and a 28 inch copper-colored tip. The part number for the probe assembly is 5500-1300. Some of these probes are a lighter shade of brown."-SabaSka109

In case you have to make your own, there is not much to The Probe, turn the base down on a lathe and/or find close enough parts in the plumbing section. The tip section is .41inches (10.414mm) in diameter and the probe base is .875inches (22.225mm) in diameter. The black hose is .41inches (10.414mm) outer diameter and is a very stiff and feels reinforced I am unsure where to source this or the couplers but if you are recreating it "close enough" is better than most will have and you can't see the base anyway while operating the unit.

Close up of the probe base:


The probe that came with my 303 model appears to have all the same dimensions but simply lacks the copper/brown color on the tip. So to me this looked to be a copper that had browned with age like any old copper pipe does but I am unsure from the equipment posting photo's the exact color, a darkened aged copper (almost a antique brass) feels right to me but I could be wrong and if you're feeling brown, go brown.

Before painting unscrew the base from the hose and set it aside to protect it from over spray, as with all painting a light sanding is a good idea to promote adhesion, no need to go nuts just rough up the surface a bit to give the paint something to adhere to, then make sure it is cleaned, dry, and free of debris. Tape off the base section as this part will remain unpainted.

Here is the paint I used "Rustolium universal paint and primer Aged Copper".

It is usually a good idea to use a clear coat to protect the paint but be warned clear coats often reduce the shine of metallic paints, so in this case I would leave the paint alone.

Allow the paint time to cure fully, remove the tape, and then reattach the hose.

Part two Complete!

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Part 3- The Little Red Button




The 300 model features what looks to be a little red button that is located just above the silver potentiometer knob, sets even with the surface of the shell has a silver nut and washer at the base.

Photo of real model 300
From a looks standpoint I love this little button, noting says -Ghosterbusters equipment color scheme- quite like little splashes of red on mostly black industrial equipment.

Now depending which model you have this space will ether have a empty cylindrical void like the 301, a knob in the 302 (going off of the few photos I can find) or a piezo buzzer on the 303. The Buzzer is pressure fit in place to remove it open the case simply push it through the front and it should pop out the back, go slow as to not damage the shell.


If you need a button one of these should work just fine http://amazon.com/120V-3Pin-Momentary-B ... ary+switch

or maybe these http://smile.amazon.com/Momentary-N-O-P ... ary+switch

Here is what I used:
I provided the amazon links because I didn't want to tell you to go out and find a Radio Shack part as those stores are nearly extinct.


As far as I can tell (going by the photos of the real deal here on gbfans and gauging the proportion to the hole it sets in) my button head appears to be just a tiny bit too wide and not red enough compared to the original button used, so you may need to shop around if this bothers you (oh no, mine is wrong?! how will I sleep at night?).

My button installed :


If you have 301 model remove the head of your button (usually just pulls off) determine the size of the shaft and drill a hole that size in the center of the void where the button goes, and mount the button. 302 need to remove the existing knob and slide the button in it's place. You may have to play with the spacing some to ensure the head off the button sets about level with the case surface.


If you have a 303 you will need to make a black plug that fits the hole, drill a another hole in the center of that mount the button slide the plug and button into the hole and secure the plug in place.


When I did this I used a piece of .25inch black expanded pvc, roughed out a circle a little bigger than needed to fit in the hole with the Dremil, drilled the center out slid a bolt through that hole and tighten a nut on the other side then put that bolt shaft in a drill. I then spun it up to speed and with a piece of sandpaper gradually whittled the circle down to the exact size of the hole. I also had to shave down the thickness of the plug a little so the button could be fully seated and tightened on the other end. I slid the button and plug in place and secured it internally with epoxy putty making sure to avoid covering the connection terminals on the back of the button so I can use the button for future upgrades.

And that's it Step 3 done!

