Toastie Posted December 23, 2020 Posted December 23, 2020 15 hours ago, Amoreternum said: so it was probably some unholy blend of asbestos and lead with used engine oil as a binder. Huh? How does that "blend" create "smoke"? Asbestos are fibers - rock solid fibers never ever evaporating, they were meant to prevent things to get oxidized - and then Lead? For heaven's sake, why would you want to use such a metal to create smoke? And then engine oil as binder ... it simply does not make >any< sense. It also sounds like adding Uranyl acetate would add a cool greenish glow to it. Wow. Best Thorsten Quote
Lord Insanity Posted December 23, 2020 Posted December 23, 2020 2 hours ago, Toastie said: Huh? How does that "blend" create "smoke"? Asbestos are fibers - rock solid fibers never ever evaporating, they were meant to prevent things to get oxidized - and then Lead? For heaven's sake, why would you want to use such a metal to create smoke? And then engine oil as binder ... it simply does not make >any< sense. It also sounds like adding Uranyl acetate would add a cool greenish glow to it. Wow. Best Thorsten He was making a joke. Asbestos, lead, and used engine oil are some of the most common "contaminates" in fiction. Those old smoke pellets were actually made of meta-terphenyl, a waxy solid that was used mainly as a coolant or insulator in electrical transformers. It is not something you want to breath a lot of on a regular basis but once in a while in small quantities wasn't a big deal. The modern water vaporizers are a massive improvement on the whole concept as it doesn't leave residue, doesn't act as an irritant, and only costs water to refill. I must admit to being curious about how well a Lego compatible smoke unit performs. Quote
Toastie Posted December 23, 2020 Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) @Phoxtane & @Amoreternum & @Lord Insanity Sorry, I missed that joke entirely - good to know BTW once upon a time I had to synthesize para-terphenyl in an advanced organic chemistry lab - it was a 6-step route. Started out with 3L of "I forgot" and failed miserably after the 5th step which had a product yield of 0% . Well p-terphenyl is dead-cheap ... even as a student I could afford to buy a sample and uhm ... well ... but don't tell anybody. On the other hand, I believe after 35 years this criminal act is falling under the statute of limitations - I sure hope. Otherwise, I may still inquire in the Oval Mirror for a pardon. Well, that experience was another reason why I turned my back on OC rather early on and finally became a physical chemist with some love for theoretical chemistry. As they say: Molecules with more than three atoms are highly suspicious ... Also: I just checked on Wikipedia: I believe the stuff used in the transformers were PCTs, right? I don't know, but they talk about the poly-chlorinated terphenyls. Whatver: Way too many atoms assembled together ... Best and again: Sorry for not getting it. All the very best Thorsten Edited December 24, 2020 by Toastie Quote
JWBDolphins Posted December 23, 2020 Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Toastie said: On the other hand, I believe after 35 years this criminal act is falling under the statute of limitations HAH!!! I've always thought a Smoke Unit for LEGO was the holy grail and unobtainable. Traditionally its been done with high heat which you don't want with flammable bricks and with smoke fluid you don't want to breathe and can leave residue. But, if I understand this correctly, using ultrasonic motion to vaporize water bypasses those issues. I can possibly see tying a piston to the drive train to "puff" the vapor in synch. My "list of things to look at" is Supposed To be diminishing, not growing! Edited December 23, 2020 by JWBDolphins Typo Quote
bogieman Posted December 23, 2020 Posted December 23, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, JWBDolphins said: HAH!!! I've always thought a Smoke Unit for LEGO was the holy grail and unobtainable. Traditionally its been done with high heat which you don't want with flammable bricks and with smoke fluid you don't want to breathe and can leave residue. But, if I understand this correctly, using ultrasonic motion to vaporize water bypasses those issues. I can possibly see tying a piston to the drive train to "puff" the vapor in synch. My "list of things to look at" is Supposed To be diminishing, not growing! Rather than hi-jack this thread, I started a new one on my loco that does just that. Edited December 23, 2020 by bogieman added link Quote
marbleman Posted December 25, 2020 Posted December 25, 2020 On 12/23/2020 at 2:13 AM, legonerd54321 said: This is amazing. Can these be purchased individually, and are they compatible with PF? Sorry, because of the insufficient production capacity, it only use for SET now. Quote
bogieman Posted December 26, 2020 Posted December 26, 2020 11 hours ago, marbleman said: Sorry, because of the insufficient production capacity, it only use for SET now. Is it included in all the sets of the QJ or just some more recent ones? Is there a set part number to be sure it's included? Quote
marbleman Posted December 28, 2020 Posted December 28, 2020 On 12/26/2020 at 9:06 AM, bogieman said: Is it included in all the sets of the QJ or just some more recent ones? Is there a set part number to be sure it's included? It's only include recent SETs. Quote
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