Okay you don't laugh at my set up here but wanted to post because it works. I used parts I got from a hardware store and a few things I had extra laying around. I figured since I like to tinker around this would be fun to do.
My smoke system works of compressed air instead of electric motors and batteries. I been wanting to add smoke to my Edge and figured I would make up something to see if it worked. I looked at the kits with motors and all and they just seemed a bit heavy to me then you still have to add the batteries. I heard a few people talking about putting a tap in the crankcase for pressure but did'nt want to do that on my new Saito.
What I did was went to K-mart and bought one of those small handheld air horns. I used that as an air tank because it was small and light. I drilled 2 holes, one for air fill which is just a air valve kind of like ones you see on bicycles. That way I could hook up a pump directly onto the tank. The other hole was a nipple that I used to run air to the oil tank. I soldered copper tubing to that nipple and ran it right into the 6 oz tank I have.
On my oil tank I have 3 lines going into it. One is the line for air, the other is the oil feed line that has the clunk on it. And the last one is vent line to allow air to bleed out as I fill the tank with oil. The oil line runs to a small needle valve I to regulate the oil flow and then into a fitting in the muffler I tapped in.
At the moment I don't have an on or off valve for the tank but intend to use one when I find one. I was looking on the ROBART website and they have what I need to make it work right. The way I control the oil flow is by pumping my air tank and then it pumps the fuel tank. I have a servo that runs a wire around the fuel line that kinks it off and on and that is what cuts my air on or off as well as my oil. I know this is not the best way but I just made this up as I went along and learning about how it works at same time. All I need is that cut off from ROBART and it should work pretty good.
Anyways I wanted to see if my set up would work on the way I have it now and see if I was going in right direction. I filled my oil tank up then cranked the engine. I am running a Saito 100 so all I needed was the oil to go into muffler and it would heat from there since supposedly 4 strokes exhaust is hotter. From what I have heard. Anyhow I cranked the engine up let it warm up then cut on my oil. It took about 5 seconds but then my smoke started. I adjusted the needle valve until I had the thickest smoke. I noticed if I turn the needle way open it wouldn't make it smoke any thicker so I have it set just as it looks like it has best flow. I was able to cut the smoke on or off and it worked good. With my small air tank I was afraid that the air would run out before the oil but it didn't. I was able to run all my oil out and still have pressure left over. I only got about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of smoke off my 6 oz tank. I will get a larger tank to allow long smoke runs since this one works good so far. I just wanted to see if it would work at all and so far it seems like it does.
I have not flown it yet so not sure how the smoke will look in air but on ground it was pretty thick and covered up my yard. I seen where some people are making their own blend of smoke oil and thought about trying it later on. But for now I bought a jug of SUPER DRI so I would know the oil I was using would work. I didn't want to be trying to make smoke system and making up a blend at same time.
Here are some pictures on what I have now. I plan on making it much better but this is a start that hardly cost me anything. The oil was the most expensive part out of all of it. I know it looks chessy but it works!!.