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Step 4! The Meter


So far your' Bacharach should be looking pretty good you could stop here and be happy but if you really want to take this from replica to forgery you've got to get the analog meter right.
So here is the problem which meter do you use? The equipment page shows two different types , allow me to explain.
Here is the photo used to sell the actual screen used Bacharach 300 on April 1st 2005 by "Profiles in History" auction house.

So we can't make out much of the meter but what we can see is that the front half is clear and the back half is black with the black going down around the side of the meter.
Now here is some photos of the Bacharach 300 provided by the Bacharach factory to SabaSka109 :
As you can see from the side photo no black going down the side.
In this photo I noticed something suspicious as well the lower half of the meter appears clear and take a look at the black line next to the meter.

Seemed odd to have black piece under the meter and then I realized when you put a meter of the size shown in the place where the LCD screen was there are 4 holes visible on the out side edge that will need covered because the LCD screen was wider than the analog meter.
Here's a picture of the LCD for reference:
So one of the two was incorrect and I didn't want to pick the wrong one so I went to the source, and found this simple blurred image from Dana's apartment

Ah HA! I know it is hard to make out but the meter appears to have an all white face and a small black circle (screw) at the bottom center just as the SabaSka109 sniffer shows. Confirmed again (if you look really close) in this version of the Commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmam5i03Vs
So profiles in history ether sold a reproduction, I am misinterpreting the 1 photo I have to go on or at some point in the life span of the prop the meter part was replaced or altered. We can see they have the incorrect aspirator bulb (presumably because the original rotted away) so we know that at some point someone altered or "repaired" the piece...or it's a fake.

So now that we know what we're making first lets remove the LCD screen, split the case if you haven't already, use a precision Phillips head screw driver to remove the 4 screws holding the screen in place. The protective clear piece covering the screen will be glued on but buy now the glue should be really weak so carefully patiently peel up the screen and remove the excess glue. On my unit the glue was old enough it came off easily wiping with a shop rag but if that does not work try water or denatured alcohol to get rid of the gunk.


Next we need to aquire a meter, Here is the best match I have found:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/360458702194?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Triplett Analog panel meter 120-G 0-50 D.C. Milliamperes 152-967
Triplett makes a variety of meters with this case style and the case is all we are using. So if you can't get this exact one because it is sold out by the time you read this, don't worry you will likely still be able to find one with a little bit of searching under the name "Triplett Analog Meter". I sorted through thousands of meters before I settled on this one and I am fairly confident that this is almost exactly the same as what would have been in the Bacharach originally, measurements match, appearance is dead on. As an added bonus I did not have to drill a single hole to make the 4 bolts in the back of this and the center housing cylinder fit perfectly in the slot that already exists on the Bacharach case . I knew they reused the case but no better evidence than holes that do not correspond to the LCD correspond exactly to the analog meter.


So now we need to make that black piece to hide the LCD screen holes, for this you can go cheap and just use electrical tape but I wanted this to look nice and last so I used a bit of plastic I cut out of a black plastic party plate from a dollar store it about the thickness of a piece of paper so it doesn't interfere with anything. To get the size just right use the old lcd screen shield as a template and trim off about a half inch from the width when you are done. Next place the piece (shiny side down)over the meter slot on the Bacharach case and mark out the the location of the center circle and the 4 inner most bolt holes (if you meter came with a cut guide like mine you can also just use that. Now with an exacto knife cut out the holes and the inner circle, slide it over your meter so that the shiny side will be against the Bacharach and place the meter in the case to check that the 4 outer holes are covered.


Next we need to alter the meter to "work" because and have a nicer background, but if don't want to go to this trouble you can stop here and things will look great all the same.
Take the meter back out of the unit and remove the clear plastic face-plate. The face-plate just snaps in place and can be popped off easily with a flat head screw driver, just be careful not to loose the textured piece of metal that sets on the lower half of the meter, the black screw does not hold the face-plate down it is for adjustment but once the face-plate is off you'll need to trim down the back of the black screw as much as possible to make room for the electronics we are going to put inside.


