ANOTHER tornado machine :D

[Things]

I've made so many of these in the past, all different shapes and sizes, but I felt like making another one - this time larger, but also fully exposed on all sides (although it's very hard to see without a dark backdrop).

This one stands a bit over 2 metres tall, about 1 metre "diameter". It's still a WIP thus the bodgy setup, but eventually it'll all be one nice self contained unit with full microcontroller control over everything - like my previous machine

Using a fog machine for the smoke at the moment, which isn't great as it rises by itself and eventually fogs up the whole room - but I seem to have lost my ultrasonic foggers

 

[DashApple]

Very nice ,

Are there fans that push air down into the white PVC tubes , do they help create the spinning vortex ?

 

[Things]

Yep

Originally the plan was to have the main fan pressurize the box enough to feed the pipes, it worked OK but you couldn't turn it up very far before the fan started leaking air out the front. They're not great with backpressure. I have 6 DC blower fans up there instead

A few more pics (with better lighting):

 

[millirad]

Always mesmerized me to see a spinning vortex. Good job!

 

[Things]

Yeah, I can just sit there and stare at it for hours. Can't wait till I can get it all completed and painted

 

[DashApple]

Yep

Originally the plan was to have the main fan pressurize the box enough to feed the pipes, it worked OK but you couldn't turn it up very far before the fan started leaking air out the front. They're not great with backpressure. I have 6 DC blower fans up there instead

Nice , I may have ago and make one , after seeing this one id try and make a small one .

Would you recon 20mm PVC conduit pipe would be ok as the side/air jets with a 5 ring ultrasonic fogger ? . Fan wise I have a 140mm 6 blade PC fan and lots of small 12V 40mm fans

 

[Things]

Should be fine, the pipes in mine are only 50mm. You can also just use 1 pipe if you enclose most of it in a cylinder

Any of those fans should work. It's really not that picky about the actual airflow, just the design.

A 5 ring ultrasonic fogger is probably way overkill, I've used just a single one for smaller machines in the past, and double for the larger ones

 

[Things]

Done a fair bit of painful painting work on this over the last week, but it's come out pretty good

Only real concern I have is that the fog plate is also made from MDF .. and the fog being purely water vapour, it'll literally be dripping wet. I've given it a few coats of sealer, then primer, then paint, then a final couple of clearcoats, so the surface should be OK, but I'm not 100% about the actual fog holes. Will see what happens over time I guess.

Also got the fog system partially working, still needs another fogger yet and also the automatic refill hooked up, but decided to just whack it in for a first test. Still a bit of painting to do yet, and I haven't even touched the electronics, but I'm quite happy with how it has turned out so far. It forms a perfect vortex even at the lowest speed I can get all the fans to run

 

[crazyspaz]

Well. It looks like I have a new project to add to my list...how much did it cost you total? Cant be much, right?

 

[Things]

It is a fair bit just in raw materials cost and paint alone, also the blower fans add up when I need 6 of them! I'd estimate about $120 in paint (because I screwed up a few times), maybe $80 in wood, $50 in pipe, $150 for the blower fans, and rest of the electronics I already had, but if you had to buy it all from scratch you'd probably be looking at around $100 for that.

Remember though that this machine is a bit over 2 metres tall, and uses probably the most involved construction method. You can get a tornado going using a bit of flexible plastic, a computer fan and dry ice in water if you want.

 

[crazyspaz]

Yea, I would go more for a smaller, "desktop" size. Screw lava lamps man, have some lit up tornado machines on your desk instead!

 

[DashApple]

Very nice

I tried one but didn't get the best outcome as it was just thrown together ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tKpdsjzujs&list=UUvjDVNxRU2DInDMQQw_iYJA

 

[Things]

Not bad for the first one

If you can somehow make the base flat it'll help a lot. Like put a bit of plastic over the container with holes in it for the fog to come through.

I've been trying to sort out the lighting on mine, went and bought a couple 35W halogen downlights and put those in, seem to work better than the LED floodlights I had in it before. Will switch them out for LED one day.

The MDF plate hasn't swollen up yet either, which is awesome

 

[Things]

Installed a water reservoir and pump, as well as a fill port

Just waiting on some float switches so the fogger tank can automatically keep itself topped up.

Also did a bit more painting .. at his point it's basically just the electronics and a proper backing that need completing

 

[Things]

Controller is coming along nicely

Hopefully I'll get my extra foggers tomorrow and I can do a video on it

 

[scythe]

That's really cool. I might have to give one a go one day. How long did it take you to construct?