Wanted: Knowledgable Individual to answer questions on M3A4 smoke generator

[Tranham]

Ok, picked up a M3A4 smoke generator. Slowly learning through manuals / trial and error. Caught unit on fire briefly when I first started. Fixed bad float and tightened up gas lines. My current issues are as follows. Unit appears to overheat quickly. It will turn the housing for the ignitor cherry red in under 2 mins. Per the manual I keep try and not run it for more than 2 mins without smoke oil. Does the smoke oil keep the engine cooler at all? If not do they just want oil running through the pump constantly or actually making smoke all the time? Could it be that the exhaust is clogged and that's what is making the engine run hotter than it should? It has a new fuel metering value. Lastly the manual says if the engine runs too hot to raise the carb up. Would this not bring more gas to the engine head??

Thanks

Robert

 

[bmwsyc]

I have a M3A4 smoke generator that we have used for paintball events. All told we have run about 120 gallons of mineral oil through the several we have worked with. I have found them to be extremely finicky. Part of the problem could be how they were previously cared for or how long they had been sitting. The first unit we had took forever to get running, it really isn't fun pumping up the air tank to 60psi each attemp at firing.

The one I have now has been modified to make starting a lot easier. We have a scuba tank with a welding regulator on it to reduce pressure to 60 psi, for starting airflow. That 60 psi is further regulated down to about 5-10 psi to feed a corny (soda) keg with the mineral oil in it. We found the original air bleed air powered pumps to be a pain it the butt. I also put a BBQ igniter in place of the push magneto setup. A lot easier on the body. So, from original, the bleed air pump, storage box, and magneto assembly have been removed, also making it much lighter.

The oil does cool the engine, if you run too long without oil, it will overheat, although even with proper use, the thing gets HOT. we had a few gas leaks also, and a red hot engine and leaking gas is not a good mix. Finding the right flow amount of mineral oil is easy to get after a little bit. If the smoke is thin and has a yellow tint, it is not enough. You should hear the engine bog down a little bit with the right flow, and you will get very thick pure white smoke. Too much flow and you start to "fill" the internals and you either get spitting mineral oil out the discharge tubes, or it may ignite in the engine.

Starting, the carb is all the way up, and after it starts, I drop it down about 3/4 to 1 inch. I've never had a reed burn up, but there always seemed to be a bunch of spares with the units. I would guess with the carb all the way up, the mixture is richer??? I'm not sure. If the exhaust was blocked, at least completely, it would not start, I'm guessing.

Im trying to remember if I have a video somewhere, I know I have pictures with it running. Any other questions, feel free.

 

[Tranham]

Ok thanks. Where are you getting the mineral oil and how much are you paying? I saw somewhere a guy using diesel fuel instead of fog oil.

Guess it's going to get red hot without the oil.
I've hooked up an air line to the starter air tank to fill it. So far it starts on the 2nd or 3rd try. Seems hard and dangerous to start hot.

Robert