Now I know it would be easier to keep the existing electronics and use a step up transformer to power the needle but that would suck a battery dry quickly so what we are going to do is remove all the internals of the meter and swap it out for a simple multi-meter. The internals are held in place with a few nuts in the back of the housing, also go ahead and unscrew the meter back-plate which well will use as a cutting guide later.

I bought a super cheep multimeter frome walmart the
Ge 50952 14-range 6-function Analog Multimeter
http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Analog-Mul ... w/17117738
and carefully ripped the needle mechanisum out



Oh by the way the reason that thing looks like a bear ate it is because I thought that it needed part of the casing to hold the meter electronics together, I did not, I just had to take out the two screws next to the needle base and slide it out, oops


I cut the wires leading to the needle and extended them about 10 inches using some speaker wire, I turned the dial on the multimeter to 1.5v and tested that everything worked on a loose AA.
Once I was sure everything was working, I cut the back off the meter casing to allow me room to work, and I used a little bit of epoxy putty to secure the needle mechanism inside the meter casing being careful to avoid all the moving parts and making sure the needle placement was far enough forward to avoid hitting the back-plate when it was in place, and everything was even and strait.

Kind of skipping ahead with this image as the back-plate is already on but it gives you an idea where and how the needle mechanism is placed.

Next I soldered/heatshrinked and label a 10 inch length of wire to the leads of a blue flat wide angle LED http://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Square-Hea ... square+led and secured it in place at the base of the meter again being careful to avoid moving parts. I am not sure I am 100% happy with the blue LED.... I may come back in later and replace it with two smaller leds to more evenly distribute light in the meter but it seems to work ok for now. I am using the blue Led as a sort of meter light and power light so you know the unit is on. I picked blue because one it looks cool and two it would still show up under bright convention lighting but a white or yellow would be hard to see and could result in leaving the unit on by accident.
Next I soldered/heatshrinked and label a 10 inch length of wire to the leads of a red blinking led http://smile.amazon.com/Standard-LEDs-T ... inking+led this will be the "ghost detected" light that will go off when a spook specter or ghost has been in the vicinity.
Showing the placement of the blue light and the eventual placement of the red LED in the backplate.

So as you might have guessed the next step is to make the back-plate, this part is difficult to get right so pay attention. First you pick up your phone, sort through your friend list, second find your friend Jacob who actually is who this whole Bacharach project is for, and who happens to work as a graphics designer the ask him super NICELY to help you design the meter back-plate. he should come up with a few designs such as:


One close to the original in color scheme and word placement as far as we can tell by the illegible photo

and
then drawing inspiration from the old ghost nabber toy stickers

to make this variet

and this



Hope that helps to explain the involved process, he really did his research reading everything he could on the internet and read through comics in his personal collection to determine the use of the sniffer and what the meter should display in the gb universe, as well as made reference to the toy in color shift on the meter and came so close to putting Kenner on this somewhere but settled on this design
Sexy right? but not distracting or too obvious but fun.

Oh by the way "102LT" ="One of our little toys".

So now the meter is in place we need to make this needle wiggle and blink on command in way that onlookers can not tell exactly how it is being triggered.

Before any tricks are installed I double check that everything works, put a battery in the multimeter and made sure the dial was turned to 1.5v and touched the leads to a 2x AAA battery pack and the needle stopped half way, found that it was hitting my blue LED moved it a bit and it red lined like I wanted it to. Next I checked both LEDs. Once I was sure everything could work together in picked a place by the bottom where it would be easy to change the batteries I use epoxy putty to secure a 2x AAA battery pack. If you want to go longer without changing batteries use D's but I wanted this all to be as light as possible because anything you carry at a con gets to feeling heavy so the lighter you can make it the better, also the AAA's should last through a day of regular use with little issue as this doesn't pull much power. Next I secured the multimeter, anything I was concerned about breaking loosed if dropped like the batteries or the multimeter I put a strip of gorilla tape over it, less to keep it from breaking more so to keep a loose battery from flying around inside damaging harder to replace parts.

