3D Print a Ghost Trap Inspired by the Original 1984 “Ghostbusters” Movie

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who believe in ghosts and those who don’t. People who believe in ghosts usually do so because they claim they have encountered one. Conversely, people who don’t believe in ghosts have probably never experienced one. It’s as simple as that. If you are into horror films, you know how prevalent the idea of haunting spirits is: from Poltergeist’s “go towards the light” to The Sixth Sense’s “I see dead people,” Hollywood has played a huge role in popularizing the idea of ghosts.

Perhaps the most popular ghost-themed Hollywood film of all times is Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and Sigourney Weaver. This 1984 movie was a huge box office success, and they made a sequel too. (It has been remade for release soon starring an all female lineup for a new spin on the old classic.) Since the idea of ghostbusting clearly isn’t going anywhere, you may be interested in this 3D printed ghostbusters trap for all of your cosplay ghostbusting needs (don’t forget to bring your handy-dandy Proton Pack and Giga Meter!).

To get started, we need to establish that, yes, in order to really ghostbust you’d need special equipment. This equipment includes analog and digital audio recorders and video cameras with infrared night-vision capabilities; hand-held camcorders; 35-mm film still cameras and digital cameras; Geiger counters; motion detectors; and seismograph and thermal-imaging cameras. Of course, if you are not really going to ghostbust but you just want a trap that looks like it can do the job, a 3D printed replica of the one in the original Ghostbusters movie will do the trick, right?

Norman Chan and Tested’s Sean Charlesworth partnered up to design and 3D print this contraption, which is based on reference materials from the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II movies. A pedal that looks like the kind used with an electric guitar is used to activate the trap’s doors, sounds, and lights. In a video, Charlesworth explained that he wanted a trap that was “self-contained, repeatable, and easy to use,” and the final trap’s parts were mostly printed by a Dremel 3D printer.

As you can tell by watching the below video, the source components for the trap are taken directly from the original movie and are discussed at length on the preeminent Ghostbusters fan website: GBfans.com. These parts include a resister, vector plate, relay, skirted knobs, lens shades, toggle switches… and more that are all 3D printed. In fact, there are so many parts to the trap that Charlesworth reports he spent a whole week simply researching them. GBfans.com makes some of these original parts immediately available for purchase. But, of course, the idea here is that you can 3D print them — making them yourself for the sheer fun of it all.

In the end, the trap is not merely an empty shell of a Hollywood film prop, but it is a working trap in the sense that its lights, sounds, and doors can be moved by the pedal. You can see how it is put together and how it works in the below video, and you can access files to print one yourself from Thingiverse. Happy Ghostbusting! Is something you’d like to have? Discuss in the 3D Printed Ghostbusting Trap forum over at 3DPB.com.