eBay smoke machine MELTED.

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bigclivedotcom

bigclivedotcom

5 жыл бұрын

This smoke machine has failed in one of the most destructive manners I've seen. The aluminium heater core has literally melted into a puddle. Let's take a look at how it was supposed to work and see if we can work out what happened.
Having disassembled the thermal switch in the video I'm inclined to think that an external fault occurred that caused current to bypass the thermal switch and flow through the heater until it overheated to such a degree that the thermal switch was baked and the contact lost its springiness and remained in the open position where the bimetallic disk would have been pushing it at the time.
The list of issues for this machine is staggering.
Three core cable but earth not connected despite threaded post being there for it.
Fuse holder fitted but not connected.
Cable has brittle insulation that splits around the gland area.
Cable may be copper coated aluminium.
Remote socket is standard 3 pin XLR with full mains voltage on it.
No last-resort thermal fuse, as used on most other machines.
Incoming supply polarity random between several units.
The one good feature it has is that the heater block is nicely made. It atomises the fog fluid well.
With a redesign of the electrics it could be quite a good machine.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of KZfaq's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

Пікірлер: 986
@ollylewin
@ollylewin 5 жыл бұрын
"It will send 240 volts down your DMX network. Excellent". This is why we love you Clive.
@jgilly3362
@jgilly3362 4 жыл бұрын
Dmx is what you use to control DJ lighting, effects and atmospherics
@syaz4380
@syaz4380 4 жыл бұрын
@@jgilly3362 use that on a xlr mic
@destinyofyeet9436
@destinyofyeet9436 4 жыл бұрын
yes
@ascii.encrypt9580
@ascii.encrypt9580 4 жыл бұрын
SyazTYT's other uploads or a speaker
@rasungod0
@rasungod0 3 жыл бұрын
@@thomasmussmann8321 If you accidentally connected a microphone or guitar to this, a performer could be hit with 240V mains and be severely injured or killed.
@muh1h1
@muh1h1 5 жыл бұрын
I have to quote AvE here: "Everything is a smoke mashine if you use it wrong enough"
@tncorgi92
@tncorgi92 5 жыл бұрын
High shmoo content.
@queazocotal
@queazocotal 5 жыл бұрын
Except smoke machines.
@Tuck-Shop
@Tuck-Shop 5 жыл бұрын
It's the smoke inside that makes things work. Once you let it out it don't work anymore.
@Dutch3DMaster
@Dutch3DMaster 4 жыл бұрын
Hehe, a colleague of mine thought I had never heard the "There is magic smoke inside electrical components, because when it is out, they stop worknig"-joke and asked me if I knew what powers electrical components and I immediately completed the joke, he was a little disappointed :P.
@destinyofyeet9436
@destinyofyeet9436 4 жыл бұрын
yes
@Nukle0n
@Nukle0n 5 жыл бұрын
"it's not asbestos" "I really hope it's not asbestos"
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 5 жыл бұрын
Asbestos is still used in China. So it could find its way into products. But this stuff looks like standard thermal fluff.
@jakp8777
@jakp8777 5 жыл бұрын
bigclivedotcom asbestos was the first thing I thought of when I saw that fiber. I’d be cautious with it and not to get it airborne just to be safe.
@keenanleetodd
@keenanleetodd 5 жыл бұрын
It doesn't smell like asbestos.
@Agent24Electronics
@Agent24Electronics 5 жыл бұрын
Some Chinese cars made by "Great Wall" that were imported here a few years ago were discovered to have had asbestos used in gaskets etc. I wouldn't put it past them to use asbestos in a bargain-basement smoke machine...
@keithpattison6763
@keithpattison6763 5 жыл бұрын
Clive, the insulating material is probably a form of "Kaowool", which is spun ceramic fiber used as hot facing in kilns and furnaces. Some of it is good for 1600C and the insulating properties are brilliant. Not supposed to be harmful, but if you are handling it without a mask, you will start coughing within 10 minutes, can't be good for you.
@CarnivalBen
@CarnivalBen 5 жыл бұрын
Thanks for taking my smoke machines apart! As soon as I saw what happened to it I immediately thought of you! It was fascinating to see how the heater block was constructed. I didn’t realise the pipe through it was so long and wrapped around it like the winding on a transformer. The wire melted to the top outer cover was nothing to do with the smoke machine, it was just for a 12v supply to feed some LEDs that happened to come loose and lay across the top.
@Shaun.Stephens
@Shaun.Stephens 5 жыл бұрын
So was there something else (other than the remote) plugged into the XLR socket? That's the most obvious mode of failure from watching the autopsy. Cheers.
@phhowe17
@phhowe17 5 жыл бұрын
Did someone set something on the remote to force continuous smoke by passing the thermal cut out?
@CarnivalBen
@CarnivalBen 5 жыл бұрын
Shaun Stephens yep, I built my own custom timer circuit to make it automatic rather than a manual push button. Take a look at my latest few videos on KZfaq if you wanna see what I was doing with them :)
@jamesmdeluca
@jamesmdeluca 5 жыл бұрын
@@Shaun.Stephens I disagree as Clive himself pointed out; the remote's red (READY) LED path was a possible failure point only requiring the resistor and LED to provide a low resistance path to neutral. The remote needs to be examined.
@Shaun.Stephens
@Shaun.Stephens 5 жыл бұрын
@@jamesmdeluca That is your right. ;)
@bobblebardsley
@bobblebardsley 5 жыл бұрын
4:56 "He's gone completely open-circuit" just became my way to describe someone who's lost their temper.
