Proportional smokers

[jarndice]

Just finished installing a proportional smoker in my Panzer 4, the only difficulty was the two plastic pipes from the top of the smoker to the two inlets on the rear bulkhead, they are just too inflexible, as you bend them around to centre on the bulkhead they close up because the turn is too tight, the solution if you have young children or in our case grandchildren is in the kitchen, FLEXIBLE PLASTIC DRINKING STRAWS, the ends fit tightly over the smokers outlets then bend the straw through 90 degrees, 10mm beyond the bend slice the balance off the straw and slide another bendy straw over that one, run that out to the point where it is opposite the inlet in the bulkhead and turn the straw through 90 degrees . allow enough straw to fit over the inlet and cut off the balance. You will see that you will need two straws per inlet/ outlet, I am glad that we have two different types of straw, one is a tight fit over the smoker outlet with a small length of bendy and the other is just big enough to slide over the first straw and has a much longer section of bendy straw, I would suggest talking to your wife/partner about different straw sizes, strangely other men I spoke with edged away and gave me very odd looks. the great thing about doing this, is the straws are cheap, flexible ,and easy to fit so that topping up your smoker is quite easy. shaun

[ALPHA]

Just finished installing a proportional smoker in my Panzer 4, the only difficulty was the two plastic pipes from the top of the smoker to the two inlets on the rear bulkhead, they are just too inflexible, as you bend them around to centre on the bulkhead they close up because the turn is too tight, the solution if you have young children or in our case grandchildren is in the kitchen, FLEXIBLE PLASTIC DRINKING STRAWS, the ends fit tightly over the smokers outlets then bend the straw through 90 degrees, 10mm beyond the bend slice the balance off the straw and slide another bendy straw over that one, run that out to the point where it is opposite the inlet in the bulkhead and turn the straw through 90 degrees . allow enough straw to fit over the inlet and cut off the balance. You will see that you will need two straws per inlet/ outlet, I am glad that we have two different types of straw, one is a tight fit over the smoker outlet with a small length of bendy and the other is just big enough to slide over the first straw and has a much longer section of bendy straw, I would suggest talking to your wife/partner about different straw sizes, strangely other men I spoke with edged away and gave me very odd looks. the great thing about doing this, is the straws are cheap, flexible ,and easy to fit so that topping up your smoker is quite easy. shaun

Hey there shaun... I tried those flexi straws before...I found one drawback with using them... they are so thin .. they become brittle with time and crumble...what i found useful is use the original smoker outlets... and build around that... using brass tube to extend the original clear tubing...(those will act like elbows similarly to the flexi straws ) and an optional overlay of heat shrink ...on one tank... I actually cut the black outlets ... (because of the HL glue monkey) and repositioned them that way... they sealed pretty good... but just to be sure I put a drop of super glue on the open ends. once shrinking the heat shrink that is ....

ALPHA

[ALPHA]

By the way shaun... those proportional smokers.... are those the ones that smoke upon acceleration? Do they work well... and do they drain the battery any faster?
I have to admit ... I usually turn mine off...but on occasion they are fun to run with
I almost bought those.... but thought the increase in power draw when the tank accelerates... would also drain the battery faster...without any literature on the pros and cons ... I opted not to get them..though the thought of them haunts me.. as it would be too cool to be able to see more smoke when moving and less when idling

ALPHA

[jarndice]

ALPHA, When I get round to running the thing I will give you an answer, I only finished a couple of hours ago and unlike Paradise, here it is winter, it is night and it is cold and wet, in one word ENGLAND! When I was wiring the terminal block I toyed with the idea of fitting an on/off switch but decided against, the current drain is minimal I would have thought. shaun

[ALPHA]

ALPHA, When I get round to running the thing I will give you an answer, I only finished a couple of hours ago and unlike Paradise, here it is winter, it is night and it is cold and wet, in one word ENGLAND! When I was wiring the terminal block I toyed with the idea of fitting an on/off switch but decided against, the current drain is minimal I would have thought. shaun

That's fine shaun... I thought you might have had a go with them already... no rush.... as I would think a good long run with a fresh battery would be the best way to see if it drains the battery faster... plus I'm not ordering anything till those spare links arrive..what can I say.. small things like that bug me

I would imagine running in the snow would be fun... though adding in the night chill factor adds too much brrrrrrrrrrrrrr to the equation

ALPHA

[tanker 242]

hi alpha tanker242 here I use the proportional smokers & yes u do get more smoke out when running than at idle, & it looks great ,& so far my batterys are lasting the same length of time , as normal

[ALPHA]

hi alpha tanker242 here I use the proportional smokers & yes u do get more smoke out when running than at idle, & it looks great ,& so far my batterys are lasting the same length of time , as normal

Hello Tanker 242
More smoke at idle... I thought there would be less...read some descriptions and says the smoke increases as the tank accelerates ...still good to know... think I will put those on my next buy list.... and install them in some of my tanks

Thanks tanker242

ALPHA

[tanker 242]

hi alpha , normal smoke at idle , more smoke when at speed, ie when standing still normal amount of smoke , smoke increases when tank is moveing , ie tracks going faster , tanker242.

[ALPHA]

hi alpha , normal smoke at idle , more smoke when at speed, ie when standing still normal amount of smoke , smoke increases when tank is moveing , ie tracks going faster , tanker242.

Hey tanker242.. thanks again... that's what it sounded like in most descriptions...and now that you have said they don't draw any more power than the ordinary smokers... I'll probably get some

then all I would have to do is figure out how to rev the engine and have it spew black once in awhile

Has anyone done that ? color the smoke?

ALPHA

[berman]

I have often wondered that too Alpha, whether you can add food colouring or something (maybe not dye) to make black sooty smoke. Would love to do this on tanks and trucks