The Ultimate Fog Machine

Intro: The Ultimate Fog Machine

this instructable will show you how to make a the ultimate fog machine .and also show you the fog chiller designs i tried even though they did not work for my fogger

STEP 1: What You Need

you don't need much to make the ultimate fogger .in fact you only need four things

-mosquito fogger
-small propane tank (type used for pipe soldering)
-mineral oil (food grade i.e. laxative)
-lighter

STEP 2: Fog It Up

this step is rather simple too (as the best things in life are)

.all you need to do is put the mineral oil in the mosquito fogger
.connect the propane tank .light the fogger
.let it warm up
.pull the trigger and make thick white fog

STEP 3: Safety and Such

ok ok .i know some of you out there are thinking this is a terrible idea .and yes heating mineral oil to the point it smokes is a bit dangerous not to mention flammable .and i did manage to catch my rig on fire while trying to chill the fog .it was a few tense moments but I kept my cool .turned off the propane supply and the fire burned it self out rather quickly .anyhow you shouldn't use it around open flames .that is even on the safety instructions on the fogger it's self .another thing you should not do is use any poisons in the fogger you intend to use to make fog .nor should you use an old fogger that was used for fogging poison

.i would NOT recommend using this inside .the fog isn't the best of things to breath but i would say its less harmful then smoking cigarettes .if for what ever dumbass reason you do use this inside you need to have a fan or three ready to clear out the smoke

i was using my fogger to see how the air moved around on our back porch .trying to figure out how to most effectively cool it and while doing so i the smoke had blown around my house and across the street leaving a hazy trail .i walked out the front door of my house and the neighbor from across the street was already on his way over to see if every thing was alright .i had to explain how i was just using my fogger

.the point of that story was that by using this fogger there is a good chance you might get the fire department called out .so using it will be done at your own risk

STEP 4: Fog Chiller How Not to :first Attempt

i looked around on here before i attempted making a fog chiller of my own .and the three fog chillers i found were the way to go .and you should see links to those in the related instructables area at the upper right part of this page

what i did to make my first chiller was
.get some 3/8" copper piping
.coiled it around the propane bottle
.got a container to place the coil and ice in
.and made a small clamp out of a wire to hold the tip of the fogger to the coil

howd it fail? .well it did and didn't fail .i used regular ice to begin with and it worked semi ok .the fog was cool but failed to drop to ground like i wanted .so to try to cool the fog mow i added a salt water slurry .the salt water not freezing at 32F was much much colder and the water made for greater contact with the pipe for heat exchanging .i thought the possibility of the fog condensing and turning back to its liquid state was a possibility but if you don't fail, you fail to learn so thats exactly what happened .i learned that the colder water did make the fog turn back to oil and whats more clogged the pipe leaving no room for the fog to easily pass threw .so a little pressure built up and pushed out the connection point of the fogger and pipe .oil and fog were both coming out and shortly after the fire i previously typed of occurred

STEP 5: Fog Chiller How Not to :second (more Successful) Attempt

for this second attempt what i did was first gathered my materials

.an ice chest
.old vacuum cleaner hose (5 feet in length)
.copper pipe coil i used in my first attempt

the to assemble it what i did was

.coiled the vacuum cleaner hose in the bottom of the ice chest
.taped the hose in place on the top of the ice chest
.placed the end of the copper pipe into the vacuum cleaner hose
.filled the ice chest with ice

this was more successful then the first attempt because the fog did come out of the hose and sunk to the ground .however where it failed in design was again the condensation of the fog on the inside of the copper pipe .though no fire occurred this time .it did spit out hot oil .i could have taken off the copper pipe and aimed the fogger directly into the vacuum hose and gotten my desired effect .though a fog chiller that works that was has already been made and again a link should be found in the related box on the upper right side of this page .if you can not find it there try using the search box (also in the upper right part of the page) and type in "fog chiller"

STEP 6: Conclusion

my conclusion is that if you want to make massive amounts of fog for whatever (legal) reason this is the way to go .you're not limited by power cords .this fogger could easily fill a large arena with smoke so thick you can't see you're hand in front of your face using only about 5fl oz of mineral oil if you combine this with a fog chiller you will get the best and most ground hugging fog effect you've seen outside of a hollywood movie .which this is the type of fog and fog machine the most hollywood movies use

i hope you enjoyed my third instructable and put it to good (legal) use .and as always .constructive criticism welcomed

Comments

[EngrMahmood]

Good day, i am new here & i need some guide on how to construct a Fogging Machine. Thanks

[buntys]

[buntys]

[smooney2]

I"ll stick with mine. with that smoke your just shooing them off not killing them. I use BVA oil and Evelore 30/30

[Vulcanator]

Why dont you try actual fog machine liquid?

[somebullcrap]

main reason is my dad didnt find any in a dumpster   .plus im cheap

[Vulcanator]

you could use 30% glycerin and 70% distilled water. better for the lungs

[IX Smith XI]

Where can you buy glycerin.

[ilpug]

some drug stores have it. its also available in large home centers in the garden chemicals section

[Aron313]

Does it say glycerin on the bottle or does the product have another name?

[ilpug]

I am pretty sure it just says glycerin.

[dfwsupergeek]

Thats all it takes to make fog juice? Seriously?

[Owenmon]

Um..... Your dad goes through the dumpster?

[somebullcrap]

absolutely .people throw away all kinds of stuff even brand new ,unopened stuff .the mineral oil bottles were all unopened still with the little safety foil under the cap .my dad also looks threw peoples garbage .he has found all kinds of things useful and not so useful but recently found a craftsman jigsaw .it wasn't new but not only is it in great shape it works great if you bothered reading all of that sorry .to answer your question directly .yes my father digs in dumpsters why don't you start?

[Owenmon]

Um.... That makes a little bit of sence. I guess. But just make sure he isn't mistaken for a hobo!

[ilpug]

i need to start dumpster diving more :P

[sueman2]

i do that too, i'm 16 and me and about twenty of my friends have tree house's. i would go threw the wood thrown out by houses being built in the neighbor hood and we would build one after the other. we also got free nails thrown out probably for being a little rusted or left over at the end. so all 20 were like free!!!

[MadBricoleur]

thats pretty cool... i gotta admit! i'd like to do that too, but idk where to start... lol :D i remember a teacher at my school threw away a whole lawnmower in the dumpster just cuz there was some small instability and also a whole buncha good flowerpots or so my friend said :(. wish i could have dove for them but i didnt have the time.

[knex_mepalm]

 I too am happy to look thru garbage. I mean some guy threw out a whole box of 2 GB RAMs , I mean with some money and a whole lotta time I made windows boot in 13 seconds and Macintosh boot in 23!

[Owenmon]

=O