Ive been wanting one of these machines for some time. Great for finding any sort of small leaks. You wouldn't think they would be a arm and a leg.....but they are usually over $1k.....

I found a few ideas on line how to build a simple working one......

The way it works: using a glow plug and a power supply from a old PC, it will heat up mineral oil ( actually using baby oil, easy to find, makes my hands soft and smells good!)to around 350-450 degrees. As it heats it will turn into white smoke. Using a air compressor set to approx 5 PSI it will force the smoke out of the hose nozzle. I will be using a cheap PC power supply to power the glow plug, it needs about 12 volts @ 10 amps.

I'm using a PVC glue can, washed it out with acetone to get it nice and clean. Mounting the glow plug in the bottom. Mounting 2 fittings in the side for compressed air and a outlet hose. All fittings sealed with plumbers solder.


Works great...takes about 3 minutes to start filling up my entire exhaust or my turbo piping/ intake......smoke is easy to spot and will pinpoint things FAST!

Parts:
60G AC Delco glow plug $8 ( only get the true AC Delco )
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Air regulator $20
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PC power supply, free from any old computer
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PVC glue can, cleaned out with acetone $8
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Cheap Tool Box to house everything $8
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Baby oil $3
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Misc fitting and hose $15

Prepping the PC power supply: power supply will supply 12 volts @ 10 amps to the glow plug when turned on. I cut all the wires out of the power supply with the exception of these wires.

1)Yellow 12v will go to the glow plug
2)Green goes to one side of a toggle switch to turn the PS on/off
3)Any black to the other side of the toggle switch for turning on the PS
4)Any Black will be secured to the side of the can to ground the glow plug
5)Color may vary on this wire, mine was brown.On the big plug, there is a orange wire on the very corner that has another wire in the same slot of that plug, follow that wire back and solder it to that same orange wire.

When you get done should provide 12 volts on the yellow and black, should look similar to the picture below, although I have not added my switch for the PS at this point.
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Toggle switch mounted to the lid of the tool box, this is just a contact closure between any of the black wires on the power supply and the green wire.
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Power supply mounted inside the tool box
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Glow plug has to come up thru the bottom of the container, so i used a 3" PVC coupler to space it off
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My fittings are all 1/4 MIP, so using some plumbers solder, soldered in some 3/8 to 1/4 adaptors for my compressed air inlet and outlet.also soldered in the glow plug to the bottom
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Glow plug wired up, yellow to the plug and the black I used a spade connector soldered onto the side of the container.
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Reg installed,connections made
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Finished product
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Click on the videos below
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Testing on the car!Capped off my air filter and only found 2 small leaks on the intake side. Smoke went all thru the inter cooler and turbo.

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I have been trying to track down a damn exhaust leak forever......ive tried everything....its the main reason i built this damn thing. So tonight was the exhaust test.......found a shit load of leaks on alot of the clamps. took them all apart and cleaned them and got those fixed......ran the test again and all were no good with exception of one....i beleive its the one that has eluded all this time that i could never track down.....and now i got you! bastard!!

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its coming form the passenger header right in the center of the collector! so now i gotta pull the damn header and weld it up.....no way I would have found this any other way!

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Fuck you Mr Crack!


All welded up and fixed now....best $60-$70 I ever spent!

 

That is bad ass, I thought you just had to have a nicotine addict in the house or something to help you out. For the price difference it is a hell of a lot easier to justify a tool like that you may not use every day.

 

Cool deal, what temp does the oil start to smoke at, think you could use a 110v coffee / soup warmer?

 

Using my laser temp gun, the glow plug hits 450, the baby oil around it is 350-250.....I'm guessing around 300 it starts to smoke.

 

I can't get the links to work, but that whole setup is straight up pure badass awesomeness

I've wanted a smoke machine for awhile.

 

so i noticed that baby oil is already half gone prior to starting this project...... .hahaha awesome man been thinking the same thing and wondering if anyone made diy one before- hate telling customers i cant trace down a small evap leak without this machine

 

I just want to add that if you look at the pro kits, some are powered off a vehicle battery. Which would make it alot easier for anyone not wanting to mess around with a computer power supply.

Chances are, if your "smoking" an engine, there is a battery near by.

I'm gonna give this a shot when I get a small break in my schedule.

 

How much oil do you put in it at one time.

 

Awesome!! I like the idea of running it off the car battery too.

 

Bad ass!!

Time to start another SMOKE project.

 

Thats pretty slick! What about using a cheapo $30 fog machine? Not as fun as building a toy from scratch, but may be slightly more practicle for people without alot of spare time.

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I would have done the battery, but it's in the trunk

 

Don't know why, but I was expecting to just see one of those really big smoke bombs. Anyway, nice job.

 

I did a search, and there are people using the fog machine. I guess the "fog juice" is baby oil just like you are using here.

Be so much easier to buy a cheap one of those and regulate the pressure down.

 

I didn't think so, was plenty easy to build what I did....took about 2 hours. Your still going to have to buy the regulator and fitting and put it together....I just put this together for those who may want to do the same...

 

On a completely unrelated topic...

I want to build a 12v smoke/fog machine for another purpose. It's for a little Barrel Train pulled by a Yard Tractor converted to a Locomotive. They sell the machines - all with complete remote controls and rechargeable batteries - for $350 and up. The cheap home machines are on sale after Halloween for $40 and less. I can easily cannibalize one of the 110v units to get the temp control and safety switch, but any ideas on substituting a glow plug for the heater? I have 12v available from the battery right next to where I want to mount the thing - any input would be greatly appreciated.

Chas

 

Oh - and the "fog juice" for these 'fog machines' is easily made at home: 30% pure Glycerin, and 70% distilled water. I don't know if you would want to put a water-based fog into a machine, but it's an option for certain jobs. It works great in my case: making fog.

 

I made one these using the cheap fog machine and what you see on Youtube. It works, but you have to put a separator bottle in line because there is a LOT of extra moisture and water spitting out the hose. You only get a few seconds of smoke as well, but should be enough to find leaks.

 

Try Caster Oil. Available at any drug store and 10 times the smoke as baby oil