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Thread: Smoke Machine Temperature Setting

  1. #1
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    Default Smoke Machine Temperature Setting

    Does anyone know what temperature smoke machines are set to? I just built one, and I could not find such information anywhere on the net.

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Default

    Hey Fenech...

    From memory, between 210 and 250 deg centigrade, but I'll have to check my notes from when I built one at school (was a few years ago!)
    Also, there is a slight variation in optimum temperatures depending on which fluid you are using... I was using Le Maitre or Jem fluid if I remember correctly...

    I think, if you google the data sheet for the smoke fluid you are intending to use, the relevant information should be there...

    Hope that helps :-)
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  3. #3
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    Default

    I took a measurement on one of my cheap fog machines a while ago, I believe it was around 260C.

    Be careful though, if you burn the juice, it becomes toxic.

  4. #4
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    It depends on the fluid used. 260c is too hot!

    As mentioned, over-cook the fluid and your in trouble, with the output turning carcinogenic.

    Ideally you want just enough heat to do the job.
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  5. #5
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    I set it to around 150 C just fotr the initial tests. It does smoke, but I get a lot of 'spitting' and wasted fluid. I only managed to obtain 100mL of smoke fluid, so I'll try and look at the datasheets once I get a gallon or so of the stuff.. Thanks for the replies.

  6. #6
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    Spitting indicates either i) Insufficient heater block temperature; or ii) a clogged heat block in need of cleaning.

    If you need details on how to clean a smoke machine, PM me.
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  7. #7
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    Heat block is definetely clean as I recently took it apart. I think it may just be the third variable iii) Bad design. I built my own heat exchanger from two blocks of aluminium, milling a channel in one of them through which the fluid and eventually smoke passes. There is mass (1kg or so), but I sometimes doubt that the path is short and there is not enough surface area. What I noticed is that when I increase the temperature, this problem decreases a bit. I'll try and take it up to 200C and see how it goes..

  8. #8
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    I think you will find best results somewhere around 200c to 240c.
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  9. #9
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    It needs to be hot enough to flash vapourize the fluid, if it's spitting then it's too cold, fluid shouldn't make it to the nozzle. If it's blocked, it makes a kind of different spitting noise, but usually still no fluid comes out.

    The heating block mass is critical in smaller fog machines. The heating elements aren't powerful enough to keep up with the fluid, so they rely purely on the mass of the heating block to keep them going. I have tried PID controlling a cheap 900W fogger in the past and it couldn't get close to keeping up.

  10. #10
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    Problem has been fixed, I turned up the temp to around 220 deg C and spitting has been reduced to almost none.

    I built mine and installed two heaters for a total of 400W, nothing big, but that is what I had available. What I have found to help was that I turn on the heaters while the pump is on (i.e. while outputting smoke). The time it takes it to turn off has increased by half (I think), so it helps in getting that extra puff of smoke when you need it. I was thinking of converting it to DMX, and program a pic so that there would be more hysterisis (of around 20 degrees) so that more smoke can be put out per given heat cycle.

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