Next I soldered and heat shrink the negative lead from the battery pack to the negative leads of the needle mechanism red LED and blue LED. Then the Positive Lead from the battery pack to one of the terminals on the trigger, then from the other trigger terminal to the blue light. When you pull the trigger the blue light should come on now. There is no need for resistors for the LED's at this voltage as this voltage amperage level shouldn't cause any issue with the LED's.

Now that that is all set we solder a second wire to the trigger (same side that goes to the blue led) and the other end to one lead of a mercury switch, the the other lead goes to the red LED and the Needle mechanism, make sure you are heatshrinking or at the very least insulating one of the leads.
http://smile.amazon.com/Mercury-Tilt-Sw ... ilt+switch

at this point things should look about like this:


and you should look like this:


I know it's messy but it's all secure and solid and will be hidden inside so I am not that worried about it, I can always tidy this up later once I am satisfied with everything.

Secure the mercury switch some where inside the case (like under the handle) make it as level as you can I recommend turning the unit on while apart to get a sense of the best orientation of the switch, whether you want it to turn on when you tip it slightly to the front or slightly to the side depends on if you mount it facing forward or to the side, don't mount it vertically what ever you do or you're have to flip it over just to get a reading. If you want to be really clever install it in the bulb or in the hose leading to the bulb (details on how to do this in step 4.5) so I little tip and the meter goes wild.Fully reassemble the case and probe

So here is the trick gather people around turn on the meter and investigate an area, Pull the trigger and lock it on by pressing in the black peg, squeeze the bulb every few seconds, probe and look around disappointed and bored for a while then point at some one or something with conviction and roll you shoulder back (or tilt the bulb) to trip the mercury switch and BAM! meter red lines a light starts to flash and you scream gagagaaGHOoooST!! It only takes the subtlest of movement to trip the mercury switch if you mount it right, you can find a sweet spot in the middle where the needle will jump back and forth and no one will really know what's happening cause you're not hitting any buttons you can make up all sorts of excuses as to what's causing it. Even hand them the Sniffer sling it on their shoulder just so to prove you were not doing it .

Step 4 Complete!!! I may take a bit to complete step 5 as I have to wait on the labels and figure out a good place to get them printed on foil. Hopefully this week I can put up a video of this in action and perhaps discuss different things one may need to remove from the different models to make it better match the 300.

[Kingpin]

Great walkthrough, reminds me that I'd made up a Sniffer gauge file ages ago, but never did anything with it. I might have to implement a few of these ideas to make mine more accurate.

[pyhasanon]

Here's mine!



Yours is definitely more detailed, I didn't spend so much time on mine, I just made the probe and aspirator and carried on my merry way... LOL! Good job!

[gold333]

I'm guessing the original propmakers settled on this unit very early in the prop design process.

So many design cues of GB equipment can be found on this thing.

The trap pedal attachment hoses, the labels, the yellow leg hose, the silver trap dials, the black with silver and red accents equipment color of pretty much every piece of equipment the GBs use, etc, etc.

I'm inclined to think this sniffer unit was the spiritual ancestor of all GB equipment.

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

Great walkthrough, reminds me that I'd made up a Sniffer gauge file ages ago, but never did anything with it. I might have to implement a few of these ideas to make mine more accurate.

Thank you for reading this very long post, I would be honored if this helped you out. I would love to see pictures of your gauge and sniffer so far. Also, if you know a good print company for the foil style labels let me know .

I am very happy people read this (or skimmed). As with all my builds I did a lot of research trying to get this stuff right-read every post I could find , looked up the auction of the original (even found it's owner but that's another post), tried to find pictures of all the different models and the information on the Sniffer is so spread out and vague. It was an uphill challenge I didn't want to make others have go through so I posted a tutorial, my first. Hopefully more people will post their sniffers here to show different variations and problem solving used and get all the information in one place.

Sorry there are not more pictures of the steps I finished the unit before I thought to do a tutorial so I had to go back and piece together what I could.

Here's mine!



Yours is definitely more detailed, I didn't spend so much time on mine, I just made the probe and aspirator and carried on my merry way... LOL! Good job!