@johnbouttell5827
@johnbouttell5827 5 жыл бұрын
Where there's smoke -- there's Clive
@lebaquette
@lebaquette 5 жыл бұрын
Big smoke, cj
@chrisakaschulbus4903
@chrisakaschulbus4903 4 жыл бұрын
so i have to watch out when i vape in my room? :/
@twocvbloke
@twocvbloke 5 жыл бұрын
It's like your own miniature Chernobyl Elephants' Foot model, but without the tangy fizz of nuclear radiation... :P
@Agent24Electronics
@Agent24Electronics 5 жыл бұрын
How do you know the Chinese didn't mix some nuclear waste into the alloy just to dispose of it?
@twocvbloke
@twocvbloke 5 жыл бұрын
Cos they'd get more money for it selling the waste to north korea for their nuclear fireworks program... :P
@hamishgrove7722
@hamishgrove7722 5 жыл бұрын
That was my first thought too
@crackedemerald4930
@crackedemerald4930 5 жыл бұрын
That's an argument i didn't expect
@kevinjbakertribe
@kevinjbakertribe 5 жыл бұрын
The Elephant's foot immediately came to my mind too :)
@kylefox6115
@kylefox6115 5 жыл бұрын
The spring contact in the thermal disconnect might have annealed in the open position when the block overheated. I bet the remote cable melted on the housing and then shorted the heater on.
@matthewellisor5835
@matthewellisor5835 5 жыл бұрын
I fully agree that this is the most likely mode.
@seannot-telling9806
@seannot-telling9806 5 жыл бұрын
@@matthewellisor5835 I think he nailed the reason that the switch was open. I find the idea about the cord melting and causing the fault very likely too.
@mysock351C
@mysock351C 5 жыл бұрын
Given how everything was blued inside, it got hot enough to almost glow.
@mysock351C
@mysock351C 5 жыл бұрын
Using a blueing chart for steel, the temperature got up to around 600 deg F in the switch.
@martenthornberg275
@martenthornberg275 5 жыл бұрын
​@@mysock351C 600 F = 316 C agree with others, the copper lost it springiness from heat when it was pushed down.
@TheChipmunk2008
@TheChipmunk2008 5 жыл бұрын
So it had no fuse on the input side even though it looks like it should have one.... Are you sure this thing wasn't made by Weller
@thatsunpossible312
@thatsunpossible312 5 жыл бұрын
Came here to make this comment :)
@sismofytter
@sismofytter 5 жыл бұрын
Nice one 👍🏻
@TheFoodnipple
@TheFoodnipple 5 жыл бұрын
I think I seen the Weller logo in the puddle of aluminum
@Paxmax
@Paxmax 5 жыл бұрын
😂😂😂
@dwddn
@dwddn 5 жыл бұрын
:-D
@ShroomheadOne
@ShroomheadOne 5 жыл бұрын
you were right. I am a sound guy and 240V on a 3 pin XLR does make me very very upset
@BlackEpyon
@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын
Ours had the IEC connector for the remote. I've been in the position of being the sound, lighting, and IT guys all at the same time (medium sized school). They really need to make those connectors more non-standard, because whatever they use I know of something else you could plug into it.
@sixstringedthing
@sixstringedthing 5 жыл бұрын
Note to connector/terminal designers: If you design the pins/contacts such that they appear robust enough to pass high current, someone somewhere absolutely WILL use them for that purpose, even if they're not rated for it.
@theskett
@theskett 5 жыл бұрын
@@sixstringedthing While what you say is absolutely correct (and, thanks) -- if the connector isn't /doesn't look robust, it won't withstand normal plug / unplug usage. Kinda no-win, on that :-)
@dat_chip
@dat_chip 5 жыл бұрын
That's also the part that really got me off my chair, and go "whoa, calm down, Satan!"
@sixstringedthing
@sixstringedthing 5 жыл бұрын
@@theskett True of course, and also the main reason why XLRs get bastardised for bloody everything. Sure, maybe someone will fry an expensive console or outboard rack when they mix up the 240V XLR with a mic cable. But the connector will be extremely robust right up to that point. :)
@LiLi-or2gm
@LiLi-or2gm 5 жыл бұрын
Melting is one of my favorite failure modes. I also like unexpected detonations and sudden ruptures.
@twotone3070
@twotone3070 5 жыл бұрын
I prefer sudden rapture, but each to their own :)
@Dutch3DMaster
@Dutch3DMaster 4 жыл бұрын
My brother has had several instances in which electronics projects went up in smoke. The one in which he switched everything on and smoke started shooting out of a 555 (I think) and right after that showed a small flame was one of the coolest, though, because he went like *flips the switch, at which an obvious hissing sound becomes apparent* "Now what the hell is this...." *a small flame erupts* "OH ****" *flicks the switch maniacally* "NOW HOW ON EARTH DID THAT HAPPEN!?" he expleted slightly frustrated and started tracing the connections and found a resistor that was in the 100's of Ohms, instead of 100 kilo Ohms if I recall correctly. He made some calculations why the thing failed in such a spectacular manner and found out he tried pumping several amps through a 555 on an input that only liked milliamps :P and was like "Weeeeell there is my problem.....".
@roowut
@roowut 4 жыл бұрын
Adds to the show
@crimsonhalo13
@crimsonhalo13 5 жыл бұрын
Ethylene glycol + fog machine = everyone gets vapor drunk before they drop dead of partying too hard. Not exactly a desirable outcome. Also, I'm loving that faux-fuse effect. Nothing but the finest Chinesium in that one.
