Smoke Machine Repair |
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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Posted: 08 January 2019 at 2:50am |
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Hi Guys
Had a smoke machine stop working, opened it up and found a blown fuse. Is it as simple as replacing the fuse or is this symptomatic of a bigger issue? The machine is an AF-250, one of the Thomann ones. |
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AM55
Old Croc Joined: 16 August 2007 Location: Matlock Status: Offline Points: 1728 |
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The guy has a blown fuse and you are advising him to look at the pump. Op, obviously the fuse is blown and that very well could be a symptom of a problem elsewhere but your first port of call would be to replace the fuse, making sure it is the exact rating including if it's short blow or fast blow, and see if it blows again. Maybe you will get lucky. efinque, you keep offering anecdotal advice in threads that is really not very helpful and because of this you are rubbing people up the wrong way e.g. the scopex thread. If you didn't have all the social media accounts behind you I would think you are a troll and a clever one at that. I am sure a guy that can build his own rotary mixer has something to offer the forum but please think before posting else you will continue to catch flak for it. There a people from all over the industry on this forum, people that really know their stuff as it is here day job. There are also very knowledgeable DIYers so if you give bad advice it will get called out. I don't want to see you receive a load of negativity for what I am sure are well intentioned posts .
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mini-mad
Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2012 Location: london Status: Offline Points: 6903 |
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Hold up... I had this problem. Switched out the fuse. Found the pump had been over worked. Replaced it.. THEN Found out it was the fact it all needed blowing through as the heating block was clogged causing this cascade of errors that lead to the fuse blowing. Yes he says some silly things BUT sometimes people can slip up and end up right. Replace the fuse to start and work backwards from there. I strongly advise having a cleaning fluid (home made or bought at the ready for when it does burst into life.
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If it sounds like a gorilla is trying to escape, turn it down.
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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Okay, so update. I bought a new fuse (5 actually, they were 35c each) Machine heated up fine, seemed to work until I pressed the smoke button. Fuse blew immediately. I then unplugged the pump and tried again with a new fuse. When I pressed the button nothing happened, so it's for sure the pump. The pump is unbranded and at first, I had trouble finding anything similar. Then I stumbled across the 'Ulka EP-5' which is a coffee machine pump. It looks exactly the same apart from the colours and branding. You can see the pump above in one of the images. This is the pump I'm thinking of getting. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ULKA-EP5-Coffee-Machine-Pump-48w-230v-15-bar-for-home-espresso-coffee-machine/181956891442?epid=11024400603&hash=item2a5d79d332:g:LasAAOSwB4BaFTV3:rk:1:pf:0 Think this will work or is this a bad idea? As far as cleaning goes, I have used the machine 3 times and I had cleaned it out after the second. What I think may have happened is the machine ran non stop, while dry for a while. It was new years and I left the controller sitting on the DJ table for the DJs to use, on one of the smaller stages at a festival. The machine ran dry, and rather than refill it they just turned all the knobs to the max and left it on auto hoping that would make smoke come out. |
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AM55
Old Croc Joined: 16 August 2007 Location: Matlock Status: Offline Points: 1728 |
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That may well be but there is no part taking things apart if you haven't replaced the fuse first to check, just in case. OP, The pumps in these tend to be very generic I wouldn't be surprised if it works.
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Earplug
Old Croc Joined: 03 January 2012 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 7216 |
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I was just about to offer you a pump, as I have a few spares lying around - then saw where you are! The voltage & wattage of the ebay one looks right - so should work. |
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Earplugs Are For Wimps!
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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Would any variation in flow rate matter?
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Earplug
Old Croc Joined: 03 January 2012 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 7216 |
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That´s obviously related to the power, but should be more or less the same. As noted above, these pumps are pretty much generic devices. You could also replace with a larger pump, but then may damage the control circuitry. That usually uses either a relay, or triac to fire up the pump. It looks like yours has a relay, which can be a bit more 'robust', in that the pump will draw 5 or 6 times it´s run current on startup, so risks blowing an (undersized) triac - especially if you´re constantly switching the pump. The problem is that the relay contacts will spark & pit over time, so 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. |
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Earplugs Are For Wimps!
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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Just purchased the pump, will report back with my success or failure.
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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Pump arrived, I put it in and it made a horrible noise, produced no smoke. Opened the 'new' pump up, and looked at the assembly diagram for it online. Turns out it was missing a part... Anyway, the pump was slightly different to the one it was replacing. I suspect the stairville one is some Chinese copy of this coffee machine pump.
I took the mechanism out of the burned pump and put it in the coil of the 'new' one, took a bit of brute force, I suspect they are not intended to go together. Tested the machine and it works perfectly now. So there you go, if you burn the coil of a stairville smoke machine, you can replace it with the coil from a coffee machine pump. |
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citizensc
Young Croc Joined: 16 October 2015 Location: Perth,Australia Status: Offline Points: 532 |
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There are no parts missing, its just a hybrid of two different pumps.
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concept-10
Young Croc Joined: 17 May 2016 Status: Offline Points: 1293 |
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Maybe if I was 8 years old. |
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