HA HA! Thank you, I was just ogling yours Saturday this thing looks great! This image is one of the handfull I have found of the 302 model and is why I said there is a knob where the red button should be...is that a knob there it is hard to tell? Also what did you use for your bulb, and how did you attach your hose? Did you just flip your port around and glue to the little barb on the inside or use something else? Just curious, It looks great!

I love that bulb you used not only for the red touches but The IDW Comics always depict the bulb with a line in the middle .

I'm guessing the original propmakers settled on this unit very early in the prop design process.

So many design cues of GB equipment can be found on this thing.

The trap pedal attachment hoses, the labels, the yellow leg hose, the silver trap dials, the black with silver and red accents equipment color of pretty much every piece of equipment the GBs use, etc, etc.

I'm inclined to think this sniffer unit was the spiritual ancestor of all GB equipment.

Good points, I would love to find out that were true, I work in engineering at a Honda factory so I get to see the industrial chic used throughout Ghostbusters everyday. With caution stripping, cap screws, excessive warning labels, sloppy tig welds and everything you mentioned present in a lot of the design around the building. If nothing else some prop designer may have spent some time in this type of environment.

[pyhasanon]

I'm guessing the original propmakers settled on this unit very early in the prop design process.

So many design cues of GB equipment can be found on this thing.

The trap pedal attachment hoses, the labels, the yellow leg hose, the silver trap dials, the black with silver and red accents equipment color of pretty much every piece of equipment the GBs use, etc, etc.

I'm inclined to think this sniffer unit was the spiritual ancestor of all GB equipment.

Neat thought, especially considering nothing was changed in the design of the 300 when it was used in the movie...

[pyhasanon]

HA HA! Thank you, I was just ogling yours Saturday this thing looks great! This image is one of the handfull I have found of the 302 model and is why I said there is a knob where the red button should be...is that a knob there it is hard to tell? Also what did you use for your bulb, and how did you attach your hose? Did you just flip your port around and glue to the little barb on the inside or use something else? Just curious, It looks great!

Yes, it is a knob... a knob that doesn't hold very well and tends to fall off almost all the time... LOL!

The aspirator bulb was from an old bomb sniffing device... as for how I attached it, I just drilled a hole into the port, threaded it, and jammed a screw up it with a couple of nuts on it... The hose is just holding onto the nuts really, but can hardly tell... LOL!

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

The aspirator bulb was from an old bomb sniffing device.

That is the coolest possible source for the bulb. I'm jealous to say the least.

[pyhasanon]

I just browsed the heck out of eBay and found it after like a week of searching... LOL

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

Step 4.5 Aspirator Bulb Upgrades for the Professional Propsmith


In this bonus guide I thought I would take the time to address how to:
A. Hide a mercury tilt switch in the bulb to be able to discretely control your meter needle
B. Ways to make your blood pressure bulb ( or other bulb pump) more closely resemble the original.


Part A. Placement of the Mercury tilt switch,
So originally I had thought it best to hide the tilt switch in the body of the Bacharach, but after playing with it for a little while I realized it was too difficult to make the meter jump on a whim like I wanted. With my hands being occupied by the probe and the aspirator bulb I needed the unit position- just so -on my shoulder so the slightest shrug would make the needle jump, it worked but was a lot of trouble to get it right. I knew moving the the tilt switch to the pump or the probe would be difficult but ultimately add more control and help me better create the illusion of ghost detection.

I considered the probe first, the inner holes would likely have to be drilled out a bit to make room for the wire and fishing the wire through the quick connects with out removing them would be a nightmare but there was enough space in the handle of the probe to accommodate the mercury switch. The reason I decided against this is because if you are "probing" and area when you tilted the probe up the meter would go off and tilted the probe down the meter would go dead. Being able to gesture and distract freely with the eye catching probe(literally eye catching if you're not careful in a crowd) was important from a showmanship standpoint as well as being able to actively and discretely choose what set it off would be ultimately better .

