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Fog Machine Tips

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hey all,
since many of you own a fog machine for doing laser experiments, and just for playing with, i thought i'd just share what i know about them, and what is good and bad for them. As most of you know, you can pick fog machines up fairly cheap nowdays(at the time, mine cost about $150AU!), but seriously, who wants to buy another one, when you already have bought one? Well lots of you have heard of the ways to clean fog machines, and all the scented fluids, and all the other things about fog machines. BUT now i am here to tell you DO NOT CLEAN YOUR FOG MACHINE, OR ADD ANY THING TO THE JUICE!!. I have been working with fog machines for quite a while, and have had to replace a pump in one aswell. There is no need to put ANYTHING into your fog machine to clean it! if you believe the front nozzle is clogged, that is ok, stick a straightened out paperclip in there and unclog it, but there is no need to put anything other than fog juice through your machine! Many of you may have heard that putting distilled water and vinegar through the fogger will clean it, and it might, but soon enough, it will screw up your pump and/or heating element. Do not add scents or colours either! Fresh fog should smell kind of sweet, so adding scents can only make it worse, and as i said above, screw up your pump or heating element! DON'T even think of adding colours! for a start, it will do absolutely nothing! Even if you did get the fog a different colour, the amount of "colouring" would most likely stain anything around it, not good! So do not clean your fog machine unless it is TOTALLY necessay, and do not add anything to the fog juice! this would most likely void the warranty, and would have no good outcome!
Thanks
 





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SenKat

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VERY useful tip ! Oh yeah, and if you are infirm like me, get your muscley {erm - is that a word ? LOL !!!} daughter to pick up the machine, and place it where it is needed :) hehehehehehe
 
S

SenKat

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MY daughter is "Muscley" hehehehe.....she has been my surrogate son, since he left for the Air force, so she is a pretty tough cookie :) hehehehehe
 

mw1111

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hmm nice one there SenKat lol. as for coloured fog, i have seen it before, but i think the fogger broke shortly after that.... :/
 
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The MANUAL to mine says run distilled water through it to clean it after EVERY RUN.
The reason? - Fog juice is made from glycerin and water. Glycerin is a pretty tame product (but i should say don't go mixing it with nitric acid) ;)

if anything it's the glycerine that would build up on the insides of a fog machine.

in theory, (assuming you don't live near the beach), distilled water should be quite fine for cleaning fog machines as it doesn't have the impurities such as metals and minerals that present a source of rust to the insides of the machine.

but i only have experience with 1 fog machine (mine) so what i'm going off of is reading others instructions. (and manuals)

One other thing: Lasers are the best for coloring fog ;)
 

Things

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and even a simple halogen bulb or par can will colour the fog better than adiing colour! well yes fog machines can get clogged, as we all know, but running cleaning solution through it every time you use it is deffinately unnesecary! the only time you should really clean your fog machine is if it is really sputtery, or just not working at all AFTER unclogging the front nozzle!
 
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right - so i can save time and just 'put it away' after using it? (and tipping out the unused fog juice of course)
 

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yup basically! if any, the fog machine would only need cleaning if it is blocked anyway, and if it is sputtering, that is usually a problem in the pump.
 
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RobTheVIP said:
Haha, I couldn't imagine colored fog :eek:


The only way to produce colored fog is with light shining through the fog as it comes out. Adding dyes or coloring to your fog machine will ruin it. ;)
 

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Death Angel said:
The only way to produce colored fog is with light shining through the fog as it comes out. Adding dyes or coloring to your fog machine will ruin it. ;)
yup sure is! but ummm it will ruin your machine, but there will be no effect from it whatsoever. may i also mention that adding "various" things to your fog juice, COULD result in toxic fog! not good!
 
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i'd love to know how they make the 'toxic' dark green colored fog that features in Dr Who and other TV shows every so often... i'm sure they were doing that long before digital after effects were added to television...

it's just that i can't picture a gas that is coloured ... i can't think of any - can sulfur (yellow) exist in a gas form?

yes, of course it's poisonous, i know that!
 

Things

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well it's either lighting, or just computer effects. for fog that was really visually coloured, it would take ALOT and i mean ALOT of dye, and the machine would have died very soon after!
 
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maybe i was thinking about the gasses used in the 1960's series of batman and robin... which may have been dyed powders (the same way talcompowder would 'poof' ...
 




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