@kareno8634
@kareno8634 5 жыл бұрын
I wonder if it was Advertised . . 'with Real Fuse Holder!' ?
@jrmcferren
@jrmcferren 5 жыл бұрын
Coming soon from Weller:-P
@jgilly3362
@jgilly3362 4 жыл бұрын
Yeah if you want poisoning
@RealUnimportant
@RealUnimportant 5 жыл бұрын
I don't know which is more fascinating, that the heater element was powerful enough to melt the aluminium, or that the rest of the device was apparently so undisturbed despite the presence of molten aluminium!
@franglish9265
@franglish9265 5 жыл бұрын
Aluminium melts at a much lower temp than the copper does... If they'd used copper wires, instead of copper plated ones, I suspect there'd be a small fire, rather than molten aluminium.
@johnfrancisdoe1563
@johnfrancisdoe1563 4 жыл бұрын
Anthony M What? Your argument missed some steps to make sense. Are you saying the copper clad chinesium wires melted before the copper piping to cut power to whatever bypassed the thermostat?
@SkigBiggler
@SkigBiggler 3 жыл бұрын
You can use your average stove element to melt copper, aluminium and various other metals. They'll just keep getting hotter till the element melts itself.
@davestech6357
@davestech6357 5 жыл бұрын
I had a 2000 lb smoke machine. It was a Ford explorer and the coolant was leaking into the plenum and the exhaust was all white smoke. That explains a lot.
@tbelding
@tbelding 5 жыл бұрын
That's a blown head gasket or cracked block. Most likely the head gasket. (I actually had a cracked head once). It's usually no big deal to fix. Pop the valve cover, remove the valves while keeping the exact positioning on a cloth, unbolt the head, pull clean off the gasket, new gasket, new bolts, reinstall the valves and tappets, and pop the valve cover back on. About a two hour job if you just get right into it. (At least, when I was doing it on a Ford Escort.)
@thomasstrickland0
@thomasstrickland0 5 жыл бұрын
Troy Belding intakes on modern cars have coolant going through them these days. The fords were known for breaking plastic plenums and pouring coolant down the throats of the engine.
@tbelding
@tbelding 5 жыл бұрын
@@thomasstrickland0 - I'll take your word for it. I've never worked on a car with coolant _and_ plastic together. The manifolds I've seen with coolant were metal. I'll admit that the only 'trucks' I've worked on were an '88 S10 Blazer and a '98 Kia Sportage. Neither are exactly 'modern' - depending on how you define modern. Personally, I'd define modern as 'The point where carburetors were almost completely replaced by fuel injection'. (AKA 'computer controlled')
@thomasstrickland0
@thomasstrickland0 5 жыл бұрын
Troy Belding metal would be better, but manufacturers engineer things to fail these days and now they engineer things to fail with no user serviceable parts. Really annoying.
@pqrstzxerty1296
@pqrstzxerty1296 5 жыл бұрын
Disco...
@Zodliness
@Zodliness 5 жыл бұрын
Good review. I worked for a lighting effects company many a moon ago and while there, had a good look inside a split aluminium heating block, salvaged from a Cloud-9 smoke machine. Constructed from two half blocks, each contains a spiral half groove, with the blocks welded together, the coiled path starts at the outside edge (nearest pump) and steam is ejected from a small bore hole with a nozzle tapped into it 90° out from the centre of one block. It was quite a piece of fine machining. I can see why the Chinese preferred to wrap a length of pipe around the element.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 5 жыл бұрын
Another block I looked at was made from a sandwich of three aluminium plates. In between two was a standard spiral cooker element and in between the other was a long zig-zagged copper tube.
@ZZtop-gg3lu
@ZZtop-gg3lu 5 жыл бұрын
The lower contact in the thermal switch is probably made from beryllium copper and is springy from its self. The heat annealed the beryllium copper.
@ulwur
@ulwur 5 жыл бұрын
Is beryllium really used in consumer products? I thought is was too poisonous and only used in aerospace and industry who knows not to play with it
@ZZtop-gg3lu
@ZZtop-gg3lu 5 жыл бұрын
@@ulwur Yes it is. Look for the movable contact. www.farnell.com/datasheets/1736820.pdf
@fuzzy1dk
@fuzzy1dk 5 жыл бұрын
beryllium is really only dangerous if you weld or grind it and inhale the dust or fumes
@goamarty
@goamarty 5 жыл бұрын
@@ulwur The beryllium-copper alloy is not dangerous. The danger of beryllium is basically only the inhalation of it's oxide dust. Similar to the danger of inhalation of quartz dust (silicosis).
@bigjd2k
@bigjd2k 4 жыл бұрын
Ibrahim Ulf Karlsson The pink insulators on magnetrons is, don’t mess with it!
@thatgermenfan3106
@thatgermenfan3106 5 жыл бұрын
Big Clive, inventor of modern hotboxing
@radry100
@radry100 5 жыл бұрын
Largest e-cig ever
@cabe_bedlam
@cabe_bedlam 5 жыл бұрын
Basically yes!
@licensetodrive9930
@licensetodrive9930 5 жыл бұрын
It's the first step to an e-bong.
@basshead.
@basshead. 5 жыл бұрын
That's not true. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aaligriCsZzDqYU.html
@omegaa3311
@omegaa3311 5 жыл бұрын
radry100 vape nash
@camevans6883
@camevans6883 5 жыл бұрын
Juul turboDiesel
@superdau
@superdau 5 жыл бұрын
I think copper anneals somewhere around 400-600°C. So the contact will have lost its springiness and stayed in the pushed down position.
