This is such a funny, simple idea that will get your guests into the halloween party spirit before they've even made it through the front door! Attach this inexpensive prop to your doorbell, and your friends (plus any hapless trick-or-treaters that happen to be passing) will have to poke a squishy eyeball before they're allowed in.
Follow the jump for instructions
What You Need
* disgusting gooey squishy eyeball
* a doorbell button (or some other momentary pushbutton)
* a piece of plywood (5/8" thick or thereabouts)
* some Super Glue
* some screws
* a dril and drill bits
* a jigsaw
* a piece of paper
* a pen
* a pair of scissors
Construction
Take your piece of paper and fold it into quarters. Use the pen to draw 1/4 of the shape you want your doorbell bezel to end up being. Make sure the center of your design is on the same corner of the paper as the center of the folds.
Cut out your design.
Unfold it
You now have a perfectly symmetrical template for your doorbell bezel. Place the template onto the piece of plywood and trace around it.
Cut bezel out with a jigsaw.
Sand all the rough edges off.
Paint the template
Now here is where things start to get a bit tricky. Get a spade bit or hole saw that is about the diameter of your eyeball. I'm using a hole saw because I don't have any spade bits that big. We only want to drill 3/4 of the way through your plywood, so put a piece of tape on the bit to use as a depth gauge.
Start drilling a hole in the center of your bezel (you can use the fold lines on your paper template if you need an easy way to find the center). Stop when you reach your tape.
Pull the bit out. If you used a hole saw the middle stuff may or may not be stuck in the middle of the bit. If not, use a screwdriver, or chisel to remove it, or drill it out with a smaller spade bit. Remember, this hole is only supposed to go 3/4 of the way through the wood.
Drill a smaller hole through the remaining 1/4 of your plywood of the size required to mount your button. I decided to use some fancy panel mount button I found at a surplus place instead of a doorbell button since it takes much less force to activate it and I didn't want people having to mangle my eyeball to get it to ring. The downside of using this button is that it needs a square hole. I hate square holes.
Install the button
Squirt a ring of Super Glue around the wall of the eyeball hole (eye socket?). Be VERY CAREFUL not to use so much that you glue your button together into a worthless lump of plastic. It can happen. Trust me on this.
Place the eyeball into the hole
You may want to squish it a bit for a few minutes so that it presses up against the edges of the hole and makes better contact with the glue.
Installation
Remove your old doorbell button and unhook the wires. Connect the wires to your new and improved button.
Stuff the extra wire into the hole and mount the bezel with a couple screws. The part of the button that is protruding from the back of the bezel should fit nicely into your existing button hole. If there isn't one now would be a good time to make one. Every house needs a button hole.
[Via modd3d]
