Man Creates Working Star Trek Door

The doors of the U.S.S. Enterprise appear to open automatically and send a jet of air that results in a *shh shh* sound. Of course, each time a door opened on the set of any Star Trek show or movie, a crewman needed to open the door manually and the signature sound effect was added later. An enterprising (heh) DIY engineer from Miami accomplished the task that Scottie couldn't by installing a door in his house that not only slides open like a real Star Trek door, but the compressed air that it uses exhausts out of a vent and provides that awesome real sound. Mark posted pictures and described how he created the door to his bedroom on his blog, but you have to watch the video to see it work.



"I always wanted a piece of Star Trek and the Disney Monorail in my house, and one thing they have in common is that they both have automatic sliding doors," Mark wrote. "It would be the perfect, most geek-ified entryway for my bedroom. Only one problem: I was still in school and still lived at home with my mother in New Orleans. I had tried to convince her for years that installing a Star Trek Door would be a good idea, but it never happened. It wasn't until we were renovating our house after Hurricane Katrina that she finally caved in. There wouldn't be a better time to do it."

I salute you Mark, not only for the technical chops that it took to make this door work, but also for making the sound a huge part of how it functioned.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105897-Man-Creates-Working-Star-Trek-Door