Build A Foam Machine

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7d11X8uT4]

Spice up your next house party with this diy foam machine. [Stephen Martin] posted his PDF plans for version 1 and version 2 of the device. It seems the deciding factor on the machine is the type of fabric screen used to create the suds from a bubble bath liquid. This is the reason he’s got two versions. They share a lot of the same components (especially the expensive ones) but the first version is easy to swap out different fabrics and the second is a more permanent installation. In the end, we’re looking at a sump pump feeding foam to a fabric net that is attached to a blower. This will be a nice addition to that fog machine you built last fall.

32 thoughts on “Build A Foam Machine

  1. …and someone would want one of these… why?

    This guy must have some really slippery house parties.. hope his homeowner’s insurance is paid up for when his guests slip on the soapy floors and crack their heads open.

  2. I wonder if the right (safe, non-toxic) foaming agent could be used, if this wouldn’t be a really cool solution for farmers who have to fight off the occasional frost in places like Florida. Remember all those strawberries they had to protect as best they could be spraying with water so the water would freeze, protecting the berries?

  3. This is far from pointless. I love the idea. It will go great with the dance club I built in my basement for my kids. We have sleep over parties for our kids all the time with light shows, fog machine, and loud bumping music. They love it and would certainly love bubbles more than fog.

    The only concern I have is with cleanup. We have a wood dance floor which in inlaid into carpet. I’m concerned that the wood might be too slippery and the carpet too hard to clean afterward. From what I heard, leaving soap on the carpet would attract dirt faster. So it seems you would need to suck it all up with a steam cleaner.

  4. It’s a very good hack since very expensive commercial machines exist for this !

    I’ve been to those foam parties, the cleaning isn’t so easy, you have to spray lots of water to make it disappear. Anyway it’s fun.

  5. Yes I will agree a bit pointless but still cool, like most things I build.

    Its not really that hard to make I dunno how people get away with charging $1000’s of dollars for these.

    Also don’t use dawn it destroys your skin and eyes. Professional fluid is expensive but the best, if u are cheap (which if you are building one you probably are) bubble bath is an OK alternative but not as good.

    Also as for floor I put down foam camping mats. Or just do it on the grass.

  6. @Hirudinea If you built one of these into your getaway car, you wouldn’t need a blower, you could use the airflow over the car to generate your foam.
    Now that’s one way of getting those folks with high-beams off your bumper

  7. They sell fully assembled carpet drying blower foam machines with the blower the netting and the pump for less than it cost him to build this.

    Also, the foam mixture is more important than the hardware used. We have the best luck using no-tears bubble bath and adding a considerable amount of glycerin. The higher the ratio of glycerin the longer the bubbles will last on their own, and the foam will be less ‘wet’ and more ‘sticky’. If you overdo the glycerin it will stop bubbling as much and become gooey so there is a definite balance to work out.

    Finally, it’s important that the water you mix it with is HOT as you can get it. This allows for more complete mixture and better blending between water, soap, and glycerin. It works best if it is mixed before being pumped, so we typically have a resevoir made from a horse watering trough which we continuously fill with a hot water tap and the soap mix.

    1. I help run weekend activities for kids and would LOVE to set one of these up. What ratios of water/soap/glycerine do you use? Also, do you know which brands are more environmentally safe as we’d most likely be doing this on the grass?

  8. @ M4CGYV3R link?

    Carpet blowers are a bit cheaper than axial fan but same principles apply. You also have to remember that’s AUD not USD, makes things bit more expensive. And for everyone outside the US, posting foam machines isn’t really an option.

    I wouldn’t be too surprised if it cost you slightly more than to buy one but where is the fun in that.

    Good tip on the glycerin, I have been told but haven’t tried it.

  9. “Go about 1 minute in. There are plenty of good reasons to have a foam party.”

    oh, so one of the reasons to have a foam party is, so moderately unattractive people can get together and take a community bubble bath in their bathing suits?

  10. I am on a local volunteer fire department, and I would like to know if any kind of “Foam” could be used in this apparatus? We use foam all the time to lay down grass fire suppression lines, but to buy a new foam machine cost upwards of 12 grand. this would be perfect as long as the nozzles can agitate “foam” solutions rather than bubble bath. Any ideas? And does anybody have an email for the guy who made this? There is no contact on his website.

  11. “oh, so one of the reasons to have a foam party is, so moderately unattractive people can get together and take a community bubble bath in their bathing suits?”

    No, so you can trick your dirty hippy neighbors into bathing.

  12. It all sounds good…until you actually have a party and the diy foam machine can’t keep up with all the body movement and oils that kill it. With this sort of machine, you may get some suds around the ankles, but that’s about it. Also, using dishwashing soap is asking for some major eye irritation and sometimes rashes.

    If you really want to throw a foam party, whether that is at home or at a club, get a professional one. Most people don’t think they can since most professional machines can run at 2-3k. But, the ones on our site are the cheapest, highest quality available….check them out! http://www.thefoammachine.com.

  13. I built the machines from the party in the video Mycroftxxx posted. We used a similar design to these instructions and I can tell you we had no problem keeping 4-5ft of foam going for our party people.

  14. hey looks like a sick machine, was wondering what the details on the sump pump is does it have to be that powerful? how many L/ph does it do? also when you filled up the room with foam if you just leave it on will it fill a comfined space say roof is 3.5m high floor area is like 4mx4m, or does the foam start compacting and can handle the weight of the new foam on top? do you know is 300mm fan the biggest size you can get?

    thanks tom

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