@davidb5255
@davidb5255 5 жыл бұрын
Was about to suggest the same thing. You can reverse the annealing effect by heating the copper to cherry red and then quenching in water, useful to get copper washers back to normal so they deform to seal joints. The aluminium block is interesting as, depending on the alloy composition, it's likely to have a melting point between 460-670'C, pure aluminium is around 660'C. Copper is > 1000'C which is why the heating pipe and heating element sleave is intact.
@brewski118sempire
@brewski118sempire 5 жыл бұрын
I deal with those bi-metals almost everyday working in the appliance repair field. Almost every kind that we deal with are non-re-settable. Once they "open" they stay open, though Dacor and Frigidaire have a few re-settable one with a little button that you have to press to reset them. I have always wanted to take one apart but every time I tried I would make a mess of it. I thank you for finally showing me how they work.
@markiangooley
@markiangooley 5 жыл бұрын
In the immortal words of Al Yankovic: Don't know why, the kind of stuff you'd throw away, I'll buy on eBay.
@franglish9265
@franglish9265 5 жыл бұрын
Yes!
@richardturton6900
@richardturton6900 5 жыл бұрын
The heater block will probably have been made of a zinc based diecasting alloy like zamac which melts at around 400C.
@dustysparks
@dustysparks 5 жыл бұрын
Doesn't BosnianBill run into such alloys on cheap electronic locks?
@chemistryofquestionablequa6252
@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 5 жыл бұрын
@@dustysparks yeah, he does. Lock picking lawyer has too.
@DumbArse
@DumbArse 5 жыл бұрын
Wouldn't that be incredibly stupid? The heater gets up to 300C° when not faulty so one would expect an alloy that takes atleast 600C° to melt for the machine to not destroy itself when used for a prolonged time
@Agent24Electronics
@Agent24Electronics 5 жыл бұрын
@@DumbArse Of course, but that's what you get when you buy the cheapest junk from China...
@dustysparks
@dustysparks 5 жыл бұрын
@@DumbArse Under ideal circumstances it wouldn't melt, but given that the unit didn't even have the fuse installed, they went with the cheapest "pot metal" they could, and hoped for the best. Even if the fuse WERE connected, I don't think it would have helped, as the coil can only draw so much (resistive load) . The killer here was the thermal run-away. There should be a thermal fuse (non-reset-able) set to about 50degC above the working temp of the block wired in a way that even the remote switch couldn't bypass. Then if it were to go run-away like this, it would cut off permanently. Hair dryers use this concept. If the the wires in the heating element of the hair dryer go above what's expected, no more hair dryer (rather than no more house due to catastrophic house fire!).
@jurajhezel942
@jurajhezel942 4 жыл бұрын
I'm in love with this mans enthusiasm for burnt blown out otherwise destroyed and dead machinery 😃
@ThatBum42
@ThatBum42 5 жыл бұрын
Holy smokes (lol) that thing got hot, was not expecting to see a _melted heater block_ inside it. It's possible that the block isn't aluminum and is in fact pot metal of some description. Also I'm guessing that the bimetallic diaphragm got so hot it got permanently warped out of shape.
@dj1NM3
@dj1NM3 5 жыл бұрын
Apparently the annealing temperature of copper is 400C. The melting point of pure aluminium is 660C, so the melting heater block seems to have annealed the springy contact inside the thermal/bimetallic switch. So the thermal switch clicked out, the melting heater block destroyed the springiness of the copper contact arm and it just stayed open-circuit despite dropping back below its cut-out temperature. . I would guess that the skid-mark shorted-out pins 1 and 3 (or 1 and 2, with the pump failing closed-circuit) , so the heater-block was powered until it failed.
@lundy405
@lundy405 5 жыл бұрын
Every machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough!
@alessandroceloria4573
@alessandroceloria4573 5 жыл бұрын
But apparently the same does not hold true for chineese smoke machines... Unless you really enjoy aluminum fumes
@supersaiyangoku3580
@supersaiyangoku3580 5 жыл бұрын
*Electroboom*
@chrisengland5523
@chrisengland5523 2 жыл бұрын
A very clever dual purpose device - a combined smoke machine and aluminium smelt.
@eliignatoff6864
@eliignatoff6864 5 жыл бұрын
Where I worked 3-pin XLRs are used for mics and 5-pin for DMX. Helps prevent cross connecting, cable theft between departments and knife fights during load-out. One needs to be totally "clewless" to runs mains voltage through either of them.
@bearicade5582
@bearicade5582 3 жыл бұрын
5:55 Big Clive Secretly wants your dirty thoughts,But does not want to get banned.
@aldamnation
@aldamnation 5 жыл бұрын
My friend bought one of these from amazon for Halloween. It kept giving people electric shocks when they touched the bottom. I wanted to get inside and see what the problem was but never got round to it. I think it’s Safe to say we won’t be seeing it out for Halloween 2019.
@crimsonhalo13
@crimsonhalo13 5 жыл бұрын
That's a feature, not a bug.
@jamesmdeluca
@jamesmdeluca 5 жыл бұрын
I think a GFCI (USA term) is called for the outdoor outlet its plugged into. (I think GFCI is the wrong term for use in 220-240 vac countries.
