My tornado machine build!

[Things]

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

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

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:

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

 

[Drivinfast247]

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:

 

[Things]

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

 

[HIMNL9]

..... or using a transparent tube for case, instead a square box ? ..... just an idea .....

 

[Things]

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.

 

[yobresal]

Nice pictures! I would love to see a video

 

[hakzaw1]

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.

 

[wolfhunter9154]

I was thinking about making one of these. What did you use for the fog? Just a normal fogger or something else?

 

[Things]

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! And the fog just dissipates as it leaves the fan.

 

[wolfhunter9154]

Ok that was one of my ideas for fog so I will use that.

 

[Things]

Almost finished it

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

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

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

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

 

[Elektrotechniker]

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

 

[Things]

Took a quick vid of it tonight:

YouTube - A much larger tornado machine!

 

[HIMNL9]

Just a pair of crazy suggestions about using laser modules, from your friendly mad scentist

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

 

[Jaseth]

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
Good job!

Seb

 

[hakzaw1]

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! And the fog just dissipates as it leaves the fan.

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)