What is the best way to create fog\smoke?

liteglow

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What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

As the topic says....

I got alot of beams in the air, but i need some smoke to se them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

What is the best way of create fog\smoke indoor ?

Ah.. and NO i dont got a fog machine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

CliffS

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

When I'm soldering up laser pieces, the room winds up pretty smokey if theres no draft/wind/fans. Maybe melt a bunch of solder.

That, or buy a big cigar, and start puffin.
 

Ken_McE

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Fog machines are cheap and powerful. The downside is that the smoke doesn't smell good. Or you could burn incense or something.
 

liteglow

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

did try that one cliffs ¤but i got a insane head pain now¤

any other suggestions /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

Gabriel

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

A UK store, Maplin, sell 'Canned smoke'. One can sprays for about 5 minutes, fills a good size room and lasts thick for about an hour. I have a great personal experience with this stuff - One can is more than enough to do great laser effects. If you need, Liteglow, I can go to a store, get some, and send it out to you, or you can order from their website at http://www.maplin.co.uk
 

WildRice

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

SHHHHH, Mineral Oil. This is what the armed forces used for fogging up beaches durring WWII, and it is also what is sprayed on the exhaust of planes to do sky writing. It works best if atomized, like in a small sprayer. A small amount on a hot plate will make some white smoke. BE CAREFUL, mineral oil has a flashpoint, I dont recall what it is tho, if the hot surface is TOO hot and you mist alot of oil in the air, it can catch fire. But small amounts (a few drips) will make beans more visible.
Jeff

BTW some higher end camera stores sell canned smoke also.
 

CliffS

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Maybe some insence? Burn a few sticks, It'll smell nice and be real smokey /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

JWalker

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

I got a mini fogger, about $30 USD's. I think the brand is "American DJ" This thing is great and can use a cup of fog juice to smoke a room 20 times over. It doesn't smell too bad in my experience but if you're not too careful you wont be able to see your hand in front of your face. But I have turned my greenie into a lightsaber many times with it.
 

LED-FX

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Cheap fogger is the way to go, uses water based glycol fog fluid, now under £30 in the UK for a little one.

Fog in a can is O.K. but works out quite expensive, get a fogger for the price of a few cans of the stuff.

Only thing with gylcol fog is it dries out your throat, so get a few beers in as well ;-) One fog fluid maker actually used to advertise this as a feature, made customers drink more...

Adam
 

Raccoon

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Wow, I like all these suggestions. I'm especially interested in the can-o-smoke and mineral oil.

Does anyone have experience with the effects of these fogging/smoke agents on household items? It would be nice to know that smoking up a lot of mineral oil doesn't eventually turn your couch and lamp shades yellow or greasy.

I guess the question here is, which smoke/fog produces the cleanest effect?

Dry ice would certainly be the cleanest, but for an effectively smokey room, you would have to suffocate yourself in CO2. And inhaling soldering lux fumes is just stupid.
 

CliffS

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

[ QUOTE ]
Raccoon said:
And inhaling soldering lux fumes is just stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I practice safe soldering, with a face breather dealie, if I know I'm going to be doing a lot of soldering.
 

Gabriel

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

I have experience with the maplin 'cans o' smoke'. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif If anyone needs any I can order them in and ship them out - They provide an excellently clear photo.

~Christian
 

LED-FX

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Would stay away from mineral oil , it is used in some hazers, not foggers, but it is `cracked` using ultrasound or compressed air, heating it means it decomposes into other compounds , none of which are likely to be healthy.

For real old school health hazard, try sal ammoniac...

Adam
 

WildRice

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Canned smoke would probably be the cleanest. I got a can while at Devry many years ago. I smoled up my car before class, and 5 hrs later, inside of my car was still smoky. After I opened up the windows and the smoke cleard out, there was hardly any haze on the windows.
Jeff
 

cbfull

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

When we used to have these big all-night parties the quickest and easiest way to make a fog that is just like a fog machine, was to put glycerine in a clean pan on a hotplate and blow air across the hot liquid surface. You will be surprised at how well this works. Keep in mind that you must have air movement of some kind or you will quickly become engulfed.

Caution! It is possible for the glycerine to catch on fire. Lifting the pan off the hotplate is one way to better control the temp of the glycerine.

Also, use vegetable glycerine from a health food store.

This method is not perfect but it's pretty darn good!
 

oklalawman

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

In my youth I was a techie for stage productions. We had to have have a quick turn around as far as we could not have smell and so forth. We actually had built a fog machine. It was a 55 gallon drum with a heating element. On top of it was a blower and hose. You turn the heat element on and let the water get hot. Then threw in large amounts of dry ice. After a few minutes turn on the blower and viola. You could use a hot plate a deep pot to do the same. Maybe add a low velocity fan to move it. The dry ice has another great use. Get you one of those water jugs, usually the five gallon size. Fill it with water and add rootbeer dlavoring and sugar. Drop in the dry ice. It not only makes it icy cold it carbonates it. hmmmm I wonder if it woul work with Maragaritas??
 

badhorsey

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Frankincense is excellent. You'll need charcoal discs, and a heatproof surface - hold the disc in a flame until it starts sparking, then blow on it until it's glowing red all over. Put it on the surface and drop a few crystals of frankincense on it - it'll fill a room quickly and show up beams very well, but without fogging or obscuring vision.
 

Sub_Umbra

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

oklalawman has the story right on fog -- I also worked in technical theatre. I would advise Googling for smoke, fog and theater. There is lots of info out there.

To make things easier on yourself, be advised that in the real world and the theatrical world, smoke and fog are very different things with very different properties and uses. For the most part, they are like apples and oranges in the way that they behave.

If you want to shoot beam-shots close to the ground fog may be more appropriate, but I doubt it. Whether fog is man-made or naturally occurring, it is heavy and wants to be near the ground. It is very clean to deal with using variants on the method oklalawman outlined -- no poisons, smells or creepy residues -- but you'll probably have to stir it up a bit with a fan. Fog also dissipates very quickly and no matter what size you make your fog machine, the pause between repeat takes may be problematical.

Because artificial smoke is closer to room temperature it is much easier to disperse into a room in an un-stratified manner. Smoke is used much more at concerts because it gives the lighting folks more to work with.

On a side note, smoke can be made to emulate fog for a bit by cooling it down as it leaves the machine. This will make it hang closer to the floor.

I wouldn't use just any non-commercial agent to make smoke without quite a bit of research. Aside from weird toxic effects these agents will condense out ON and pretty much IN everything that they come in contact with. You probably don't want some oily condensate coating everything inside your laser, stereo amp, computer or TV. In nightclubs and theaters where smoke is used often it is very important to use an agent that will have minimum negative side effects (which can also include making the floors dangerously slick for dancers). Even using professional products designed with these pit-falls in mind these problems can still occur during long runs of very smoke heavy shows.
 

liteglow

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Re: What is the best way to create fog\\smoke?

Sub_Umbra : thanx alot for all that help /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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