Published January 18, 2019 © CC BY-NC

Rainbow Mist Machine

Let's make some fog!

BeginnerFull instructions provided6 hours1,238

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

Infineon CoolMOS C7 Gold SJ MOSFET

CPU Casing Fan

Back Box Single Gang

RGB Diffused Common Cathode

SparkFun 4N35 Optocoupler

Resistor 1k ohm

Resistor 100k ohm

Resistor 330 ohm

Jumper wires (generic)

Lead Acid Battery 12V 7.5Ah

Resistor 100 ohm

Kanthal Wire 0.8 Ohms 80 Watt Coil

Cotton Ball

Vegetable Glycerin

Propylene glycol

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Soldering iron (generic)

Hot glue gun (generic)

Story

Just glowing an RGB LED in vapor to make some rainbow mist, which looks nice in the dark.

Rainbow Mist Action

Mist generation is shown below :

Misty Light

1 / 2 • Rainbow mist: camera is not doing proper judgment !

Hardware Build

The build is basically a vaporizer coil producing vapor, PC casing fan blowing it, RGB LED is giving it rainbow glow. Arduino is controlling the RGB and mist cycle.

Ingredients : Back box, 12V fan, Uno, RGB LED, Optocoupler, 0.8 ohm Coil, Cotton Ball, Proto board etc

Wrapped Copper wire contact at both end of the coil and cotton rolled through the coil

Coil, cotton and wire placement on Back Box

RGB LED placement and blocking all but one hole (under coil) with hot glue for sealing unwanted airways

These cotton must be kept soaked for continuous operation

1 / 2 • Fan placed on back box and hot glued for sealing gaps

1 / 2 • MOSFET driver (top)

Fog test

Coding

This code is written on Arduino IDE and uploaded to Uno. There are mainly two things going on here, power on the coil to create mist and then power off to cool down. While the RGB LED cycles through VIBGYOR color.

What Is Vaporizing?

The liquid that is vaporizing is a 80/20 mix (by volume) of Glycerol (aka Vegetable Glycerine) and Propylene Glycol. Both the coil and the cotton must be soaked well with this liquid before power it up or the vaporizer will get damaged.

Mix of Glycerol & Propylene Glycol, Mango food flavor ( soirce of Propylene Glycol)

These things are separately available as moisturizing product and food flavoring in grocery stores.

Alternatively, e-liquid/e-juice (without nic) can be used in this device directly to make fog.

Safety

Sufficient air flow must be maintained to avoid cotton burnout
Coil and copper wire contact must never be soldered
Coil and copper wires should be wrapped tightly
Cotton must be kept soaked with the liquid for continuous operation
To avoid overheating, coil should be powered off every few seconds
To avoid skin/eye damage from sudden spitting of hot liquid, safe distance should be maintained
This is a high current device, Battery/Power Supply of proper rating must be used

Conclusion

This is just a small demonstration but unfortunately the camera can't quite capture what it actually looks like in the dark to naked eye. Using coolMOS with more powerful LEDs and vaporizer, it is not impossible to make a much higher power consumer/industrial version of this for home party, music show and entertainment industries. The solution may be portable and battery powered from a 3s/4s LiPo pack.

Code

const int redPin = 11;
const int greenPin = 10;
const int bluePin = 9;
const int coolmos_drive = 8;
unsigned long cooldown_timer =4;

void setup() 
{
  setColourRgb(0,0,0);
  pinMode(coolmos_drive,OUTPUT);
  
  
}

void loop() 
{
  while( (millis()/1000)<cooldown_timer)
  {
    coolMOS_On();
  unsigned int rgbColour[3];

  rgbColour[0] = 255;
  rgbColour[1] = 0;
  rgbColour[2] = 0;  

  for (int decColour = 0; decColour < 3; decColour += 1) {
    int incColour = decColour == 2 ? 0 : decColour + 1;

    for(int i = 0; i < 255; i += 1) {
      rgbColour[decColour] -= 1;
      rgbColour[incColour] += 1;
      
      setColourRgb(rgbColour[0], rgbColour[1], rgbColour[2]);
      delay(5);
    }
  }
  }
  
  cooldown_timer = (millis()/1000)+4;
  while( (millis()/1000)<cooldown_timer)
  {
    coolMOS_Off(); // let the coil cooldown
    // keep rgb glowing
  unsigned int rgbColour[3];

  rgbColour[0] = 255;
  rgbColour[1] = 0;
  rgbColour[2] = 0;  

  for (int decColour = 0; decColour < 3; decColour += 1) {
    int incColour = decColour == 2 ? 0 : decColour + 1;

    for(int i = 0; i < 255; i += 1) {
      rgbColour[decColour] -= 1;
      rgbColour[incColour] += 1;
      
      setColourRgb(rgbColour[0], rgbColour[1], rgbColour[2]);
      delay(5);
    }
  }
  }
  cooldown_timer = (millis()/1000)+4;

 
  
}

void setColourRgb(unsigned int red, unsigned int green, unsigned int blue) 
{
  analogWrite(redPin, red);
  analogWrite(greenPin, green);
  analogWrite(bluePin, blue);
}
void coolMOS_On (void)
{
  digitalWrite(coolmos_drive,HIGH);
}

void coolMOS_Off (void)
{
  digitalWrite(coolmos_drive,LOW);
}

Credits

Shahariar

74 projects • 265 followers

"What Kills a 'Great life' is a 'Good Life', which is Living a Life Inside While Loop"

Thanks to Jamesotron.

Rainbow Mist Machine

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Rainbow Mist Action

Hardware Build

Coding

What Is Vaporizing?

Safety

Conclusion

Schematics

rmm

Code

RMM

Credits

Shahariar

Comments

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Rainbow Mist Machine

Rainbow Mist Machine

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Rainbow Mist Action

Hardware Build

Coding

What Is Vaporizing?

Safety

Conclusion

Schematics

rmm

Code

RMM

Credits

Shahariar

Comments

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