Monday, September 9, 2013

Homebrewed Fogger?

Just like gram'mama used ta make! This is a neat little tutorial showing the mechanics of a very primitive fog machine. It gets at something that I've been contemplating for quite a while: Could I make my own home-made fogger?




I think that any haunter who has used a store bought fog machine knows the pain these things can be. I have yet to own a fog machine that worked consistently two years in a row, and this isn't by accident, it's a business-minded industrial design tactic called "planned obsolescence" wherein products are designed to fail prematurely in order to encourage consumption.

Consumer fog machines are pretty darn simple, having three basic parts: a reservoir for the fog juice (filtered water and glycerin) a heating element with a thermal regulator to keep the machine from overheating, and a pump to push the fog juice through the system.

If the fellow above could do a makeshift fogger with a Bunsen, a pie tin, and a soda pop bottle, I imagine I could make something pretty effective myself.  Heck I could even figure out a condenser so that I wouldn't have to cool the fog to keep it flowin' low, and custom design the output for wider, low-laying, dispersal of the fog.

So I dunno, what do you think? Do you know of anyone who's tried to make their own fog machine?

2 comments:

  1. I swear that my mind has been overtaken by coffee. When I first read the title, I thought it said "Homebrewed Folgers!" I know, sad caffeine addict...

    I don't know of anyone who has tried to make a fog machine, but I'll ask my fiancé. My Piano Man has been around musical theater, and I figured that many years ago before Broadway, there were events that started in someone's garage ;-)

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    1. Oh cool, yeah let me know. I bet the theater has a ton of useful FX techniques, from the tradition of the grand guignol alone! Ha ha!

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