Home made oil cracker

[vort]

Is cracking oil a safe way to create haze?

 

I hate being this ignorant, but it is difficult to find much online, other than a Halloween fog website.

 

I heard someone discussing how they could make a homemade hazer by using compressed air through a small nozzle into a pool of food grade mineral oil. While I'm interested in the theory, I can't imagine, food grade or not, that breathing in microscopic droplets of oil can be good. Although, I understand that this method used to be common from the 60s on up.

 

Thank you.

[jfetter]

I personally don't use oil-based fluids at all, they wreak havoc on gear and most people hate the smell. Other than that (and worrying about rancid oil), I don't think it's any less safe than a fogger though if you plan to use it at any larger event where the fire marshall WILL come and inspect, they might spot the tyical 1- 1.5 gallon gas container used to make these home-grown hazers and ask questions...

 

Jack

[jwlussow]

If you think breathing it is bad, eventually all your gear and the floor/walls of the bar will be coated in a thin layer of oil. Nasty stuff. REAL nasty when your gear has a few shows with the cracker and everything starts to become sticky and smelly. We avoid clubs with crackers completely and since the smoking ban went into effect, most clubs don't even allow hazers/foggers because they trip the smoke detectors.

[jfetter]

A club without smoke?! My LD years in the 80's and early 90's were filled with smokey bars, in fact the haze was already there in every club thanks to the smokers ;-)

[jwlussow]

It does change the lighting setup. No reason to use those effects that need haze.

[Guitarman63]

I use an MBT the Hazer, and that is exactly what it is. There is a small air compressor in the unit that bubbles air into a tank of "haze oil" and a "cooling" fan that blows the mist out of the front. I have noticed the film of oil when programming my scanners and moving head fixtures in tight spaces. But for the majority of my gigs that I use one it's not too bad. The trick is to get enough of it in the air to see the beems of light, but not enough that it looks like a poker game in the back of Joe's tap. None of the bars here in central ILL. have said anything about useing one, and I have never set off a smoke alarm with haze. I like the effect alot better than a fog machine.[ATTACH=CONFIG]344305[/ATTACH]

[Guitarman63]

I recently set up my lights in a friends garage to program scenes in my board. He plays in a band also,and was having rehersal that night. My girlfriend was trying out her new camera and.....[ATTACH=CONFIG]344329[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]344330[/ATTACH]

Got Haze?

[abzurd]

I have "The Hazer" as well. About as cheap as a real hazer gets (it's not a glorified fog machine with a fan). I have to pick and choose where we use it, but I've not had any oil issues. If I had it to do again I would have spent the $300 on something else as only our laser looks cool with it. The LED moonflower effects aren't bright enough to make use of the haze, especially with our wash lights (6 panels totaling 270 1W LED's).

[vort]

Thanks Guitarman63 for your posts and pics. I also found a water based DIY solution. Can confirm it works since I had a humidifier. All it takes is an ultrasonic humidifier, along with Glycerine USP and distilled water from the local drug store. Mix 1 part Glycerine to 19 parts water. Running in my 20 x 25 living room, had haze in less than 10 minutes, took about an hour to dissipate. Was a fun experiment.

[Rimmer]

 

Is cracking oil a safe way to create haze? I hate being this ignorant, but it is difficult to find much online, other than a Halloween fog website. I heard someone discussing how they could make a homemade hazer by using compressed air through a small nozzle into a pool of food grade mineral oil. While I'm interested in the theory, I can't imagine, food grade or not, that breathing in microscopic droplets of oil can be good. Although, I understand that this method used to be common from the 60s on up. Thank you.

 

 

Had you presented me with this question five years ago, I would have said that cracked oil still produces the best and most easily digestible haze. Some of the newer hazers however seem to do a very good job of pretending they are a cracked oil machine. I suspect this is more to do with the fluids they have designed than the machines themselves however..

 

Cracked oil machines run cool. They don't use a load of heating based electricity, but can be noisy. Especially when they are starting to fail.. Give me a DF50 cracked oil machine any day as it's a no brainer, but there are some great machines out there for much less money that will do a decent job of a small/medium venue. (i've watched 2 x DF50's fairly quickly haze out a 10,000 person area and that always impresses me..!