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FrozenGate by Avery

My tornado machine build!

T

Things

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I have been mucking around with tornado machines for a few years now, as they are quite fun to watch :D

I am just starting to finish off one of the largest ones I have built, at about 2 metres tall :D

I am going to cover the 2 side walls in acrylic, since the blowers I am using on the pipes don't create enough pressure to stand up to minor air currents. It will also be painted black, and LED lighting added.

But what I have been thinking of doing, is making it entirely computer controllable using a microcontroller. You would have speed control on the rotation, on/off control of the updraft fan, control of the fog, as well as the light colour + brightness. What I was also thinking of doing is adding pressure sensors inside and outside of the machine, and having it display this data on the computer, or a nice little 16x2 LCD on the machine itself >:)

Here it is so far:

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Got more work to do on it tomorrow, I'll post some more pics then, and hopefully some better ones of the vortex itself :)

-Dan ;)
 





Thats awesome, great job. I WILL have to build me one of those, maybe with a color wheel at the bottom. Again, great build there.:beer:
 
Thanks :)

You can build them in any size you want. My previous ones were about 1 metre tall. All you need to do is scale up or down the fans :)

Also, if you make it completely enclosed, you don't need any of the blower fans or the pipes, just 1 fan at the top, and slits in the walls to create rotation :)
 
..... or using a transparent tube for case, instead a square box ? ..... just an idea ..... :D
 
My smaller versions have all used a tube of plastic, but it's only plastic sheet and would be hard to keep in shape on a larger scale.
 
You gotta put a laser tunnel or two in it or at least some beamage - WE NEED TO SEE VIDEO!!!Cool machine!!thanks for showing.
 
I was thinking about making one of these. What did you use for the fog? Just a normal fogger or something else?
 
Hi, Yes I am considering using a green laser with a line generator, as it shows the cross section of the tornado!

I'll get some video's when I get the lighting on it going, as it's a bit hard to see without it.

For the fog, I am using ultrasonic misters. Using a fog machine is too much hassle, with these, just add water! :D And the fog just dissipates as it leaves the fan.
 
Almost finished it :D

All I need now, is to wait for some RGB star LED's from DX, then I can add some cool lighting :D

For the pics, my dad was shining a torch down thru the fan.

For scale (No, that's not me :p):

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Sorry for those people with slow internet or tiny monitors, but you loose detail if I make them any smaller.

I am extremely impressed with how well it works now :D
 
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Man! this is awesome! I won't ask how you did it. It must be difficult to make one but the effect is extremely cool! Great job Things. +1
 
Just a pair of crazy suggestions about using laser modules, from your friendly mad scentist :D

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Edit: hell, that damn image size limits .....
 

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Excuse my language but that is bloody awesome! When I read "tornado machine" I expected a sort of cabin with a lot of hair dryers or leaf blowers which simply simulated being in strong wind when you stood in it and turned it on.
I didn't expect something like this which actually visually replicates a natural phenomena! And it has so much laser-potential too :p
Good job!

Seb
 
Things said:
Hi, Yes I am considering using a green laser with a line generator, as it shows the cross section of the tornado!

I'll get some video's when I get the lighting on it going, as it's a bit hard to see without it.

For the fog, I am using ultrasonic misters. Using a fog machine is too much hassle, with these, just add water! :D And the fog just dissipates as it leaves the fan.
Click to expand...

sounds like a good plan----I thought that looked like a mister w/ leds- IIRC a while back a member was offering one FS(Dave?). I found a 2$ used one at yard sale--half the LEDs were DOA========-I will look and add a link to the ones on FeeBay. The LEDs might deminish the laser's look- you could try a temp tin foil cover just to see the difference. Still think a tunnel coming up from the bottom would look awesome, I have way many 'works in progress' to start a new one, so I will be watching yours. thanks again for sharing---Hak(Len)
 
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