Curious on price, older MDG Atmosphere hazer?

[Picasso]

Dang MDG only claims over 30 years on its about page.

Tanks are no trouble I have a ton of the 20lb tanks(over here common). I exchange them as needed. I do have the small box that holds two of the smaller piggy tanks but I just always take a bigger tank. all of my c02 tanks dont have the syphon spout or dip tube as we call them here. I have used the 20lbs tanks to fill other smaller tanks with no dip tube. I just turn the 20lb tank upside down, and use a scale to watch how much goes in the smaller tank.

[kitatit]

Cool! Sounds like you have enough CO2 to last a life time. Have you got any tips using these types of hazers?

I bought the option with no fan to save a bit of up front cost as it was stretching my budget and I can use my own fan anyway.

The biggest venue I'm generally going to do shows in will be a circus size tent. Most of the electronic dance mucic events are day time festivals over here which finish at around 10pm. They usually have a few tents with the side walls and a few openings for people to come and go. They aren't totally dark but not super bright either. Also they have stillish air flow but aren't totaly free of air currents being semi outside.

Do you have any tips for using a hazer in this type of situation?

[Picasso]

The fan on the front of the MDG is a little useless. Is fine for scattering the haze but the room fill can be slow this way. I have two smaller fans I take with me in the road case, one is for long throw its a "tornado" style fan round fan body. I use that one when the hazer is far from the action. The second fan is a little mini box style and just sends haze all over the place. Both fans are under 15" "400mm" in size.

You can cut your oil with baby oil for a nice smell. I've always just stuck with name brand mdg oil for my use.

MDG does an auto purge, I always liked to let it purge a few extra times before I would turn it off. Pressing the haze button for just a sec would cause it to purge again.

[kitatit]

Damn! just realised the reply I was writing yesterday didn't show up. Must have hit the wrong touch screen button with my saussage fingers

Ah! Thanks for the info, that's very handy to know. Looks like some experimenting with fans is in store.

Yes I'll be sticking with the recomended oil as well. It came with 2L and I bought an extra 5L so that should keep me busy for a while. It's quiet reasonably priced anyway.

Cheers for your help

[White-Light]

Sweet! Thanks for the advice! I'm pretty lowly in my hobby so my budget is a bit more limited.

I've started to look into industrial atomizing nozzles, and am looking to get one that can do food grade mineral oil down to 1 micron or less. I can easily drive this with a compressor, co2, or a scuba tank with a 2nd stage regulator to drop the pressure to 20psi or lower.

Can't you damage your lungs if the particle size is wrong? I seem to remember it was said somewhere that you could.

[LEDpaint]

Can't you damage your lungs if the particle size is wrong? I seem to remember it was said somewhere that you could.

I heard something along those lines, too. One thing I do know for sure is breathing in too much mineral oil is the same as drinking it. In other words, get ready for everyone in the room to suddenly need to run to the bathroom.

[telmnstr]

Okay, how bad are the $400 ADJ hazers? The ones that are oil based, not the fog machine + fan units.


I'm also trying to find a nozzle supplier that can do 1 micron or smaller for a DIY unit.

[LEDpaint]

I personally would not buy any Chauvet or ADJ gear. I've always been leary of their stuff and I hear nothing but horror stories from vendors I deal with who all say the failure rate is 20% plus on those brands. This week I picked up a Martin Magnum 2500 hazer from Farralane for $495, but it's water-based.

[mixedgas]

Ok, I can clear up the particle size thing somewhat. I used to know Marc Gringas of MDG personally. He used to discuss this with us.

A certain size range of particles makes it deep into the lungs. Its a very narrow range. Some materials in the range are not expelled by the body during breathing.

The sizing issue comes down to a range of particle sizes, that no matter what they are made of, are hazardous. Its a narrow size range that can penetrate into the lung. MDG machines were extensivly tested by a third party to certify they NOT produce this range. If you use the constant molecular weight MDG fluid, and the Co2, your reasonably safe. If you use a random fluid, who knows.

The whole issue came up when some of us made home made cracking hazers. Marc warned us about prolonged use without testing, and cracking fluids in air, not CO2. Also about combustion products, which a Co2 hazer does not produce.

There is a huge misconception about the exposure issue, which matters to performers whom are on stage every night, vs casual exposure.
The actors union took a interest in this in the US and UK. They have guidelines for prolonged exposure.

The same size range is a issue with Beryllium Oxide. Too small and its less of a issue, but still very hazardous. Too large and it never makes it into the lungs. But if its in the "just right" size region, its a huge hazard. But yet even solid BeO objects come with a huge warning and restricted access. In reality you would have to grind on a BeO heatsink pad with a power grinder for a long time to produce enough hazardous materials to cause a issue.

For nine years, I worked in a university lab that produced long fiberous materials in the right diameter range, so I had a interest in this, However our fibers were mostly bio-compatable polymers, and very long. They almost never broke into short pieces. None the less, we had measured air flows on many of the experiments.

Steve