[NSRCA-discussion] Smoke

[Earl Haury]

One would think that making smoke would be easy (usually plenty on our list - hard to contain though). Unfortunately, most of the wands / sticks use a titanium or zinc compound that, while making great gobs of smoke, are corrosive. Then there are the heating element types that use oil or glycol for the smoke fluid - both can leave an undesirable residue, the glycol is toxic, and they tend to be pricey. The "fog" machines are water vapor based - not what I want to blow through an electric airplane. At the lab I had a bubble generator that produced a dense stream of micro bubbles that we used to study (engine) induction system airflow - great tool, but very expensive. While Jim's idea is creative, I really don't want an airplane that smells like cigar.

Actually, what has resulted from this list query is more info regarding the smoke "pens". While non-toxic, I'm not real sure how much smoke they produce. Scott's Regin link suggests that the indoor RC wicks produce a fair amount of non-toxic smoke and it appears that the wick is the same used in their smoke pen. An added feature is being able to extinguish the thing after short use. Looks like something worth a try.

Thanks all

Earl
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: brian young 
  To: NSRCA Mailing List 
  Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 2:04 PM
  Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Smoke


  Have you tried a google search for smoke sticks yet? or wind tunnel and smoke?   comes up w/ some interesting stuff.

  also...mcmaster carr has a smoke generating pen, gun, and some smoke candles.

  fog generator etc....    amazing what that company hast.




  Earl Haury <ehaury at houston.rr.com> wrote:
    Has anyone experience with smoke generators that might be used to observe cooling airflows around motors / engines? I've experience with smoke wands / sticks, but the ones I'm familiar with produce corrosive / toxic smoke (and often way too much). I've also looked at the smoke generators used by the scale ! RC steamboat folks, but they don't seem to generate enough smoke. (I can get about the same with a soldering gun and flux / oil.) I'd really like a controllable wand that generated a fairly small stream of dense smoke. Any ideas?

    Earl
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