How to build thread

[platinum]

...Finally, what about the smoke liquid itself. ...

I've heard time and time again that Froggy's Fog Juice is the way to go. I've never used it personally, although I have two thirds of a gallon of it in my garage for some reason and own no fog machines.

[Stuka]

I'm sure you'll get more replies on this, but I think you'll find that a water-based "hazer" will be much less messy in the long run, and should make for GREAT beam shows, especially in somewhat enclosed areas! Also, if you need some sort of haze / smoke for just a quick demo, there are actually canned products available through theatrical supply companies.

Caution when using any of this stuff indoors (even the canned stuff).
Hazers / fog machines, etc WILL definitely set off smoke & fire alarms! (Just ask my wife - boy, was SHE thrilled ! Funny how the beam show was much less interesting after a fire truck showed up ) To get around this, temporarily pull the batteries out of battery powered alarms, or if they're permanently wired to the house mains, wrap them with a wet towel, dishcloth, etc. That SHOULD be sufficient to get you through your show with "limited interruptions" !

Oh, don't forget to post pictures when you start getting things set up - folks here LOVE to see pictures of other folks' projectors in action!!

[buffo]

Can you get safety goggles to filter multiple colours ie RGY?

Yes. Bridge (LaserWave) sells multi-line goggles. He even has some for whitelight projectors.

Whats the best type of smoke to get?

Given that you are on a tight budget, I would recommend you purchase an inexpensive fog machine to start with. They can be found for $40 or less, and they'll still do the job nicely.

Sure, a hazer or fazer would be nicer, but they're much more expensive. A fog machine and a small fan can work wonders.

As for the video you linked to - that's a much larger fog machine. If you can get a good deal on it, so much the better, but retail is probably going to be several hundred dollars on that one. You may be better off with something cheaper.

Finally, what about the smoke liquid itself. I've heard that the oil based is bad for you and leaves residues so its better to go for water based.

The fluid you use will be based on the type of fog machine you buy. Nearly all fog machines use water based glycerol or glycol fluids. The more expensive hazers (the ones that use a compressor) are usually run with oil-based fluid.

As a general rule, you can run just about any brand of fluid through your fogger, but you shouldn't try to run oil-based fluid through a water-based fogger, or try to run water-based fluid through an oil-based hazer.

I've heard time and time again that Froggy's Fog Juice is the way to go.

I use Froggy's Swamp Juice, and it's the best fog solution I've ever tried. It gives a thick fog that hangs in the air for a long time. Some people believe that thick fog is bad, but remember that you can always use a fan to disperse the fog. Better to be too thick than not enough.

I also know it comes in different forms - heavy, med and light with different durations of dispersal - any suggestions?

I prefer to use a heavy fog and then disperse it with a fan. You use less fog juice that way. You can buy the light fog solution, but you're paying extra for WATER, and you'll run through your fog solution faster.

Bear in mind being a BBQ I don't want to put people off the food or leave them choking. A hazy effect rather than a pea souper would be ideal provide the beam definition is good - I hate the faded beam look!

I wouldn't have the food in the same area as you have the laser. Or, if you need the food to be under a cover, have it at the far (open) end of the car port. Some people find the smell of theatrical fog to be mildly unpleasant. (BTW, don't buy the scented fog juice! It smells bad and may clog your heating element.)

Also remember that a fan will move the fog around rather nicely. A quick blast of fog (using some Froggy's Swamp Juice) from a small fogger shot into a fan will give you a nice spread of fog for your show.

As an example, I have an Antari 1200Z fog machine (1200 watt heater). I used that *one* fog machine to fog up the *entire* auditorium for the second day of SELEM. (On the first day GottaLuvLasers had his fogger running too, and his was larger than mine, so mine didn't have to work nearly as hard that first day.) Nevertheless, I could produce enough fog in 1 minute to make the beams completely visible throughout the house. But I had two fans running to move the fog around... Oh, and for the entire event I used about a quart and a half of fog juice. (That was for a total of 20 hours of fog.)

Adam

[Onge]

I am surprised that more people have not voted on this subject considering the number of members to the forum.

