DIY low-lying fogger ??!

[dmxeater]

Well, Is this possible !?

[timpman19]

yup, obviously not as good as the real thing

 

just uses ice really to cool the fog seehere

[sam.henderson]

I have made/ used the above system in desperate circumstances and it worked relatively well. The problem is (as with real dry ice to some extent) is that if there a lot of people moving around in it then it will rise very rapidly and look crap!!

 

If its a problem with using Dry Ice then you could have a look into CO2 systems, I have used these before as well and they also work well but the big canisters are a bit of a pain.

 

Sam

[Guest AdamJames]

Ha ha I love that idea.

 

It doesn't look bad either.

[johnem]

Have you tried looking for a JEM HF 1500, this unit allows you to place a standard smoke machine on top and fire the smoke through the refrigeration plant cooling the smoke. It gives a great low lying smoke effect. NO CO2 or the dreaded Dry ICE.

 

Try Stage electrics or A.C lighting they should have one.

 

John

[Bryson]

I seem to recall Peter making one with frozen peas as the cooling device....or am I dreaming again?

 

Peter?

[Darkfold]

PEAS!?!?!? If thats true, then thats a bodge I would be well and truly proud of :(:):D

[timpman19]

could could use peas (or any other frozen product for that fact) to act as the ice to chill the smoke

[peter]

Yes, it is true, I bodged a Frozen Pea Fogger - basically take a small household dustbin, feed through two holes a large section of rubber tubing (hose pipe, for example) and attach one end to smoke machine. Fill the dustbin with assorted frozen vegetables (in small bags) - alternatively, use ice, but frozen peas worked better - they are able to hug the pipe tighter, producing a greater cooling effect, and you can eat them at the end of the night. Now pipe smoke through the hosepipe and 'low smoke' is ejected from the other end.

 

A couple of considerations - if you've got some rubber sealant, its worth putting a layer of this at the bottom of the dustbin in order to ensure water-tightness - the last thing you want is dripping water all over the stage. Also, if there is a way to remove the hosepipe from the front of the smoke machine (a scaff tube, for example) then this is a good idea, as the heat from the nozzle of the smoke machine can melt hosepipes quite easily.

 

I did once upon a time take some photos of such a contraption, but they are lost in the ether of time. If anyone wants, I can attempt to mock up some diagrams to illustrate. Comedy waste paper bin is optional.

 

http://www.forbiddenplanetstore.com/acatalog/C5063.jpghttp://www.toolspot.co.uk/products/Gardening/15M%20Braided%20Hosepipe_f.jpghttp://tomsdomain.com/recipes/images/ingredients/frozengreenpeas.jpg

 

 

Another effect I've seen work relatively well (and VERY cheaply) is a length of scaffold tube with a smoke machine at one end and er... low smoke at the other. Its best if you can store the scaffold tube somewhere cold until the effect is needed - easier in the winter, of course. You could pack around the edge of the scaffold tube with ice, perhaps using drain pipe or something to enclose the ice. This effect won't work for a prolonged period as the tube will eventually heat up, but its a darn sight cheaper than a Glaciator :(

[timpman19]

another note, make sure you use a light fog fluid, heavy duty stuff that lasts for ages will warm up after a while and start to rise and the effect will not work.

[Modge]

We did the simple version i.e. smoke machine off stage and piped on into the centre, the pipe was long enougn the smoke was quite cold and really hugged the stage floor quite well. Don't gaffa stuff onto the end of smoke machines unless you have a lot of time to spare scraping the melted remains of said gaffa off the end of the machine though. As I found out. A point to note is the smoke does take a finite amount of time to travel down the pipe so you really do have to start the smoke a moment (trail and error to work out how long a moment) before you want it. I would assume the same applies to the frozen peas bodge (which I wish I'd thought of!).

[Grahame]

The best low smoke I've ever seen was some years ago in 'The Big Picnic', a WWI drama in The Shed in Glasgow. The set was about a 75m run of landscaped trenches and no-man's land in turf and sand, with the 'German lines' being at the very end of the shed. To preserve the illusion and conceal the end wall, we had two smoke guns mounted under the set feeding into a system of scaff tubes with a line of holes drilled along the length of the final sections, which were buried just under the surface of the sand. The open ends of the scaff tubes were about an inch from the front of the smoke guns and not sealed to them in any way.

The smoke was well cooled as it was running through about 6m of scaff, and the sand kept it nicely cool. The smoke just trickled out of the holes and hugged the ground beautifully for quite some time before dispersing. Worked a treat, and no ice involved! ;)

[martin stewart]

In our ice show, we are using 1 Antari low fogger and also-this is the best bit, a Jem ZR12 which then goes into the back of the old LSX chilling unit, this effect looks wicked! The only thing is we could really do with finding another LSX for the other side of the ice pad