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Low Fog with NO money!!


toby.buckle

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Hey,

This is my first post :-) Just looking for ideas really. In November I am doing a production of 'Footloose' and I would really like some low fog but have NO money on the budget (which is quite annoying) Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to keep the money and to still create a really nice effect?

 

Many Thanks

Toby Buckle

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Commercial "smoke cooling units" are available which use a similar idea, however, in order to make the cooling more efficient they actually pass the fog through the gaps in the ice.

 

I hired one for a school production, and it took about 2kg of ice in the front. The chiller cabinet used a baffle to make the smoke pass through the ice, similar to the baffle in your car exhaust.

 

So get yourself a cool box from a car boot sale for about £3.

Cut a hole in one end for the fog machine nozzle. (If you haven't got one, you can buy cheap ones, new for about £30, or maybe scrounge one from a local nightclub or DJ for an advert in your programme).

Use mesh (old metal speaker mesh, or even a chopped up shopping basket!), and rigid plastic to make it so the fog has to travel through several inches of ice, through an air void, then back through several more inches of ice to come put of the outlet. The easiest way to do this is to suspend the ice about 3 inches above the bottom of the box on mesh, and have a baffle which divides the box from the top of the mesh, right up to the lid.

That way, the fog passes through the 'inlet' ice layer, under the baffle then back up through the ice on the 'outlet' side before being expelled.

 

If you are good at scrounging and bodging, you should be able to get a beer with your change from a tenner!

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Be careful! on zero budget you will risk a poor effect. Use a smoke machine through ice -you must deal with the resultant water. The Antari Low Fogger was exactly this and it had a water drain system, see if a disco hirer can oblige.

 

The Pea Souper machine is prob the best if you have dry ice available.

 

Hiring will often be an economy option and they will usually have a source of whatever ingredients you will need.

 

 

I often wonder whether a chest freezer can be hacked to make a powered smoke chiller (anyone remember the old JEM chiller that a smoker sat on top of letting cool smoke out at the bottom?)

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As much as I love dry ice, it opens up a whole new barrel of hell, I agree with the sentiment of just going to your friendly hire company and trying to see what deal you can get. Not necessarily the cheapest option, but the easiest and probably the most cost effective (big difference from being the cheapest)
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