Onge

[thesk8nmidget]

for small areas being your living room or garage you can use a household iron and buy some liquid glycerin from a pharmacy and mix it 5 parts water 1 part glycerin and just fill up the iron and turn it on full blast. most irons also have a steam button and it will blow out a nice sized could of smoke.

i do it all the time and the liquid last forever!

[James Lehman]

for small areas being your living room or garage you can use a household iron and buy some liquid glycerin from a pharmacy and mix it 5 parts water 1 part glycerin and just fill up the iron and turn it on full blast. most irons also have a steam button and it will blow out a nice sized could of smoke.

i do it all the time and the liquid last forever!

WOW! What a great idea! That is so simple. It's perfect.

Thanks!

James.

[White-Light]

I've revistited this today. My actual car port is 8.4m (27.5 feet) x 3.2m (10.5 feet). Looks like I picked up my total perimeter distance instead of my long side figure when quoting last time. Still quite a large port though.

I've also been seeing some recommendations towards this: http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=2054

Anyone know if they're any good?

Its cheap for a Hazer but expensive for me but I'm kind of coming around to thinking that being a BBQ, large blasts of fog might put people off the food whereas a thick smoke will probably go unnoticed as BBQ smoke.

[Jem]

You could do a lot worse than nip down to Maplin's and buy a £29.95 fogger. I used to use one of these and it gave great service for the price.

Jem

[buffo]

I am surprised that more people have not voted on this subject considering the number of members to the forum.

The reason more people aren't voting is because of the false dichotomy posted by the poll. There should have been more choices, because in the real world it's not a choice of one or the other.

Really, the poll itself is pointless. Sure, it would be *nice* to have a step-by-step guide. Everyone agrees on that. But who's going to do all the work putting it together? As posted earlier, it's not something you can knock together in an afternoon.

My actual car port is 8.4m (27.5 feet) x 3.2m (10.5 feet).

Still plenty of room. You might need to increase the angle that you mount the projector, but you'll still be fine.

I've also been seeing some recommendations towards this: http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=2054

I can't comment on that particular brand, but I will say that it's more money than you originally planned to spend. You'd be much better off buying a small fogger to start with. Later on, if you're serious about sticking with the laser hobby, you might want to add a hazer to your collection of toys. But I've been playing with lasers for the better part of 10 years, and I still don't own a hazer. You can get by without one, and that will leave you with more money to spend on lasers, galvos, and software.

large blasts of fog might put people off the food whereas a thick smoke will probably go unnoticed as BBQ smoke.

Large blasts of fog look at lot like BBQ smoke. That's why you use a fan in front of your fog machine to spread it around. It won't look nearly as thick if you use a fan.

You could do a lot worse than nip down to Maplin's and buy a £29.95 fogger. I used to use one of these and it gave great service for the price.

Exactly my point, Jem! 30 pounds sounds like a reasonable price for a cheap fogger. And they work really well for small areas. (Especially if you load them with Froggy's Swamp Juice! That stuff is great!)

Adam

[White-Light]

Ok Thanks.

Really, the poll itself is pointless. Sure, it would be *nice* to have a step-by-step guide. Everyone agrees on that. But who's going to do all the work putting it together? As posted earlier, it's not something you can knock together in an afternoon

It was never my intention to create a vote for something that would fall entirely on you to create Adam. I had thought that maybe others would be willing contribute sections as well / some old posts could be pulled in to at least in part to assemble the thing.

As for the voting options, I didn't really see an in betweeen position between not having a guide and having a guide. I though the 2 options given were slightly humorous whilst fair and unbiased overall.



On the laser front would I be better off mounting it quite high (5ft) as originally suggested then projecting the beams a log way down the roof so you see them flatter or lower, maybe 3 feet, and projecting them steeper so you see them on more of an upwards gradient? I appreciate to a certain extend the scan angle down will dictate the necessary angle up unless theres a way to disable the X plane dichro using the dip switches. I'm just wondering which angle will give the nicest view.

Jem is this the machine you meant - its a Vivid: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...46497&doy=25m8

Would be £39.99 (£40) with non timed remote though or £45 if timed. Saw it after your post but though that it was starting to look a little expensive for such a cheap amchine once the remote was added in.