Smoke ring cannon

chiefnse · Post by **chiefnse** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:15 am

I saw two large smoke ring cannons on the playa this year. I would like to make one a little smaller for a project I have going. Can anyone help me find information on the constructing and operation of one or know the people that created the 2 I saw?

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:49 am

...I built one in 2004, based from these plans;

http://home.comcast.net/~t129wojce647/vger/index.html

...other interesting data here;

http://cas.umkc.edu/physics/sps/project ... ortex.html

...and of course Mr. Jellyfish (who lurks here now and then) built one (the Apokizooka) for 2005 at Camp Apokiliptika at the 3:00 plaza;

http://www.geocities.com/rx_norman/camp ... tions.html

the basic requirement is to have a piston push air out, then pull back. The speed and stroke of the push out and the pull back should be the same. The size of the ring is determined by the size of the aperture. Ranges of 100 feet plus are possible, but the air must be ABSOLUTELY still for the effect to work. In 2004, this happened for maybe 15 minutes total...for a neat effect, fill the chamber with smoke first, then smoke rings are shot. For really cool effect, use UV DJ smoke, and a UV spotlight at night (makes glowing plasma-like rings)

chiefnse · Post by **chiefnse** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:07 am

The ones I'm interested in construction belched out a massive fireball that dissipated into a large black smoke ring.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:49 am

...turns out at least one of those came from Boise also...it was featured at a Halloween party downtown (believe it or not they got a permit for it!) it stopped traffic and resulted in many calls everytime it was shot off. During practice in the daytime one ring scored a direct hit on an office building as it drifted up! Great fun.

The principal is easy - a pipe holds combustible liquid (the exact recipe was a secret, but gasoline was the majority). A pilot light several feet up is then lit. A tank/pipe under pressure is suddenly released into the pipe holding the liquid. Liquid sprays up thru pilot lite, instant fireball.

Obviously alot to go wrong here, don't try it if you don't know what you are doing (the guy that built this is an ex-fire chief! that may have helped a bit in the permit process...)

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:19 pm

Something like this perhaps?

http://www.spudtech.com/movies/asf/thun ... 1-fire.mpg

(he fires it with a simple bike pump to pressurize it and kerosene as the fire fuel)

Foxfur · Post by **Foxfur** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:49 pm

*puts thinking cap on, rubs paws together*
Hmm, 49 weeks...

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:02 pm

the flame effect we made for the Gerlach stage, makes nice smoke rings, up to about 15' across before they dissipate, depending on wind conditions. Makes a fire ring, after the fire ball, at night.

simple propane, whistle valve (or other catasrophic opening device), and an expansion vessel at the end. We played with several diameters and lengths, until we found what worked best.

Foxfur · Post by **Foxfur** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:59 pm

You just gave me an idea. I.m gonna make some more endpieces for the poofer standpipe. The 1/2x3/4 bell reducer used on the 1/2" pipe produces fire rings occaisionally. Gonna hafta start making some of differing diameters and start at a 12" length. Start cutting them down in 1/2" increments to find the sweet spot for each diameter. Photo log the results...
Foxco Engineering just got a new contract...

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:01 pm

yup, that's what we did......

Smoke ring cannon

Smoke ring cannon

Re: Smoke ring cannon

Re: Smoke ring cannon

Re: Smoke ring cannon

Re: Smoke ring cannon