Smoke generator?

[Eddy Matthews]

The last thing I need to sort for my model of the "Suter" is a smoke generator - Again, I've looked at some of the units available, and to be honest I could drop a cigarette into the funnel and get a better smoke output than a lot of the units available!

I really like the RAM unit, but it says it will only work with it's own smoke fluid, and the thought of constantly having to send to the USA for fluid puts me off!

Does anyone know of a GOOD unit available in the UK, something that will generate a lot of smoke and not just a few whisps - If you've ever looked at old photos of steamers working hard you'll know that they kicked out VAST amounts of smoke! That's the sort of output I'm after!

Regards
Eddy

[Red_Hamish]

Hi Eddy, sorry I personally do not know of one which will do as you ask.  :cry:  The main reason for the post is to say . You always are the one looking for largesse.  More Speed. More Steam. More Smoke. More of everything.......

Cheers :wink:

Jim

[Eddy Matthews]

Hi Eddy, sorry I personally do not know of one which will do as you ask.  :cry:  The main reason for the post is to say . You always are the one looking for largesse.  More Speed. More Steam. More Smoke. More of everything.......

Cheers :wink:

Jim

Hehehehe thanks Jim - "largesse" must be a Scottish word, coz it's not in my English dictionary!  :lol:

Actually I think I may have found something suitable, but I need to check into it a bit more - If it does what I want I'll post details on here....

Regards
Eddy

[Khephre]

G'day Eddy,

If it's large volumes of smoke output that you want then I've got just the thing for you - unfortunately it's a US-based company but I rather suspect that the smoke fluid these things use is likely to be a standard recipe - probably something like kerosine and baby oil would work as well.

Try www.mackproductsrc.com

On their accessories page there are some commercially made smoke generators that have a two speed fan-forced design that connects to the speed controller.

I've picked up one of these for Reliant - haven't installed it yet but have bench-tested it - filled the workshop with smoke within 10 minutes - and chewed through about 10ml of distillate in doing it - so you will appreciate the output if you think through that ratio! They're a substantial unit and need 12V to work effectively - but heck, more power is more power!!!

I've been tempted to be totally eco-unfriendly and add a few drops of waste oil to get that thick black look to the smoke - as per the picture of my avatar, Britannia -  but commonsense has prevailed so far! (Most unusual for me!)

Alternatively you might want to try another approach completely - a few years ago one of your UK modellers (Geoff Dixon?)  featured in Model Boats or Marine Modelling International with a homemade smoke generator for his HMS Lord Nelson, the predreadnought. He used a theatrical fog fluid that was heated by nichrome wire from a discarded hair drier. He wound the wire around a hurricane lamp wick which drew the fluid up from a reservoir. On heating, a small fan forced the resulting 'smoke' out of the two funnels. And the heat can be controlled by varying the length of nichrome wire.

Best of British on the hunt...

cheers
Tony
Auckland, NZ

[Khephre]

Eddy,

I've pulled a photo of my Mack products smoke generator from the old Paddleducks site and added it to my gallery here so that you can see for yourself what the unit is capable of.

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=453&cat=500&page=1

by the way, largesse is definately Sassenach! My Scots gran had nooo knowledge of the term whatsaever, Lord bless her!

Now ... parsimony and frugality ... there's twa fair bonny wurds!

Tony

[Peter Webster]

Eddy have you or anyone else tried the Action Electronics "Super Smoke Generator" this is appently a 12v system and sounds very simmilar to the 12v Graupner units. I am interested in any answers as I need one for my PS Captain Sturt.
Peter Webster  

[Eddy Matthews]

The only Action smoke generator I've seen working is their standard unit Peter - It wasn't very impressive!

I haven't seen the "Super" smoke generator, so I can't comment on that - Anyone else seen it working?

[ijig]

I have developed one that I use. It probably could stand some mod's to produce all you would want. It uses a cigarette lighter out of a car.

[Eddy Matthews]

I have developed one that I use. It probably could stand some mod's to produce all you would want. It uses a cigarette lighter out of a car.

That sounds interesting.... Could you give us some more info please?

[Mark Wilkes]

wont the smoker made from a car cig lighter draw a lot of current??

[Eddy Matthews]

wont the smoker made from a car cig lighter draw a lot of current??

Yes probably Mark, but the commercial units I've looked at draw between 3 and 8 amps, so they aren't exactly light on current draw either....

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi Pd's - & here is a question for Tony [Khephre] - the BIG MACK web page does not mention current draw - from your original snap @ again as posted here the unit certainly produced a good volume of smoke in your workshop

1) have you managed to check the current draw?

2) go on - be brave & mix 50/50 kero & sump oil - would be just like Britannia - regards Derek

[Khephre]

G'Day Derek, according to the spec sheets that they sent me with the unit the MACK generator draws only 600mA - which wld make it very efficient.

I haven't hooked a multimeter up to it yet so can only go by the spec sheet.

Frankly, a working drain of only 600mA seems conservative to me. The unit has a two speed fan underneath to force the smoke out - coupled to the speed controller - but the drain from those little computer fans is nothing much

The big drain on power wld come from the heater - after all the unit chews through 10ml of distillate in about as many minutes and that surely would need a decent heating element to do so!

But on the positive side, the smoke generator does exactly that - it powers out large quantities in a short time.

Derek, I can't believe that you'd be so un-PC as to suggest used sump oil!!! You sure we're not related?!

Cheers
Tony

[ken rawlins]

Hi Guy's,
              Just to let everyone know, I manufacture a Smoke generator with blower,and a range of sound generators. Engine sounds,horns,whistles,plus all the other sounds, gun sounds from machine gun through to large battle ship guns,and also the modern missile and phalanx gun systems, sirens,bells,asdic etc: web-site. www.Paddlewheels.co.uk should be up and running soon so take a look or contact me. Ken@paddlewheels.co.uk for more info.
        many thanks to eddy for letting me post this information.
                             Ken.

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks for the details Ken, much appreciated....

Your smoke generator looks like just the thing I've been looking for! No doubt I'll be in touch soon to see about ordering one for my sternwheeler.

I was also interested in your sound units, but I'd prefer to hear what they sound like first - I clicked on the option to listen to them, but it generates a 404 file not found error :-( Maybe you could take a look at that and let us know when it's fixed?