@rollieroulston
@rollieroulston 5 жыл бұрын
@ James M DeLuca : Yeah in the UK it's known as a residual-current device, they are usually fitted to certain circuits at the circuit breaker panel, rather than being fitted directly to the sockets being protected
@aldamnation
@aldamnation 5 жыл бұрын
@@crimsonhalo13 certainly was a good feature too. The lads were loving it more than the smoke
@jftechdrones
@jftechdrones 4 жыл бұрын
I have a "FXLAB" 400W smoke machine. It looks similar to this on the inside but the fuse is actually wired up, the switch is permanently wired in the back and there is a thermal fuse directly under the heater block. Good to see that they have made improvements.
@Cylon39
@Cylon39 5 жыл бұрын
Possibly… The smoke button was stuck shut like it was being used to make smoke on a continuous basis. The current drawn to run the pump caused the heater to get hotter and hotter. Although this was a much less current than it need to heat, it was sufficient to cause the temperature to slowly rise. This caused the thermal switch to stay in the open position through its deformation temperature and that caused the Thermal Switch to lose its springiness so it would never close after that. The heat continued to build until the aluminum melted and either the heater burned out, or something else burned open due to the excessive heat. It obviously was enough to melt wires on the top of the unit while melting the aluminum. Alternatively, Something shorted internally giving a path to ground through the heater causing the same thing without the button being pressed continuously. Just a theory.
@andysim232
@andysim232 5 жыл бұрын
Still less smoke than today's burned turkey
@RambozoClown
@RambozoClown 5 жыл бұрын
What an amazing failure mode. Having molten aluminium dripping from overhead smoke machines would be most unexpected at the party. Cut off the earth wire and decorative fuse holder for the win. Perhaps the Chinese really are trying to take over the world, one dodgy product at a time?
@alessandroceloria4573
@alessandroceloria4573 5 жыл бұрын
What is even more upsetting is that it wouldn't have costed them anything to weld the cutoff ground cable to the housing... And it wouldn't have also costed them anything to just run the mains cable through that fuseholder... It's not cost reduction... It's not lazy engineering... It's... I don't even know what
@ianbonadia2832
@ianbonadia2832 5 жыл бұрын
@@alessandroceloria4573 They just...don't give a shit. It's just that simple. I used to live in Brazil and I would see this sort of behavior all the time.."whats this? earth wire? lol just cut that shit off" "this extra safety earth pin is not letting me plug my washing machine..well just get some pilers and remove that sucker!" Don't even let me start on electricians who leave most of the earth wires completely disconnected inside of the wall sockets. You think earthing is ok because everything is plugged and working nicely, but nope, you open the wall socket only to see the earth wire just pushed into a corner, covered in electrical tape.. It's retarded.
@sayyamzahid7312
@sayyamzahid7312 2 жыл бұрын
@@ianbonadia2832 Chris Kyle died in the battle rip Massachusetts
@boonedockjourneyman7979
@boonedockjourneyman7979 5 жыл бұрын
Best tear down yet. Your curiosity is infectious.
@LightSoySauce
@LightSoySauce 5 жыл бұрын
Aluminium is not an Alloy, it is a single metallic chemical element. An Alloy is a mixture of a metal and another element, this addition can be either metal or otherwise. I love your videos Clive keep up the great work ))))))
@jamesvandamme7786
@jamesvandamme7786 5 жыл бұрын
It would be fun to plug a mic into that XLR connector. Pin 1 is ground, so 240 volts would go through the lo impedance mic element into the pump. Probably add extra smoke output, but not for long.
@tazz1669
@tazz1669 5 жыл бұрын
4:20 thought you were going to say "Smoke and mirrors" another great video, thanks Clive
@olipito
@olipito 5 жыл бұрын
Man, I love it so much when stuff goes wrong and you investigate it
@thedevilinthecircuit1414
@thedevilinthecircuit1414 5 жыл бұрын
"They fuse together--they form a...one..." Am I the only one yelling 'EMULSION' at Clive? WOW, there's little doubt that 2nd smoke machine is extremely dedicated to its career: "Make smoke with namby-pamby smoke juice? That's for rookies!" I think the heat event softened the thin copper spring contact in the thermostat and the metal relaxed, causing the contact to fall to the bottom. Cheers, mate :o)
@HenryLoenwind
@HenryLoenwind 5 жыл бұрын
yes, because it's not an emulsion.
@zaprodk
@zaprodk 5 жыл бұрын
It's really critical that the smoke machine has no thermal fuse as a second line of defence.
@jamesmdeluca
@jamesmdeluca 5 жыл бұрын
Located within the heater block.
@zaprodk
@zaprodk 5 жыл бұрын
@@jamesmdeluca it needs to be a separate one to be effective.
@no1slisteninganyway
@no1slisteninganyway 5 жыл бұрын
Spectacular melt-down. This is just like what can happen to 3D printers which ship with thermal runaway protection turned off.
@ATMAtim
@ATMAtim Жыл бұрын
Hello Clive. Thanks for the breakdown on this toy.
@jjab99
@jjab99 5 жыл бұрын
Many thanks for all the great videos throughout the year Clive. I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!! Best of luck in 2019, Joe
@WaltonPete
@WaltonPete 5 жыл бұрын
"The different manufacturers say 'Use our liquid'" - sounds like it's all smoke and mirrors. Well, smoke, anyway.
@57dent
@57dent 5 жыл бұрын
I'd vote that someone looped the remote cable over the top of the machine. It heated up, melted the remote cable and shorted the wires for pins 1 & 3 leading to the heater not turning off!!
@LucasLane
@LucasLane 5 жыл бұрын
57dent read top comment
@WaltonPete
@WaltonPete 5 жыл бұрын
Except the person who sent it in says that the melted cables on the top of the case have nothing to do with the failure as they were for low voltage lighting which happened to touch the overheated smoke machine.
