Building The Prototype

So after some careful consideration, I managed to come up with a plan for the construction of the "Smoke Generator" housing. I knew it needed to be durable and able to handle a moderate amount of localized heat, I also wanted it to be removable so I could easily clean it and also refill the oil pot when required. 

After a short while brainstorming I came up with this drawing. So now I had a plan but unfortunately I had no materials. If you've been watching my tutorials you'll notice that I like to use everyday materials where I can and in a similar fashion with this build I managed to find an old hair spray cap to use as the oil pot. The other materials were a little more specialized so I picked them up at the hardware store.  

Overall the general design is quite simple, the plan was to ensure the hottest part of the generator was a good distance away from the scenery on the layout yet still have the effectiveness of the smoke. The hottest part is about 5mm down from the top of the generator. 

In the image below you can see the unit pieced together and you can see it in its separated parts. The red washers are fiber washers and able to withstand heat and compression, it's hard to see in the images but I've placed three washers around the aluminum tubing and sanded them on a slight angle, that way I'm able to simply press fit the oil pot and smoke generator into position with minimal effort thus fulfilling one of my requirements of having the oil pot easy to remove.
It's a plug style connection and the washers don't conduct heat very well which is great because I want to prevent any heat from coming into contact with the oil pot.

The two aluminum tubes connect by sliding one over the other, one hole has been drilled into each tube so by lining up the holes and inserting a pin you will be able to secure the tubes in place without the possibility of them separating.

And you can see in the first image at the top of the page the general idea of how the system will be installed on the layout. A hole can be drilled straight down through the layout then install a suitable length aluminum tube (the smaller diameter one), build your scenery over the top (for this scene I'll be making a camp fire), attach the bottom sections of the system (the smoke generator & oil pot) then wire it up turn it on and you're done.... easier said than done right! 

In the next Blog update I should have the system running, I'll be doing quite a bit of testing before committing this design to the YouTube tutorial, I have to be sure it's a sound set up because the last thing I want is to send people down the wrong path leading to disappointment.