The Crossroads of the Aether
Help with Steaming back piece.
I have an idea to make a wooden backpack like apperatus that will have have a smokestack like structure coming out of the top. I'm fairly new to making devices..and was curious if anyone could give any ideas on how to make "steam" come out of the pipes.
Someone suggested in chat that I develope some sort of dry ice mechanism inside the pack.
Seems like a decent idea, though I've never worked with dry ice. Also, I'm not quite certain how I can "regulate" the steam from the ice. I'd like to have some sort of switch that can start/stop the steam since I'll be at a Con and I don't want it smoking constantly.
I'm not sure if my idea is obtainable at my skill level, but any ideas would certainly be appreciated!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Claudius Van der Graffe on -
I remembered seeing something about this subject in an earlier forum discussion.
try this link .
you should find some useful info there . I plan on trying a couple of these ideas myself soon.
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Permalink Reply by Brandon "Ronin" Ross on -
That's an excellent resource to get started.
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Permalink Reply by James Wagner on -
Dry ice is a bit tough to control. I imagine if you could keep it cold enough so that it is not off gassing inside the pack and the add a bit of water as you want to show of the "steam" function that might work. The issue would then be how much water to add so as not to dissolve all of the dry ice too quickly.
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Permalink Reply by Brandon "Ronin" Ross on
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That's what I was thinking. Another idea would be liquid nitrogen....or some sort of portable fog machine. (Probably go with the latter being that liquid nitrogen can build pressure and explode)
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Permalink Reply by Gary Cortez on -
Two things come to mind. years ago there were tablets that were used in model railroading that made the engines "steam". The other is an atomizer. It produces an ultra fine mist that looks like smoke,steam just from water. Try this for starters http://www.oceanmistmaker.com/
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Permalink Reply by Brandon "Ronin" Ross on
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Very interesting...I will certainly look into this solution!
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Permalink Reply by Gary Cortez on
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even if the solution uses 110 ac, a car inverter and a couple of small 6v batteries can solve that and the wiring would make it look better.
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Permalink Reply by Patrick Sprague on -
I was going to suggest an atomizer as well. They sell cheap ones as water fountain decorations. I like to use the ones out of the cheap humidifiers from walgreens. They run off DC and are much more powerfull. They are easy to take out and use batteries. I built one for a friend that uses emergency-light batteries. You can pick those up at home depot for $5 for a 6V 5amp\hr. They last an incredible long time and are fully rechargeable. They are also small and light weight about the size of a chalkboard/whiteboard eraser.
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Permalink Reply by Artimas Ward on -
try the wizard stick, fairly small fog machine,
check it out
http://www.powscience.com/store/zerotoys/wizardstick.html
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Permalink Reply by William Bell on -
Let us know how it goes! I want to do something very similar, but with a little device on a hat, so the smaller the solution the better (stovepipe hat with steam release...).
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Permalink Reply by Artimas Ward on
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you know about this, a wizard stick?
http://www.powscience.com/store/zerotoys/wizardstick.html
myself I'm thinking of a low tech idea for my backpack, got a bucket from logans steakhouse, (little desserts) and a** a bit of insense to make the smoke..
mindful of the smoke detectors tho!
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