@mrclubike
@mrclubike 5 жыл бұрын
I suspect something may have shorted inside the remove if the remote cord was not damaged
@digitalpaul
@digitalpaul 5 жыл бұрын
Great stuff Clive I have used a few of these in various gigs over the years. I will certainly be pulling them apart and checking their wiring in future. Nasty!
@PhilipKloppers
@PhilipKloppers 5 жыл бұрын
Sweet Christmas!! I had flashbacks the instant you opened that cover... Someone left a large water urn on overnight, which boiled dry, and then failed to turn the heater off and melted the aluminium/pewter mounting components that then dripped onto a formica counter which very fortunately did not ignite before the heater tripped the GFI! Oh, that thermal switch probably worked correctly, but was heated beyond the point that spring relaxation occurs for that particular material, and so the contact was set in the new, open position.
@Flashy7
@Flashy7 5 жыл бұрын
oh, a new video from Clive, what did he test? "ebay smoke machine" well, that does not narrow it down, it still can be anything :D
@cabe_bedlam
@cabe_bedlam 5 жыл бұрын
I think the word you were looking for mixing was "miscible".
@poosmate
@poosmate 5 жыл бұрын
Hmmmm a smoke machine. Never felt the need nor desire to have one of those. Interesting look inside though. Great job, again! All the best, Poo
@jimmyers8795
@jimmyers8795 4 жыл бұрын
Hi clive, I used to be a Hotpoint engineer, we used this sort of bi-metallic switch in condenser tumble dryers - basically there are 2 types. One type resets itself when the excess temperature drops, the other type is a one off action, it sets but won't reset./ We were supposed to replace them, but if you bang them on a hard surface, it will cause the bimetallic disk to reset, saving the cost of a new one. They still work ok afterwards. The idea is that the customer has to call an engineer out because they have probably been overloading the tumble dryer and need to be advised about correct appliance operation.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 4 жыл бұрын
That makes sense. My older drier had a reset button on the back which did activate when the machine had water build up issues inside due to a blocked sump.
@jimmyers8795
@jimmyers8795 4 жыл бұрын
@@bigclivedotcom Most of the Hotpoint (lndesit) condenser driers had 2 trips under a small panel at the rear, one was the self resetting type the other was a one shot.
@oldmanhuppiedos
@oldmanhuppiedos 5 жыл бұрын
Do not miss the diode in the diagram that goes to the pump.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 5 жыл бұрын
It's part of the pump's wiring so I treated it as part of the pump block.
@jamesmdeluca
@jamesmdeluca 5 жыл бұрын
As the pump is designed to work on AC the failure of the diode either-open or shorted should have resulted in no or much less smoke being emitted (I think) but not as a path around the thermal switch. An examination of the remote is warranted.
@sparkyprojects
@sparkyprojects 5 жыл бұрын
If the earth is not connected, there's no path to ground My thoughts pins 1&3 shorted, pump would not have worked Pump shorted, someone holding the button would overheat it, and the remnants of the fluid would be coming out I don't know if just holding the button on that when the fluid runs out would overheat it. I would guess that the thermal switch got so overheated ithe pin pushed very hard against the contact to deform it. (btw, those discs are fun to heat up, and drop them on a table in front of someone, see the discs jump) There are smoke liquids that generally fill a room, and others that will stay at floor level.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 5 жыл бұрын
If the button is held the unit will normally pump until the thermal switch kicks back in to reheat the block and shunts the pump. The control circuit was probably shunted accidentally. Although the machine is not earthed the control circuit shorting to a return path would have powered the heater.
@GingerChristmas
@GingerChristmas 5 жыл бұрын
Congratulations on half a million subs, Clive!
@shanee3485
@shanee3485 5 жыл бұрын
15-20 years ago I purchased a fog machine here in Australia from a popular electronic parts retailer. As you said, my remote was attached by an IEC but obviously as the wiring didn’t conform to standards so that was “fixed” by inserting a screw through the connector inside the unit so it couldn’t be unplugged. Lol. Mine died from the motor and piping rusting out and leaking juice everywhere.
@kpanic23
@kpanic23 5 жыл бұрын
I guess they didn't connect the fuse holder since there's already a fuse in the UK plug. And just left the fuse holder there to plug up that hole.
@daShare
@daShare 5 жыл бұрын
Wow, that's so bad electrically.
@tncorgi92
@tncorgi92 5 жыл бұрын
With that borrowed 3-pin connector, X would definitely give it to ya.
@DumbArse
@DumbArse 5 жыл бұрын
Who doesn't enjoy 15K in damages when you use the wrong plug in a badly lit bar
@shelbyarndts8223
@shelbyarndts8223 4 жыл бұрын
You could say that the smoke machine...... "went up in smoke" 😎
@Harrydewulf
@Harrydewulf Жыл бұрын
An led that lights when you press a pushbutton is a HUGE benefit for preserving the mechanics of the button, because it discourages heavy-handed users from pressing the button too hard. I recommend an indicator light for any and every push-button for this reason.
@Steamzombie1838
@Steamzombie1838 5 жыл бұрын
𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.
@tin2001
@tin2001 5 жыл бұрын
Aha... There it is!
@tncorgi92
@tncorgi92 5 жыл бұрын
Attach the smoke detector to the smoke producing circuit so that every time it beeps, another puff is generated. Perpetual motion machine. (I know, not really)
@MisterCasket
@MisterCasket 5 жыл бұрын
This could be my favorite thing next to the machine than can only turn itself off!
