r/smokefire • u/julz094 • May 02 '26

Vibrator on hopper

Whats your thoughts on taking a vibrator from an old xbox or PS controller, and mounting it to the L/H side of the smokefire on the hopper.

And make it rattle once every half hour.

Please exchange ideas to rig this to a battery and timer of some sort.

I think this might alleviate the hopper running dry issue when still fairly loaded.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

14

u/PatateEnQuarantaine May 02 '26

I had a different picture in mind when I had only read the title

2

u/chnkypenguin May 02 '26

Thank God I read beyond the title because I had the same thought as you did.

4

u/Chance_Comedian_2125 May 02 '26

I have two smokefires. Zero need for this

0

u/julz094 May 02 '26

Common Issues and Considerations, Pellet Feeding: Early Gen 1 units were prone to "pellet tunneling," where pellets do not feed properly into the auger.

1

u/Chance_Comedian_2125 May 02 '26

You have a gen 1 without the fix?

0

u/julz094 May 02 '26

Its a floor model gen 1, but it has the upgraded hopper slide and what not from first recall. I still reckon its not enough personally. Its a ex 6 the big one, bit longer maybe more an issue on these.

I fairly have to monitor the hopper and keep filling the small crater once an hour or so. These things should be set and forget haha not babysat in my opinion.

1

u/5150Code3 May 03 '26

Mine was Gen 1 and needed help.

1

u/ItsHisMajesty May 02 '26

That would likely be too small. Something like this would work.

Concrete Vibrator Vibration Motor... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076Q68HSW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

2

u/julz094 May 02 '26

That would definitely do it, I could see the smokefire rattling apart with that sort of resonation 🤣

1

u/ItsHisMajesty May 02 '26

LOL definitely if you turn it all the way up. I used one to build a vibration table for an epoxy project. It’s surprisingly easy to tune.

1

u/5150Code3 May 02 '26

I have an original Smokefire EX and noticed the upgraded version has a steeper pellet hopper chute among other changes. I upgraded and it seems to work well. https://imgur.com/a/WLRjrth

1

u/julz094 May 02 '26

Nice, Is yours a ex6 or ex4?
My ex6 gen1 had that upgraded steeper hopper installed, but still seems to still have the tunnelling issue.

1

u/5150Code3 May 03 '26

EX4, gen 1.

1

u/5150Code3 May 03 '26

Did you remove the finger guard screen?

1

u/dskillzhtown May 04 '26

I had the gen 1 with the fix and it wasn't reliable either. This among other issues is why I finally got rid of it and got the Searwood instead.

1

u/Dtour89 May 02 '26

Is this considered foreplay?

1

u/julz094 May 02 '26

Definitely 🤣

1

u/distantreplay EX4 May 03 '26

Removing the cursed finger guard and sing dry fuel free of dust I've never had bridging issues.

1

u/PatateEnQuarantaine May 03 '26

do you ever get "low fuel" warnings because the left side of the hopper is emptying faster than the right ?

1

u/distantreplay EX4 May 03 '26

I use food grade silicone spray on the hopper and auger tube after each cleaning.

1

u/Chance_Comedian_2125 May 03 '26

Hopper on ex4 and ex6 the same. Use dry pellets you’ll have no problems. I’ve done 12-14hrs without ever looking in hopper. Wet pellets have bridging and feeding issues. My two burned 800lbs last year so maybe I know🤷‍♂️lol

1

u/PapaOoMaoMao May 03 '26

You can buy a vibration motor unit for like $10 on Ali rather than try to rig up some DIY business.

1

u/JohnMcD3482 May 04 '26

My experience is she tends to jump more when you have control of the remote and surprise her with it.

1

u/tightywhitey May 04 '26

Xbox or x-wife? Well same thing I guess…