So that leaves the Bulb, with it held close to the body and generally less distracting than the probe. The operator is always free to tilt it when needed with out anyone being the wiser. Having placed it here in mine let me tell you this works great. With a little practice it is simple to level the pump and get a twitching needle a slight tip forward it flat-lines a slight tip back you got Zuul in the fridge. People really have no good guess as to what is happening there is no clicking of buttons being pressed, you can show them what you are holding so they can see there is no hidden switch and even let them squeeze the pump and it is unlikely they will feel anything.


Here's how I did it.
Hopefully you read this before completing all of step 4 mentioned above for but if not desolder (or cut) the leads going to the mercury switch from the trigger and red LED /Meter.

Solder 2 feet of thin wire to the Mercury tilt switch. I like to use thin 16 or 18 gauge speaker wire for this task- it is cheap, already has two wires bonded together, available, at any hardware store, is very flexible, and a will not show through much in the opaque latex tubing, which is good. Make sure you have solid connection are insulating/heat shrinking the tilt switch leads because once this is all together repairs will not be easy. I also took the time to place heat shrink over the entire tilt switch just to keep the deadly mercury contained if the worst happens.


Next disassemble the bulb by removing the two ends, I am not sure how yours will be put together but mine was a real pain to take apart as everything was glued together and really well. At first I thought I could just drill a hole the size of the mercury switch and slide that in place, easy. Well I tried but one side the chrome coated brass insert was thicker than it looked and I tried drilling it out but had nothing good to clamp onto. Holding it by hand I didn't get very far before the soft brass would catch and it would be ripped out of my hand. The other side I could clamp onto but the drill never really proceeded for some reason, later I found out at the base of the hole was a ball bearing used to created the seal, it rotated with the drill bit and prevented progress, on both both sides the attempt at drilling heated of the inserts enough that the glue lost it's bond and I was able to slide the inserts out. A little harder than I wanted but I know now the easiest thing to do is to just hold the inserts with pliers and hold a soldering iron on the inserts until the become hot enough to slowly pull out of the aspirator. Do not heat them too long or pull them out too quickly or you will damage/melt your bulb, if you buy a bulb with plastic ends a drill or dremil method may prove more successful ether way don't rush.


Once the Bulb is apart make sure to clean out the inside from any loose bits that may have been left inside (you're not making maracas) Slide the wire(s) leading to the mercury switch through the exit port barb (see part B for how to make more accurate aspirator tips), then slide that through the latex hose and then finally through the 1/4 hose barb now clip something on the end (I used alligator clips) so you don't pull it out during the next steps.

it should look like about like this with the exception of it should have a red exit port on yours if you follow Step B. :

Start sliding the Latex tubing over the hose barb, then the other end of the latex tubing to the exit port, now pull the wire taught from the hose barb side and apply a bit of glue (E-6000) at the base of the wire going into the exit port to the hose this should hopefully prevent additional stress on the connections to the tilt switch. Next solder one wire to the trigger (same side that goes to the blue led) the the other lead goes to the red LED and the Needle mechanism turn the unit on and test that everything works by tipping the switch, now slide the tilt switch and the exit port in to the bulb feel free to glue this in place if you feel confident everything is working ok and you don't wish to change it out later. When you reassemble the case give the whole aspirator assembly a few counter clockwise turns so when you screw it in the wire is not as twisted or stressed.

Part B. Aspirator tip recreation

So unless you got lucky and found the real deal you probably don't have the right tips on your aspirator bulb. I did get lucky and found the best condition Bacharach 300 aspirator bulb I've ever seen but after getting it I felt it would be a bad idea to take this extremely rare part to cons and events (and yes I wonder why I went to so much trouble to get it in the first place too). So that leaves us two options
1. fudge the little details cause no one will ever know
2. recreated the bulb.


