My first homemade smoke machine nearly set off the fire alarm at a friend's Halloween party

I built a simple smoke machine using a soldering iron and a glycerin mix, and tested it in my garage first. At the party, I cranked the heat too high and the thing started smoking real bad, like burning plastic bad. I had to unplug it and wave a towel at the detector for a few minutes while everyone stared. Turns out my wick was too dry and the coil got way hotter than I planned. Anyone else had a close call with their first build and figured out a better wick material?

2 comments

2 Comments

joelthomas21d ago

Nah, I gotta push back on that. A smoke machine that's burning plastic isn't just "a little smoke" - that's toxic fumes filling up a room full of people. I've seen a bad build melt a mini LED strip onto a carpet and leave a nasty chemical smell that hung around for days. Cotton rope won't help if your coil is bare and arcing, you need some kind of stainless mesh or ceramic wick that can handle the heat without offgassing. And waving a towel at the detector doesn't mean the thing is safe, it just means you got lucky nobody started coughing.

jake_walker21d ago

My 2nd build had a similar issue with a hot glue gun wick. I swapped to a piece of cotton rope from a hardware store and it worked way better. Honestly though, are people really freaking out over a little smoke? I mean, it's a smoke machine, not a bomb. A couple towels and a cracked window usually fix things. If the alarm didn't actually go off, what's the big deal? Maybe just keep a fan nearby next time and call it a learning experience.