Smoke Machine

[LastChanceHotel]

Oh, you read that right.

http://lh4.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV4_o6SxI/AAAAAAAAA58/gNOYavXEecg/s400/IMG_5454.jpg

I picked this baby up from outside the QM today (seems whoever was playing there last night with their truckload of equipment had a smoke machine that packed up), and she's a BEAST of a smoke machine.

http://lh3.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV5vo6SyI/AAAAAAAAA6E/9w_9Q-GZKzA/s400/IMG_5455.jpg



She's fucking insane. Here, take a look.

http://lh5.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV7Po6S0I/AAAAAAAAA6U/JN72XYtX4dU/s400/IMG_5457.jpg

http://lh3.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV7vo6S1I/AAAAAAAAA6c/AzVXMBqyquU/s400/IMG_5458.jpg

that's right, motherfucking clouds of awesomeness.

http://lh4.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV3_o6SwI/AAAAAAAAA50/zPVeNbS9Oi4/s400/IMG_5453.jpg
I filled my bathroom with it. Here's Colin, my flatmate, standing in my bathroom. Can you see him?
http://lh3.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV2vo6StI/AAAAAAAAA5c/rrU9Rvs0Ghk/s400/IMG_5441.jpg


fixing it was almost as awesome a process, especially sourcing parts! It turns out that the twin pumps inside were blocked - this meant that they overheated and melted from the techies mashing the 'dispense smoke' button until it popped the fuse.
http://lh5.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV1Po6SqI/AAAAAAAAA5E/Je4KpnfngqY/s400/IMG_5432.jpg

Fortunately, I had a sudden burst of inspiration. My old coffee machine would have a similar pump inside it!
And what do you know... it did!

After some smashy-smashy (I'll refrain from showing you the pics, I had in my greasy paws another 'water' pump! Look, the cylinder's the same size!
http://lh4.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV1_o6SrI/AAAAAAAAA5M/d7axR2Dhb4E/s400/IMG_5434.jpg
What fantastic luck - it's even from the same manufacturer! Same barrel and fitting sizes too! :D
I had so much fun making this thing work, especially bypassing the control board with two big mains rocker switches purchased from Maplin about 4 minutes before it closed.

currently she's running at about a quarter capacity, from a combination of low-pressure pump and only using one of them (it had two in beforehand).

I am definitely bringing this to the LAN - we could have a smoke party in one of the committee rooms, or fill the lift!

Here's a picture of my bathroom as it stands at the moment.

http://lh4.google.com/LastChanceHotel/RwLV2_o6SuI/AAAAAAAAA5k/rYcJLjtoTWE/s400/IMG_5442.jpg

Showering should be fun... See you!

[Sideshow]

Nice! Don't bring it to lan!

[Bluepixie]

LOL, nice work Jan! :D Maybe fill the entrance to the QM? :p

It would sort out sneaky glances at other peoples screens........

[saladin]

So it's either fake smoke (and cool) or pumping out a dense smog of carbon monoxide and Jan's currently dead in his bed.

[YegaDoyai]

+strobe +SCOOTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hex]

Nice! Don't bring it to lan!

Seconded, very neat, but not at a LAN.

[gor]

GUYS.... GUYS.... GUYS!!!!

The classic version of this is to get some kind of smoke bomb or smoke machine, as well as an anachronistic costume. Wait for someone to walk past an alley, then set off the smoke and stagger out, looking dumbfounded. If they don't run away, grab their shoulder and ask what year it is. If they respond, shout "The experiment was a success after all!" and run away.

[Muppet]

Disco lift? Just need a glitterball now..

[YegaDoyai]

Well remembered Mark. I'll be one of the "men in suits" that comes along afterwards looking for someone matching the perpatrators discription.

[Thanatos]

So, smoke the lift, send someone in 'futuristic' clothes in it to the lobby, with Yega/MIB in hot pursuit and confuse the hell out of the QM security / staff and any drunk students staggerig round.

Brilliant!

[saladin]

Either it goes swimmingly and everyone finds it hilarious, or the porter panics, thinks the building's on fire and calls the fire brigade.

Who burst into the Food Factory and douse all our computers just in case they're fire hazards.

[Hex]

I seriously doubt that the QMU will let you bring a smoke machine into the food factory, less so the lift :-P

[saladin]

I was thinking about this on the way to Uni...wouldn't it be awesome if you could somehow hook it up to your USB port, and control it that way?

Just imagine during a game of BF2. In a tank. You hit the "smoke screen" button, and smoke pours out of your pute, hiding you. That'd be sweet.

[Meatshield]

aye, so noone can see u physically and u being next to ur pewter means u then cant even see ur own screen. :P

[GingerPrinz]

So we're deffo not going to be seeing this at the LAN right?

[DJ_Evil]

Yeah we have a smoke machine at Gumpcom quite a lot of the time luckily for us we have a huge hall to fill. Which means the smoke alarms are fairly far away but I think a lot of smoke sensors trip with smoke machine smoke so in somewhere like a Uni you are fucked for using it unfortunately unless they disable the sensors in that room etc :)

[LastChanceHotel]

At the QM I believe they have thermal differential sensors on most of the alarms (you can visually inspect them by looking at them to check if need be) - they run smoke in there all the time, plus the staff will know exactly what triggers the alarm as they will no doubt have done it hundreds of times.

I might bring it if I have room, but I'll use care and judgement if I decide to use it.

edit: I've got a mirrorball.

[YegaDoyai]

but I'll use care and judgement if I decide to use it.



BWAHAHAHAHA

[GingerPrinz]

I'm being very serious when I say I'm not concerned about QM fire alarms and staff's feelings about a smoke machine, this is a LAN gaming society, not a disco or an extravagant broadway show, we have no need for

- smoke machines
- mirrorballs
- PAs
- 3 projectors for console gaming
- ball crawl and creche facilities etc etc

After being initially very encouraged about the direction we were progressing in, I'm now rather concerned and wondering if I'm gonna bother turning up this weekend at all.

[LastChanceHotel]

After being initially very encouraged about the direction we were progressing in, I'm now rather concerned and wondering if I'm gonna bother turning up this weekend at all.

I think you'll find that almost none of the stuff mentioned here will actually happen.

In fact, I've just realised today that the pump has stopped working for some reason, so currently the smoke machine is in the "not smoking" stage. Sigh.

We'll see come LAN time. depending on how much free time i have (which will probably be minimal), I might stop off at my flat and take it in... but it's awfully heavy if we're not going to use it...

[Hex]

but it's awfully heavy if we're not going to use it...

And we're not, so don't bring it.

[saladin]

Seriously, don't bother. I, for one, would protest it's use, seeing as we're entirely dependant on the continued good-will of the QM to use their facilities. They mightn't take too kindly to us fucking around with smoke machines and so forth.

[Sid]

I might bring it if I have room, but I'll use care and judgement if I decide to use it.
As I discussed with you on MSN, you won't be using it at all ;)