Though we’re pretty sure this was meant for Halloween, we think it would be a perfect addition to your election night party. [marc92] shows us how he built a fog spreader with red or blue lighting. Fog machines generally spit out the fog from a single point, relying on the breeze to spread it around. [marc92] wanted it spread a little more evenly, as well as some nice mood lighting. He built a pipe system that would emit fog from a much larger area. Mounted on the pipe are red and blue LEDs. Mix this with some of the election lighting systems and you’re set for a party. We know this is an extremely simple project, so it should give you plenty of time to get out and vote before the polls close.
It should be noted that tubing of any kind tends to significantly increase the amount of condensed fog fluid on the floor, and that stuff is gross.
standard fog fluid or “fog juice” is usually just water and food-grade glycol. gross, but safe.
Generally, when you pump fog through a tube or hose, you want to have some area in front of the nozzle where the water-glycol mix can properly aerosolize. This will let more of the fluid stay in the air. I’ve seen some projects that use a sealed bucket or plastic storage bin, with an outlet for the pipe.
It is also usually a good idea to have an “air accelerator” to push the air along the tube. however, if you draw the fog through a fan you will get fluid gumming up on the fan. it may be best to mount a fan blowing into a large bin, with the fogger inside, and a hose or pipe coming out.
Many professional foggers also use water glycol, but lots of plumbed fog systems will be cryogenic fog systems using co2 or liquid synthetic air. Mineral oil foggers seem to be less popular, but they can still be found.
Smoke machines are generally considered unhealthy, and are not used anymore. (smoke is solid particulate where fog is liquid.)
many people in the entertainement industry use this kind of tricks to spread the fog more evenly, I commnoly use a very long soft plastic tube (imagine a 20m long trash bag), with some cuts in it (to let the fog out) and inflated by a large ventilator. if you put your smoke machine nearby the ventilator (or inside the tube) you get pretty neat results and a very consistent fog without clouds. then put the lighting of your choice nearby for effects :)
for best effect get rid of the lam glycol fogger.
go buy 5 pounds of dry ice and simply have a high power computer fan blow it out into the pipes. 5 pounds with a light water spray on it will last an evening, you dont get the ooky glycol all over.
If y ou planned ahead you can easily get 5 lb of dry ice at any ice cream shop for cheap. I pay $1.00 a pound. a cheapie cooler for the container and you’re good to go.
NOTE: if your party crowd is pretty moronic dont put a chunk in the punch bowl. It looks cool but some idiot will get drunk and reach in for it. It’s amazing how many stupid people come to partys.
What would make this even cooler is: A fog Chiller, DMX Control for the fogger, DMX control for the LEDs… Wait Henne’s sites has the control boards and the firmware for them.
Heres a link:
http://www.hoelscher-hi.de/hendrik/english/switch.htm