Steam/smoke blower - anyone built one?

[Too_Many_Cars]

The recent couple of excellent proton packs has got my mind going on a project I've been planning for a while...

I'm looking for a good smoke blowing solution for several projects:
1. A proton pack that can throw some steam around so I can project a light display on a movable screen.
2. The jet pack from Thunderball to display with my James Bond BMW that can spurt steam jets.
3. The Bond car had some tear gas ducts in the movie as part of its anti-theft system.
4. My ex-Disney Herbie has a smoke thrower special effects muffler from the film and I'd like to be able to throw some smoke or steam without poisoning the kids watching at shows. The smoke system in the flick was basically squirting oil or fog juice on a hot muffler - not the best idea for a static display.
5. The Transforming Knight Rider Super Pursuit Mode I've been commissioned to build needs to be able to blow smoke through the rocket nozzles on the rear tail light panel.

So far I'm thinking of either fountain foggers through a weak turbine (like a couple of computer fans or something similar), or dry ice vapor through a similar system. CO2 is out because I don't want to freeze anyone, and a 10 second shot from a massive cylinder doesn't last long in an 8-10 hour display.

Has anybody actually built a reasonable system to throw a stream of fog or steam for one of their props?

--Brian

 

[hyperdyne]

It's doable. I put smoke in my proton pack years ago. Worked out pretty well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pk4TW_M_Mk

Smoking a trap was pretty easy with this setup.

 

[BornKilr]

I used to work at a magic/costume shop and we sold a "A-B smoke solution" which consisted of 2 liquids. When you opened the bottles and put them near each other, the fumes mixed, and they produced smoke. I had a chemist ID the chemicals, figuring they would be cheaper to by from a supplier and I'm pretty sure one of them was weak acetic acid, but cannot remember the other. I'll look around and see if I can find it, but meanwhile check your local magic shops. I used it on Halloween, soaking 2 cotton balls and juggling them around in one hand, producing a fair amount of smoke. For this, though, wear gloves, as there is some heat produced by the chemical reaction.
For your application, you might have 2 reservoirs with the solutions and an air source blowing them together into a common tube.

 

[swhite228]

Fountain misters won't work for what you want to do as well as the fact they spray a fair amount of water around them.

For the cars your probably going to find a fog maching from a party store is about the best way to produce the volumes of smoke you want.

Dry Ice will produce a low hanging fog but comes with a lot of noise that needs to be muffled ( thats why they calle dry ice fog machines "rumble pots"!). The effect is good but it leaves a wet surface that someone could slip on, and it is costly. The other problem is you can't start and stop it as fast as a fog machine.

The muffler probably was using mineral oil to produce the fog. It's old school and somewhat safe for the enviroment when used outside, inside is another story with the coating of everything with oil as just the start.

For hand held props you can try canned smoke like this:
http://www.theatricalshop.com/rosesweb/spray_smoke.htm

Price is $18

You should also be able to find this in most magic stores. It doesn't smell bad and is safe to use indoors.
The can will fill a room with smoke for about an hour. As with most "theater" supplies they tend to be expensive but there is a way around it.

Look for canned smoke for checking your smoke alarms:
http://www.amazon.com/Security-Smoke-Canned-Detector-Testing/dp/B000MWWWEI

The drawback to this is it's easy to set on fire so you probably don't want to use it around smokers, sparks or hot objects.
or
You could always get a Zero Blaster and gut out the smoke generator to install in your pack:
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3052118

 

[dropshipbob]

I found that if you hold a can of that compressed gas duster stuff for computers on it's side, it produces a jet of vapor that looks like steam.

How you would rig this to work in a car or proton pack, I couldn't tell you.

 

[BlackMarketMagi]

The two-part chemical stuff used in magic is very old school, very nasty, and very toxic to breathe. There are a few newer versions but all of them wouldn't be what you want.

A mini-fogger might be the way to go, about the size of a cigarette case, battery operated, you could fit it into any prop fairly easily. They cost about $100 if my memory serves me well.

But even a large fogger you'll have to refill it for a 8+ hour display.

 

[Too_Many_Cars]

Nice ideas all around. I think Hyperdyne's mini fogger, BlackmarketMagi's mini fogger and the theatrical spray smoke are most promising. Do you have a manufacturer you recommend Hyperdyne (nice LED displays on your site by the way!) or BlackMarketMagi?

--Brian

 

[themanwoaname]

I found that if you hold a can of that compressed gas duster stuff for computers on it's side, it produces a jet of vapor that looks like steam.

How you would rig this to work in a car or proton pack, I couldn't tell you.

thats actually how im doing the vent/steam on my next bunch of packs.

 

[swhite228]

I found that if you hold a can of that compressed gas duster stuff for computers on it's side, it produces a jet of vapor that looks like steam.

How you would rig this to work in a car or proton pack, I couldn't tell you.

You need to watch the compressed gas dust stuff it's dangerous!

It's flamable (most brands)
It's an irritant if you breath enough of it.
It WILL freeze anything you spray it at.

On the good side....
If you spray an envelope (white paper kind is best) till it's saturated with the spray the paper goes clear and you can read the contents. As it drys you get a frost that turns to a white power that can be brushed off leaving the envelope looking like new.

AND

You can save a boat load of money by buying chewing gum remover from a cleaning supply store (it's the same stuff) in larger cans for $3-$4 ea.
or
You can spend a boat load of money($12+) and buy the same size can as a "letter bomb detector" from most spy/security shops.

You can also find it as the canned propellent for air brushes so it's possible to get the can and valve then run the hose to the place you want smoke to come from.

DON'T TRY WITH the TESTORS BRAND!!!!!!

They are anti huffing and add a heavy mustard smell that is designed to make you sick fast if you invert the can and open the valve to sniff it!

 

[swhite228]

Just found this company that sells minature fog machines, along with battery operated machines:
https://www.fogspecs.com/minifogmachines.shtml

 

[propologist]

anyone had luck getting smoke to come through a series of tubes . I'm working on a project where i need smoke coming out several tubes. need to find a reasonable smoke/fog maker

 

[Wicked]

I wonder if you could put a small plastic tube on the end of one of those mini-foggers, run it inside a prop to a place that was perpendicular to a small electronics fan, and then activate the fan with a switch to blow the fog out the end of whatever prop you wanted. It would be heavy as hell but you could pick a cheap one of those little jump starter boxes for cars to run an electric fogger off of as well I would think, a lot of them have ac plugs on the sides now. So you figure it would just be a matter of finding one small enough to fit inside the prop, though as I mentioned the batteries would make it a lot heavier. Something like this:

Black & Decker VEC026BD Electromate 400 AC/DC Portable Power Station/Jump-Starter /Compressor

Either way once you had the fan mounted to a trigger of some sort when you weren't using the fan the prop would fog ominously, and when you hit the trigger it would blow.

 

[propologist]

hummm...I'm reworking and redoing my original Gonk droid I made some time ago and adding smoke and movement to recreate this scene:

planning on making the stand and trying to work out flipping it etc. want to eventually make the 8D8 as well in an environment. I will have 8 tubes running up each of the legs ( 3/8") to try to make the smoke.

it's a WIP..lol