If you want a reasonable easy way out you can just paint your ends red and be happy. I for some reason became obsessed with this thing and looking at the wrong end to the aspirator bothered me deeply. As if some random Joe was going to walk up to me on the street and say "That's not the right tip! Not even close what sorta cheap crap is that? Did you even see the movie?" Several weeks of scathing night terrors and days spent weeping uncontrollably at my failure as a man lead me to peruse making replica tips (honestly i had a free night and figured "hey why not?"). I was fortunate to have the real deal as reference. I started by measuring ever part with calipers and went about reproducing the tips.
Now I could have casts these and made resin molds but I didn't think I could get away with that without damaging the original (again this took over a year to find).
So first I went to the lab and lathed out the basic shape approximating the shapes as best I could with the tools I had. The result was OKish but I really wanted the "No Ghost" tip as I thought this was a fun Easter egg (yep, that's my idea of fun)

Lathe results, not to bad for 15 minutes and one missing shirt sleeve

Yes I know this is just circle with a line through it and most people think railroad or no smoking but to me it means "GhostBusters" and is the thing pictured below on the original I am talking about


So I transferred my measurements to CAD and created one to print, now for those who wish to print your own the file is here:
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0CiC2y ... -bulb-tips

Speaking to you Fused Filament Fabrication printers out there- it's not an ideal shape to print being so small with overhangs. So you'll have to enable support, print slow, but not so slow and generally toy with you settings a bit to get a clean print. luckily though both tips can be cranked out in about 25 minutes ( 35 minutes if you set your printer to snail) so it doesn't take to long to figure out what is ideal for your printer. Now for you Stereolithography printers this offers different challenges as you will have to take time off of racing around in your solid gold rocket car fueled by whale eggs and make sure to tell your good butler (you know the one) to increase contact area at the base to improve adhesion with the build plate.
Here were my results:





After the print did a test fit, sanded and prepped the parts and Spray painted the tips with Rust-Oleum Gloss Protective Enamel Runsrise Red I know the parts were already red but not quite the right red also a few layers of gloss help hide print lines and imperfections and bring out the molded plastic look of the original. I then touched up the white inner parts with Testors- Gloss White. In the original this part appears white but is actually a opaque clear, When i get a duel head extruder I may retry this. Any way here are the results:



Here is another picture of the original to let you know which end goes where:


If you don't own a 3d printer or lathe you can order 3d prints from the link next to the cad picture above. Or if you want you can try to cobble something together from found parts. I can tell you that this tube of solder http://www.walmart.com/ip/30-Watt-Solde ... n/16539504 has a red cap which is a good size to be the base (I used it on my lathed part above) you just need to sand it to about 1/3 the height. As for the rest an eyeliner pencil with cap ends up being about the correct thickness. Cut off the pencil (leaving enough to go inside the bulb to glue in place) and cut down the cap for the pencil and that should give you part that is shaped similar to a pipe in Mario, if you heat the pencil in hot water you can melt out the eyeliner wax stuff and that'll allow air flow which is needed for the sound you here in the film. Paint to your liking, maybe even use a hole punch with different size hole settings to make the "No Ghost" symbol ,that tool comes in handy when punching out the meter background for the blinking led anyway.

No matter how you choose to go about this insert the tips glue if you like and you're done!



Step 4.5 Complete!

[Ryan The Ghostbuster]

Step ...ummm 4.75? Removing Case Inaccuracies,



Know your Bacharach!
As we have discussed models 300-303 are made from the exact same case mold but that doesn't mean they are identical units on the outside. Yes there are the obvious differences (hand pump, probe, red button, labels) we are correcting in this tutorial but you may wish to go that extra mile and rid your casing of anything not found on the 300. This step is to help you identify those differences.

Pictured here SabaSka109's legendary sniffer collection, he's the main man responsible for most of the knowledge available on this prop , and he owns the only real 300 I am aware of anyone owning.


So if you have your choice of cases to convert into a 300, go for the 301

Control side


Instruction side


The 301 features no case imperfections for you to bondo out, and no knob or buzzer to remove to place your red button. One thing to note when you are applying your labels some models come with the correct corporate logo already (bottom left of control side), some don't, not sure why they are different but you want the one that says "United Bacharach Technologies" as seen in this next picture.