@user-vn7ce5ig1z
@user-vn7ce5ig1z 5 жыл бұрын
There would have to be a delay otherwise it would be pointless because the puffs take a while to dissipate, so it would just be constantly beeping and puffing.
@lochinvar00465
@lochinvar00465 4 жыл бұрын
I did an autopsy on one of those "shaker" flashlights. They are advertised as being re-charged by shaking it and causing a magnet to bounce back and forth through a coil to generate electricity. However, this one was a disaster. The "magnet" was a simple piece of iron, and the rectifier diodes were missing. And to top everything else, the batteries were not re-chargeable.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 4 жыл бұрын
I made a video about that.
@PurityVendetta
@PurityVendetta 4 жыл бұрын
Funny story about smoke machines from back in the day. I used to hire out PA's to rave type events years ago. On one of these gigs I overheard a conversation between two punters. One said to the other 'It's funny but the E's they sell in here only work in the club.' The other punter replies 'That's because they're not E's, they put poppers in the smoke machines.' No idea whether it apocryphal or not but it made me laugh anyway! 😊
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 4 жыл бұрын
That would be very noticeable. Nicotine in the fog fluid wouldn't be so detectable, but could cause serious health implications.
@PurityVendetta
@PurityVendetta 4 жыл бұрын
@@bigclivedotcom I honestly don't know how true the story is as ecstasy wasn't my thing and I didn't get any popper type effect. I only babysat our gear to stop it being destroyed by the punters. I can still remember the condensation running off the walls of venues like Keele Uni students Union.
@Loreroth
@Loreroth 5 жыл бұрын
If the smoke machine was run continuously and say the smoke fluid ran dry, could the pump have potentially passed enough current to keep the heater on? would have been interesting to see if the remote had shorted out
@SirFrag32
@SirFrag32 4 жыл бұрын
Maybe, except that once the heater cooled sufficiently the power to the pump would have been cut until it heated again.
@frogz
@frogz 5 жыл бұрын
i JUST had a led light bulb shatter in my hand and i was cleaning up the glass/blood and i saw you uploaded a video, dammit, give me a second to clean the blood off my keyboard, thanks, merry christmas
@Ramog1000
@Ramog1000 5 жыл бұрын
how the fuck did that happen if I might ask?
@tbelding
@tbelding 5 жыл бұрын
@@Ramog1000 - Remember, some LED light bulbs, especially the antique style using the sticks of LEDs covered in phosphor, come in glass bulbs.
@DumbArse
@DumbArse 5 жыл бұрын
@@tbelding That does not answer how it exploded
@tbelding
@tbelding 5 жыл бұрын
@@DumbArse - @Frogz didn't say it exploded. It shattered. That could simply be trying to set it down while holding it. It could also be trying to unscrew it with a bit too much force and the base cracked - thus shattering the class.
@simonhopkins3867
@simonhopkins3867 5 жыл бұрын
Were you taking it apart? Lol
@pietypereira8239
@pietypereira8239 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing your experience.
@AndyHullMcPenguin
@AndyHullMcPenguin 5 жыл бұрын
Instructions on "Home metal casting kit." 1)Tape down button on "XLR" remote. 2) Wait till smoke fills room... 3) Wait a bit longer... 4) Pour molten aluminum in to mold. The flaw in the design as far as I can see is that the heater will still heat if the button and pump are shorted. In fact the heater will heat under pretty much any fault condition.
@throttlebottle5906
@throttlebottle5906 5 жыл бұрын
a melted ebay device, go figure :))
@bren106
@bren106 5 жыл бұрын
*The future of the internet needs you to modify your working machine to re-create the fault, so we can watch it happen on camera. It would be Fanny Flambeaux in a smoke machine* *Unsold stock of Explosion containment foil roasting tins will be in Poundland's end of year sale about now.*
@jamesmdeluca
@jamesmdeluca 5 жыл бұрын
I think all that was needed was to plug in the remote from the failed unit to recreate the failure as long as the READY circuit hasn't opened.
@stevebrodie7777
@stevebrodie7777 5 жыл бұрын
Merry Christmas and happy new year Clive .
@1kuhny
@1kuhny 5 жыл бұрын
Lovely demonstration of how a solenoid pump works. Anyways, if it got that hot maybe it heated the metal so hot that it deformed the metal tab. The weight of the contact could've been enough to lower it away. You should heat a new one up with a blue torch to see how it fails.
@avejst
@avejst 5 жыл бұрын
Were are the laser show?... Happy holydays
@DCBpower
@DCBpower 5 жыл бұрын
OMG... 25 minuets before you mention the unconnected fuse holder... Pure torture.
@fookingsog
@fookingsog 5 жыл бұрын
That thermal switch I also call a thermal popper. My central air gas furnace has them in multiple locations to sense overheating conditions. I also work on copy machines and in the ones that have hot rollers with halogen heating lamps, they also have thermal poppers in series with the halogen lamps, although they don't have the aluminum cap that you had to cut away but are more exposed. Tripped (open) thermal poppers on fusers can be "reset" by inverting canned air and spraying the surface with the cold to "reset" the bi-metallic strip. I have also had success resetting by slapping the bi-metallic surface side on the concave handle section of a screwdriver. 😁👍🏻
@Tocsin-Bang
@Tocsin-Bang 5 жыл бұрын
My wife had her own magic smoke experience on Christmas Eve. I've done a Clive. It was the fan. It was a synchronous motor and pretty exposed on the back it had accumulated years of dust and muck, the winding was burnt out.
