Wood Stove mod

[billygoat333]

haha thats awesome. (not that you almost burned down your house, but come on, fire is cool!)

maybe you shouldnt be using wire from something quite so hot as a curling iron? idk.

and yes, a metal box would probably be a wise investment haha

[x88x]

maybe you shouldnt be using wire from something quite so hot as a curling iron? idk.

On that note, I actually still have the heating coil from the soldering iron iron as well...not sure how well it would work on 12V though...

[BS Mods]

Thanks for the input guys.

I thought about a metal box but I didn't find one the size I needed. This is a pretty expensive little box for being plastic. It's made for electronic stuff I guess. Just not fire.

I'm using the wire from a hair dryer because it can get hot over and over without getting brittle and breaking. And if you think about it, hair dryers have air moving across the element so that's where my little fan comes in.

I will do some more experimenting tonight after I build a new one to see if it was just the fan not being on. I made a big mistake by installing the last one without doing more testing. Usually I don't do that but I am on a time crunch here so I risked it. I always push my luck and this time it bit me.


I will get the next one running and let you know.

[BS Mods]

I got some more parts today to make a new and improved smoke maker.


I took the new rope I bought and tried to light it on fire. It would not even get hot. I was pretty impressed. Then I put some of the "non-flammable" smoke oil on it and lit it. It was engulfed in flames instantly! So much for non flammable. Now it's easy to see why it caught on fire.

I did notice on the bottle that it said to only use a few drops at a time. So maybe I'll try that when I get this back together.





But first....

I made the bracket for a little speaker I'm putting inside the case. I will be putting it near the base of the chimney. This way should be able to hear sound coming from the chimney a little. More specific, you should hear the sounds of (fake) crackling fire coming from the stove.

I painted it to match and mounted it in a good spot.

It should work perfect.

Now onto the smoke again..

I decided I better do a LOT of bench testing with this thing before I mount it inside the case again.

So I built it the same way. I tried several different lengths of wire wrapped around the rope first to see which would get hot but not too hot. After settling with the one I thought worked best I gave it a try.

LOTS of smoke and I left it on almost a minute with no problem. That tells me the reason it lit on fire last time was from not having the fan running and keeping the wire a little cooler. And I had soaked the rope instead of only using a few drops.

Now I'm excited again!

So I mounted it back in the case. Hooked it up and turned it back on. The smoke wasn't rising out of the chimney for some reason so I quickly shut it down. I discovered there wasn't enough clearance between the top of the case and the fan so it wasn't able to pull air through the box.

So I have removed the fan from the top of the box and put it inside the box to pull the air through. It's working great.

I also painted it all black to match and made an extension piece for the chimney so that the smoke exits at the top of the chimney.

That's it for now. I'll have more tomorrow and it should be totally complete. I've been waiting on a 1 foot DVI cable to show up so I can hook up the monitor and adjust the image size to fit the window of the stove. Then I can put the back on it, wipe it down a little, and enjoy.

[Trace]

Awesome job!

[SXRguyinMA]

ncie work! video is in order!

FWIW I think those real fire screensavers have sound built in

[BS Mods]

ncie work! video is in order!

FWIW I think those real fire screensavers have sound built in

Yea it does have a bunch of different sound options. But I need a speaker so you can hear it. I want it all contained inside so there isn't a lot of stuff plugged into the case. I will be using a wireless keyboard/mouse as well. The only thing coming from the case while in use will be the 2 power cords.


I think I will make a video and get it posted. I have the ability but not the extra time.

[x88x]

Looks good. OOC, what are you doing about refilling the smoker? You said that you soaked the rope, does that mean that to refill it you would have to dismantle it and soak it again?

[Snowman]

It has been almost 12 hours since your last pictures what are you doing working or sleeping or something such a lack of dedication get back to it... awesome mod cant wait to see it finished.

[BS Mods]

It has been almost 12 hours since your last pictures what are you doing working or sleeping or something such a lack of dedication get back to it... awesome mod cant wait to see it finished.

LOL


Not much sleeping. Just lots to do in a short time.

As far as refilling the smoker-

All I have to do is take the chimney cap off, drop a few drops of oil down the small tube, and it's ready. I lined up the rope so that it sits exactly under the hole of the tube.


Ok so you will really like this I hope.


I am done!!

It works great. It has fire, crackling sound, flickering light, and real smoke.

Here is a pic I took.

I will get more up later but I'm updating all the software, drivers, etc.

I will make a little video with my HD camera too.