Medusa the smoke machine rig
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2038
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 5:34pm
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Topic: Medusa the smoke machine rig
Posted By: EddyZ
Subject: Medusa the smoke machine rig
Date Posted: 9/20/06 at 11:57pm
Hi folks! Just thought I'd share my latest creation:
Medusa, a four-headed smoke machine rig, crafted inexpensively from
scrap lumber and off-the-shelf stuff at Lowe's.   I'm sure I'm not the first to build such a beast, but I'm still giddy over it. :) There's more photos/video/details here: http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/%7Eezahurak/medusa/ - http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/medusa/ ------------- EddyZ http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ - http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ http://www.nailsouptheatre.com - www.nailsouptheatre.com/ |
Replies:
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/21/06 at 2:20am
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That?s a rippah! One thing about any smoke/mist/haze effect, they can be catorgrised as having a mind of it?s own! Register the design as you never know you might find the Medusa being commercially produced, with a ?Made in China? stamped on, as a smoke machine attachment! This delivery is superior to the ones the ones I have had a hand in & it has got the added feature of adjustable location control. It is a far cry from the smoke delivery Machines that we played with in the 60?s. Which had the added attraction of being a flame thrower &/or ballistic missile at times. As paraffin fluid was used for the heat cracked oil effect. I have gaff?d up a lot, using the plastic expandable elephant hose, with an inline fan, to assist the effect flow on long lengths. But normally this for dry ice, which docent have the sustained pressure capabilities of the haze/Smoke MacHines. But think about registering, as I have had a couple of things. I developed turn up later as a commercial benefit to others, because I never bothered or was too slack to register the design.  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/21/06 at 11:10am
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very clever! I did a similer thing with my big dry ice fogger, I call him R2-D2. Made hin from a 55 gal drum and some water heating coils and dryer hose. the smaller fogger is a great idea. Gaffa is right go for a patent. You never know this may be your million doller idea! good luck. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/21/06 at 9:08pm
I think most of us have created weird & at times not so wonderful dry ice foggers. But I like your naming of the MacHines as Madusa & R2D2. Which is much nicer than the names I have called some of the DIY ones, that I have made up from modified metal rubbish bins, drums & even the old tea urn.  The Madusa I doubt could carry a Paten. But as a Registered Design, which is cheap to do, can afford some protection on the design idea at least! ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 10/06/06 at 11:47am
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I had a variation of this once, but was not quite as elaborate.. Getting ready for Scrooge the musical and have a need for SEVERAL fog locations.. Think we will borrow this... and thanks for sharing...
------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: kiwiholly
Date Posted: 10/07/06 at 12:53am
| That's extremely impressive! :D |
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 10/07/06 at 8:04am
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Man, on man. And I thought I was clever when I figured out how to RUN a fog machine. Great job folks. If we ever got together on a show it would change the world. .................or destroy it? LOL ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 10/13/06 at 1:03am
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This device of yours has caused me a dilemma. (First off, fantastic job it looks great) Now my director has seen it and wants something like it for us. Not only do I have to create Victorian London in a 42x20 space, but now the chimneys have to blow smoke. Stop giving him ideas. I'm just having fun. Your device and sharing how to make it work should help us present a really impressive display for our patrons. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 10/13/06 at 1:08am
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I forgot to ask, did you have any problems with melting the hoses from the heat put out by the nozzle and if so how did you solve this? Thanks ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: EddyZ
Date Posted: 10/15/06 at 10:42pm
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Nope, no problem with the hoses melting, but the intake is a fairly
heavy-duty rubber hose. And the hose doesn't actually touch the
nozzle, it's about a quarter-inch away from it. It's possible,
though, that the nozzle on our machine doesn't get all that hot.