@Bleats_Sinodai
@Bleats_Sinodai 5 жыл бұрын
5:58 YTP people, have a blast
@sjoerd104
@sjoerd104 5 жыл бұрын
LMAO
@StageRightvideo
@StageRightvideo 5 жыл бұрын
I used to do photography at gigs and so I saw all sorts of set-ups. Mostly at low key venues with unsigned bands, and standards varied a great deal. Sometimes a complete set-up and tear-down in a hired venue. Improvisation was common-place and sometime bands brought along their own extra gadgets too, including smoke machines. Now that I've seen this it make me wonder how close we might have been to some disaster or other...
@Graham-ce2yk
@Graham-ce2yk 5 жыл бұрын
Great video. Looking forward to the test/teardown of that smoke alarm. I've seen a couple of videos of ebay smoke alarms that seem to have been designed to only work if the test button is used. One is by David McLucky, the other appears on the channel Ibusinesslogistics, scary stuff.
@legominimovieproductions
@legominimovieproductions 5 жыл бұрын
The smoke machine released the magic smoke 😂😂
@jbwebster
@jbwebster 3 жыл бұрын
Klinxons (the thing you took apart) are prone to fail due to the constant tension they are under at operating temperatures. More precisely they don't bend as good as the new ones, which makes the contacts become unreliable, and thus generate heat... which speeds up the process itself. It's a relatively cheap, and peg-simple component, they use them everywhere, mostly in washing machines.
@jayherde0
@jayherde0 5 жыл бұрын
Clive - What keeps the heater from running THROUGH the pump? The thermal switch bypasses the pump giving the heater full wave power to reheat - without the cooling juice. When the thermal switch is OPEN, the heater still runs on the half wave through the pump. Once the magic juice is spent, there's no cooling and things get really HOT. Something, or somebody, held the controller switch closed.
@bigclivedotcom
@bigclivedotcom 5 жыл бұрын
The pump will not pass enough current for any significant heating effect.
@chrisandrus2735
@chrisandrus2735 5 жыл бұрын
Youre hilarious! You always put a smile on my face😁
@raymondmucklow3793
@raymondmucklow3793 5 жыл бұрын
The pump is mains right wonder if the the pump failed and if the pipe is conductive could have ben an on switch, bypassing the heater.
@btdtagain
@btdtagain 3 жыл бұрын
You sir are the BOSS DAWG! I am no groupie lol only a student.. Thank you sensei!
@katlynnakhaoskat2623
@katlynnakhaoskat2623 5 жыл бұрын
I have found that having an extra pair of cheap or perhaps just old snips around for all the things snips are useful for but not actually designed to be used for can be very helpful. All the sorts of little tasks that count more as abuse of tools rather than use!
@daniellewis2291
@daniellewis2291 5 жыл бұрын
Merry Christmas Clive!
@MattTrains2001
@MattTrains2001 5 жыл бұрын
I bought this exact fog machine, it was £10 and it's run fine, gonna be careful with it now but then again, I can't afford a really expensive fogger so I'm happy to take the risk...
@gordonrichardson2972
@gordonrichardson2972 5 жыл бұрын
13:00 Anyway, ramble, ramble... This is both the delightful charm and the purpose for most Big Clive videos!
@charliefarley5880
@charliefarley5880 5 жыл бұрын
I love taking things apart keep up the good work
@Equiluxe1
@Equiluxe1 5 жыл бұрын
I had the misfortune to be an extra in the film Revolution, made largely in Kings Lynn Norfolk and Ely Cambridgeshire. I was very interested in what went on with the props and technical people, They refereed to the smoke machines as "Benzers" the smoke they made smelled of diesel or kerosene, large quantities of smoke were used to hide the modern areas of the towns in the background from the cameras. Also as a radio amateur I tuned into the radio mike and intercom systems with the receiver hidden on me and an earphone in one ear.
@tobiaspartrige2895
@tobiaspartrige2895 5 жыл бұрын
Your voice is very nice and calming
@andyhill242
@andyhill242 4 жыл бұрын
That blob of aluminum is like A small scale version of the Chernobyl Elephant's Foot!
@theun-personing5674
@theun-personing5674 5 жыл бұрын
95% of anything technical you say I don't understand but I bloody love it! 😂 👍
@rkettridge
@rkettridge 5 жыл бұрын
Had exactly the same happen to an old Martin/Jem smoke machine years ago that a well meaning, but slightly inexperienced, tech swapped out a faulty thermal switch. It was buried out of sight and they only spotted something was wrong when the white smoke coming out of it turned to black!
@davidv1289
@davidv1289 5 жыл бұрын
WOW! Another exciting product from China. Would have been interesting to probe around with an ohmmeter before disassembly to see if you could determine the failure mode. Thanks for another great video!
@deathlydarkness
@deathlydarkness 4 жыл бұрын
240 over DMX to the network sounds like an EXCITING time.
@MrJtappin
@MrJtappin 5 жыл бұрын
Even if the outside wire had melted onto the case it wasn't obvious from your video that the heater would be active. It looked to be insulated in part by the fibers, and the cheap screws weren't melted... Love the decorative fuse mounting though!
@Jelfs
@Jelfs 5 жыл бұрын
Loving the fuse holder in the back of the machines not actually wired into anything...
@bobajake
@bobajake 5 жыл бұрын
Clive, the copper metal is the spring. It looks to me like the copper got hot enough to melt away. Also possibly confirming that there was another current path.
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