Wayne - could you take a small pc of nichrome wire and wind it like a small
helical heating element.  Then place a grain of rice, or wheat inside as a
smoke generator?  Flour will smoke too, if you get it on a heating element,
but I thought a grain of some sort might be more available.  Variable
moisture content in the grain may be a problem, however.



Inge - I know this deviates wildly from topic, but ...

When our daughters were in high school, someone dropped off a cat which
quickly became attached to us.  Was a very nice outdoor cat, that
occasionally came inside.  Living out in the country, we were accustomed to
the drop-offs, unfortunately.  He never scratched or 'marked' anything in
the house!

When he had to 'go', he would go to the front door and meow loudly until we
let him out. Occasionally, he would come in with the boys that seemed to
frequent our house for dinner, etc.

There were two boys that dutiful engineering father and loving mother were
not internally too fond of, but .... you know how that goes.  Better to keep
your trap shut!  Well, on multiple occasions "Bud" the cat would slink over
between the teenagers and make himself comfortable.  After a suitable
relaxation period, good ol' Bud would let slip one of those silent but
deadly ones and then gently get up and walk to the front door.  About that
time the bomb burst.  Typically smelled worse than fermented pig poo!  

My wife and I were always so proud of this drop-off cat because Bud only
bombed the boys we didn't like!  We don't know how he sensed it, but he
nailed them both - on multiple occasions.  With the others, he just layed
there and enjoyed the rubbing.  

The girls comment on it to this day [PS - they didn't marry those two boys!]

Steve C


was dating during high-school
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Inge Hernefjord
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 4:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Blowing Smoke

When our cat farts, a very smal amount of gas is spread all over the room
and remains constant pretty long..

Inge


On 28 August 2013 11:21, Stadem, Richard D.
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Find out how particle counters are calibrated. There must be a 
> procedure somewhere. Then figure out a way to make it cheaper and easier
to use.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wayne Thayer
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 12:09 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [TN] Blowing Smoke
>
> Hi Phil-
>
> No problem with organics.
>
> This is a good direction to consider:  An electronic cigarette.  They 
> contain the micro-heater to vaporize the propylene glycol.  I can 
> probably make that controlled by the Arduino I'm using, and pulse 
> width modulate it to adjust how much comes out.  I may need an 
> additional blower of some kind in the system, but that sounds pretty easy.
>
> I'll let you know what I find out.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Wayne
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 11:25 AM
> To: TechNet E-Mail Forum; Wayne Thayer
> Subject: RE: [TN] Blowing Smoke
>
> Heat up propylene glycol, oh wait, you need inorganic particulates, right?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wayne Thayer
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 8:07 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [TN] Blowing Smoke
>
> OK, here's another problem I've been playing with (although it has 
> little to do with IPC mission, it might be related).
>
> I am trying to build a system for measuring airborne particulates for 
> humanitarian organizations looking for inexpensive ways to 
> measure/monitor indoor air quality.  There are cheap sensors available 
> which might do the job, but they would need periodic re-calibration.
>
> So I need a controlled, extremely small amount of smoke.  At first, I 
> thought this would be trivial:  Find a cheap part at DigiKey and put 
> too many watts through it.  Way too much smoke and too little control.  
> Then I tried burning thin wires.  Too irregular because sometimes they 
> incinerate completely and other times they find a tiny defect and just 
> burn that until the wire stops conducting.  Then I tried just heating 
> the wire enough to burn off the insulation.  Still too irregular!  I 
> did just a few experiments and got 30% variation.
>
> Now I'm starting to think maybe a tiny piece of paper on an automotive 
> cigarette lighter.  That's a lot of power to get that glowing, and it 
> is not convenient to attach to.  Any other ideas?
>
> Wayne
>
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