PKE Meter: How To Build

By: Bryan Fear, West Coast Busters CEO

Edited By: Richard Roy, Director Of Franchise Ops.

 

One day I was checking admin stats for my franchise site when I noticed my site gets a lot of hits from people Googling the words “PKE METER HOW TO BUILD”. (sigh) Look folks, no one makes a “how to” for building a PKE and I doubt I’ll be the one to pick up the torch. I’ll do what I can to provide some cursory advice, a little text, a few pictures and maybe along the way you’ll see what I’m saying and figure it out, okay?

Building this requires a mechanical aptitude. If you don’t have it, then you won’t have a PKE Meter either. These things aren’t sold on the shelves of Wal*Mart. ("The toy versions use to be sold in Wal*Mart." - Richard) You need enough money to buy the parts to make one; expect to spend $400-800*.  Since it’s a copyright violation to build and sell one for someone else, don’t expect anyone else to build one for you. ("Can we have Louis check on this?" - Richard) The law permits you to build one for yourself and yourself only.  (Don’t even THINK of asking me to make one for you.) If you want to have one, you MUST dig deep inside you and find that little builder who can make this on your own. I did it, so you can too.

*approximate amount, US dollars.

Things you NEED:

• Iona Shoe Polisher.
• Hyperdyne PKE board and wings.
• Two servos as recommended on Hyperdyne’s site.
• Plastic putty, tools to sculpt and cut with.
• Dremel is recommended.
• Soldering iron and solder coil is a must.
• Exacto knife.
• First aid kit.

Directions:

1.  Buy an Iona Shoe Polisher.  They’re ancient, made in the 1950’s and hard to find. You can occasionally find one on eBay. 

• Iona Shoe Polisher.

2.  Go to the Hyperdyne website and buy:

             a.  A Hyperdyne PKE light board.

             b.  A Hyperdyne PKE wing kit.

             c.  ...and the servos that they recommend to drive the wings.

3.  If you have accomplished these two steps, read on.  If you have not, then I’m sorry to say it but you’re not serious about making one.  Stop now.

• Open the Iona Shoe Polisher, dispose of the internal workings. 
• Cut holes for the face display and the buttons.
• Cut off the bottom of the handle, fill with putty and smooth it over.

• Make a ribbed backing for cosmetic and accuracy reasons. Mine isn’t quite right. I used textured styrene plastic from a model hobby shop. 
• Cut openings for the speakers (mounted inside) to allow sound through. The thin slices blend with the texture of the styrene plastic backing.
• The servos are mounted on the sides with enough room for the PKE board to fit in-between.

• In my case I added my own additional sounds by inserting a second item I found in a surplus electronics shop. The mini-speaker is against the lower sound holes. The green board is what controls it.
• The yellow PKE board from Hyperdyne goes over this. (or under, depending on your perspective) 
  
• You can see the smaller board with LEDs facing upward here. The PKE board in mine is sandwiched between the PKE face display LED board and that little green sound board I talked about on the left.

• My build was customized by de-soldering the buttons included with the PKE kit to use my own.  Hyperdyne’s are fine, but I needed something else to suit my needs. This pic is a mess but hey, it works for me. The LEDs can be seen hanging from wires near the bottom half.
• I don’t have any pics of how to make the wings, but really if you buy the Hyperdyne kit and know how to work with clay, it’s a total no-brainer.
• Some paint and a clear coat later, the PKE is looking good. 

Ghostbusters International® would like to thank Bryan Fear for allowing us to mirror his PKE "How To" on our site. When he's not writing a technical article or trying to figure out a way to disable "PKE Meter Build How To" from Google's search engine, Mr. Fear is the CEO of the West Coast Ghostbusters.

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