I will keep checking, though, and thanks for the word of warning. All else fails, you might be able to bend/shape some copper pipe or tubing for the intake, if the hoses keep melting. And please, if you think of it, send me a picture of your Medusa in action! ------------- EddyZ http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ - http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ http://www.nailsouptheatre.com - www.nailsouptheatre.com/ |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 10/16/06 at 2:22am
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Not attempting to be pedantic Eddyz - well no more than is usual mate! Do you experience any build up of fluid or residual from the delivery nozzle, which is normal with smoke MacHines splutter or spitting, within the hose or delivery pipe &/or could this be a problem at all? With the interest you have created. Me thinks it may be in your interests to register the design, as previously suggested!  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: EddyZ
Date Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:58am
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I'm currently researching a design patent (what you call a registered design) vs. a regular patent for it. Yeah, there's some residual fluid -- I don't know that I'd call it "build-up" but, yeah, some drippage accumulates. The occasional teardown of the hoses/splitter is probably helpful if you've a long run and you're using a lot of smoke. Running your hoses so that gravity can help you "collect" leftover fluid in one or two places would probably be helpful, too. I've not had to do it yet with our current production, but then, we've only this week gotten the whole thing together techwise. (We open Friday night, so we're cutting it a little close.) ------------- EddyZ http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ - http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ http://www.nailsouptheatre.com - www.nailsouptheatre.com/ |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 10/21/06 at 1:53am
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At least Eddyz it solves the problem of fluid deposits on the stage in front of the nozzle. Thinking of residual fluid, I remember this became a problem years ago, with a dry ice machine. It happened during an Opera Galah [oops Gala] Concert, in a regional venue in the bush. The Producer/Director & of course the leading diva of the pathetic company, was the all knowing type, who reminded me of the chairwoman of the Farndale Avenue HETGADS. She insisted on a flow of dry ice to run down a raked 10M x 10M rostra, that covered about 2/3 of the stage area, from US to the DS to the edge of the Apron. The Rake was built up to 2M at the back, giving an oblique angle stage to perform on. Which they built themselves & took about 6 hours to bump in, along with 3 large arches, set DS of the cyc on top of the raked rostra, that looked like a roman viaduct. Believe it or not this was only for 3 performances, although they hired the venue for 10 days! This opera company always seemed to have a heap of money from grants to chuck about & waste. Anyhow her majesty wanted the dry ice for her grand entrance as a preface to the finale, when she would appear at the top of the raked rostra, between the US central arch, to worble her song to lead into the entrance of the whole cast walk on for the finale chorus. We didn?t have a large enough dry ice machine available at the venue. So she got her people to make up a home made one from a 44 gallon drum. As it had electrical elements I tested & tagged it as complying with the code, prior to being used. It had a circular ice basket which was lowered by a lever on the outsider of the drum, into the boiling water & expelled it the expanded fag through an elephant hose at the top. The hose was fed into to a manifold along the tip of the rostra, that dispersed it evenly to flow down the rake. They used their own crew & tested it three times during the tech & dress rehearsals, which took up most of the day on the Saturday of the opening night. I pointed out to them that they had to keep the hose straight & level at an incline to reach the manifold at the rostra. Come the performance which surprising went well. The grand diva in her flowing robes mounted the top of the rosta, while a duo was performing down stage on the apron, in front of a black scrim. Come the cue for the fog & the transposition of the lighting to bring her in view. The scrim went out but no fog, I tried to get to the bods operating the machine, between a gaggle of performers, Just in time to call out don?t try & add more ice. Too late they attempted to remove the catches on the drums lid, when they had difficulty holding down the loosened lid, She was coming to the end of her song when they couldn?t hold it any longer. The lid flew off & there was a great woosh of fog & hot water with ice as well, Which shot up in the air completely enveloping her, as she was standing just above it. To which she screamed a note that could break glass & her robe ballooned up above her head. I bet she was glad she listened to her mothers advice to always wear clean bloomers or she had them on. I dived for to disconnect the power cable & called for the black smother to be dropped in, then got the cast to enter & sing the finale, while we got rid of the old bedraggled trout off the stage. At least the band picked up on it & played on. At the post mortems we discovered that the prop holding up the hose on the incline, had been fell down during the show & the hose had hung down in a bend, which had filled with water, therefore not allowing the dry ice to pass through the hose & over pressurising the drum. Which became worse with the expanding gas siphoning more water in the hose, as in a miscus action. Unfortunately all the novice crew had to do was increase the fall of the hose, which would have drained the water & allowed the fog to pass through. But they didn?t & thought they need more ice! I never got to speak to the diva again after the performance, as she evaporated from performing again in the other shows, as her complexion fashion coordinated with her bright pink bloomers. Even though the dry ice worked well for the rest of the performances. The only comments she made was to the local news rag, when she tried to blame the venue staff for the accident. She latter put in a retraction & said it was caused by her own crew, after a number of heated phone calls! Sorry to prattle on about it. But I got to admit I almost cacked my self  &
only wished I thought about getting it on the in house video system.
I?d have made a packet on one of those funniest home video TV shows.------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: EddyZ
Date Posted: 10/28/06 at 9:19am
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Just a followup, after a several shows of massive fog usage, I've
discovered that Medusa will gradually fill up with fog juice like a
trumpet fills up with spit, limiting fog output until you drain
it. No biggie, really, just make sure to put it somewhere where
you can get to it. I may thing about adding a "spit valve" to the
design, or turning the head around so the extra screw-off cap is on the
bottom of the rig, not the top. Other than that, still working beautifully, no melting hoses or anything. ------------- EddyZ http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ - http://webpages.atlanticbb.net/~ezahurak/ http://www.nailsouptheatre.com - www.nailsouptheatre.com/ |