The most difficult model to convert to a 300 is the 302. Again the corporate logo will ether be right or wrong, and there is a charging port in the front on the unit that would need removed.



Most glaringly there will ether be a large black circular piece (buzzer or speaker I think) on the non-control side

or this white buzzer on the other side (never both)


The 303 (which is the model I am converting) has it's own challenges: as far as I can tell it will always have the wrong corporate logo, you have to build a spot to place the red button, and also has the charging port on the front like the 302. I would post a picture but you have seen my 303 plenty now I feel.

Now honestly these inaccuracies on the 301,302 and 303 are hardly noticeable in the grand scheme of things, and to correct them is to risk damaging your base unit or having a more ugly "repair" spot if not done right. If you have to have your sniffer 100% right, remove the inaccurate pieces, build up a wall where they were, bondo over it, sand it smooth, and try your darndist to match this odd gray/black/green swirl case color..or ya know ..leave it

I just didn't want to ignore mentioning these things in this tutorial as I prefer to to offer you a complete guide.

Step 4.75 complete!!!

[Alex Newborn]

HUGE thanks to Ryan the Ghostbuster, and Jacob too, for their contributions both in this thread and in direct correspondence which helped me to convert a Bacharach into something approaching screen accuracy. For the video log of this June-September project, here's my new thread about it...

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44840&p=4909444#p4909444

This is precisely the kind of research, documentation, and informative pictorial presentation which I love about these forums. Top marks!

Alex

[sapper36]

Did anybody ever find a connector for the black hose to the quick connector? I'm having trouble finding anything there....

[Fang333333]

Hey if anyone can help, I really need that file to print out that gauge. I was hoping someone will eventually see this and be able to help either send the file, or make some copies.

Also if anyone has leads and hoses bulb and probe, recreation or real, please pm me.

But if anyone with the gauge placard thingy could quick shoot me a message that would be awesome. No matter when you see this.

[Fang333333]

So there may be a better way than using a multimeter outside of arduino. Did not work for me at all.

[sapper36]

Hard to find part for Ghostbusters Bacharach 300-303 sniffer!

Alrighty Ghostbusters fans!

I've been trying to build up a Bacharach 301 sniffer into Venkman's sniffer from Dana's Apartment.

The Sniffer body's don't seen terribly hard to find but the wand hose & connectors are usually missing.

Most of the hose/wand assembly doesnt look too hard to fabricate but that quick connector has been a bear to find - definately not at Lowes or Home Depot!

I finally lucked across a company called McGill Hose & coupling and working with one of their reps we found the right connector!!!!

It's the QD Series 1EF1-s - 1/8" in Stainless straight through coupler - E series.

If you've been looking for this connector give them a call & they ship fast!

Phone number (413)525-3977

Hope this helps some of you!

[Fang333333]

I really like that! Nice find! The real quick connectors were made by a company called Hansen. I own a few real probes and they use a specific model number. I actually own a couple of real connectors too if anyone is interested. They no longer make them and I paid a premium of like $20 a piece. I have NEVER been able to find them in stainless. I been looking awhile. I have a feeling it may have been something they exclusivly used with the bacharach hoses. When I found the correct size and model I pounced. Sadly cannot seem to find these now.

The only difference is they are brass not stainless. Actually one of the probes I have uses the brass not stainless, fun fact. I could not find these anywhere, ended up getting them awhile back. I haven't tried painting them but I also think you can foil wrap them. If anyones interested hit me up, I'll try to check my messages once in awhile here.


The ones you found seem to have a screw in end piece but honestly I am glad you shared these. GREAT FIND AND PRICE!

[Fang333333]

I also wanted to share my 2 real sniffers I own. I used this forum for ideas, and went a little bit of a different route but now I have a functioning, REMOTE CONTROLLED prop sniffer! The other sniffer I kept stock to demo how these old things worked. Just a quickly shot video about the 2.

I may do a tutorial on my screen accurate 302, but honestly it was alot of work, time and money lol.