How a Cold Spark Machine Works [In Detail CryoFX®] – Cold Spark Machine How It Works Time Cards
How Does a Cold Spark Machine Work?
Hey guys, it’s CryoFX. We will cover how a cold spark machine works with respect to time cards. We get many questions that are asked about this and a lot of misunderstanding about how the time cards work. People also want to know how the time cards are relevant to the sparks and the granules.
We’re going to cover all that on this video so that you’re well-informed on that. There are a couple of machines that are out on the market here. Such as the pro blitz pulse spark machine, the ice spark effects and cold spark machines. There are also a couple of models of those and of course the Sylvan spark machines and the spark-tacular spark machines.
What Are Machine Cards?
There are numerous options in this regard out there, and the majority of the ones on the market work with cards. You may have seen little RFID cards before. The reason they are produced is that it is a way for a company to get keep their product and make you as the customer come back and buy products from them. While granules can be purchased from anywhere, one needs to go back to the company to buy the card.
How The Cards Function
A question that comes up regularly is “well, what does the card do?” The card puts the time on the machine. There is an electronic device on the cold spark machine that reads it. It has a specific code on it that reads the RFID signal, and it actually allows the machine to operate and spray sparks out for a specified amount of time.
This specific amount of time normally cannot change whatever the card. Now, let us get to the details of how the card works and how it relates to the pack of granules. Let’s say that you have a Chauvin spark machine. Regardless of where you got it from, you get a card, and you get a pack of granules. The pack of granules and the card in theory go together. That card puts either 15, 12 or 13 minutes.
It puts a certain amount of time on the machine. The pack of granules is supposed to last as that card time is put on the machine. To explain, they probably did a test in the beginning and said out of X number of machines ran, and we put 200 grams of granules in the machine, it takes about on average 15 or 12 minutes for these granules to run out. Therefore the amount of time that we’re going to put on the machine is what we’re going to put on this card to match those granules.
This means that if the card puts 15 minutes on the cold spark machine, it will spray granules as long as there are granules in the machine, up to 15 minutes. Then the machine won’t spray anymore.
Is My Time Wasting If I Just Turn My Machine On?
People commonly ask” what if I turn the machine on?, I want to avoid wasting my time” Well, you won’t waste time if the machine is on. It’s just idle. It is only when your machine actually sprays granules and sparks come out of it that you’re actually using the time. You can turn the machine off or on, and you can move it or unplug it, you can do all of this with the cold spark machine but if it’s not spraying granules out of it or spraying sparks you’re not using the time.
Very specifically, the time only comes off when you actually use it for spraying sparks. We would like to emphasize on that because we know from the feedback we get that this is a confusing topic for many to understand.
The Relationship between Cards and Granules
The way the companies do this is you can buy granules from anybody, any granules will work on these machines, but the problem is if you keep feeding granules into the cold spark machine eventually it’s going to run out of time.
The only way to activate that machine again is with an RFID card. Companies typically only sell an RFID card and a pack of granules as a set. This is because there’s no reason to sell RFID cards alone because the companies themselves, the resellers, are buying them from the manufacturer, and they come as a pack.
How the Cards and Granules Work In Your Machine
The machine when you get it will have some time on it, probably from testing or something like that. You can buy granules from CryoFX or anywhere, as any granules for the most part will work in your machine. Now when you run out of time you’re going to have to buy another card, and a card comes with a pack of granules. What happens here as I mentioned already is that the card has a certain amount of time on it and ideally the pack of granules runs out in the same amount of time as what the card has on it.
And maybe we should stop saying the time that the card has on it because really the card is just a trigger. The time is built into the cold spark machine. When you scan an RFID card on the machine, the machine it tells itself “ok, RFID card spent scanned now I can activate myself again for 15 more minutes”.
Do Brand Differences Matter in Cold Spark Machine?
Some machines differ occasionally. You have minis that are 2 minutes depending on the brand, three minutes or four minutes. Every machine is different, every company has a bit of nuance to it and a bit of customization to their products. This is so their cards work on their machines. Cards are not interchangeable between machines.
We have to make that as clear as we can. This is so, especially on the sparklers. You have the white cards which are the regular-sized machines. The white cards also work on the falls. These cards don’t work on the minis, you have the black cards which only work on the minis. This latter category doesn’t work on the mini falls or on the regular falls.
They don’t work on other ones, so you have specific cards for specific machines. Be sure to contact CryoFX, we have information on our website. Make sure that you go on there, and you have a look. This is because the last thing that you would want is for you to buy a spark machine and, thinking that you’re going to save some money. Get the smaller packet granules and ask for a smaller pack of granules without stating what machine you have.
In such cases, when we send you those, and it unfortunately doesn’t work, with your machine. Always remember, cards are unique to machines. Cards are unique to the brands of machines. They’re not interchangeable in any aspect. Furthermore, you have packs of granules. Granules can be used wherever.
If you have granules left over from one machine, you can put it in another machine, which that machine doesn’t know. Cold spark machines for weddings, cold spark machines for events and similar occasions and you know there are a lot of different brands. We mentioned those at the beginning, so we’re not going to beat a dead horse as they say with going over those all over again.
Understanding Cold Spark Machine Time
The time is simply just what’s on the machine. It’s a device in the machine that allows that machine to operate and actually spray sparks. The problem that I think that people get misunderstood here is when you have a big pack of granules and a card okay the card puts 15 minutes hypothetically, let’s just say for the sake of this example this card puts 15 minutes in a machine, the problem is this you have a physical product that sometimes more may spray out sometimes less may spray out.
It depends on how you’re using the cold spark machine. You can’t gauge that on the test that the companies have done. They have taken a summary or a sample of a collection of these on what they’ve done. You can’t control that the card’s time code on the machine. The machine actually has a time code in it and will shut off at that given time. so, if 15 minutes goes on the machine, it’s going to shut off in 15 minutes, it’s not like 14 minutes in one day and 12 another day.
More Information on Time
It doesn’t work that way. The issue you’re going to run into, and I’m telling you this on this article and giving this lengthy explanation because this will happen after four ones let’s say well maybe that card pack you use might be used up in 12, 13, 14, 15 minutes. You have three minutes left, you get another pack and card again as a set. You buy another set, and you use that, same thing happens. Let’s say three more minutes that the granules are used up in 12 the card puts 15 on.
Well, now you have a total of six minutes that’s still on the machine that can still operate, but you don’t have any granules. You do that again, and then you do it again so let’s say hypothetically you do this four times now you’re left with twelve minutes on the machine and no granules.
Can I Buy Granules Only?
Yes, you can buy just granules. I will sell you just granules, Cryo Fx will sell you just granules. I’m sure other companies may as well, but buy it from us why not? Now granules will work in other machines. All these granules come from the same place. It’s one factory that makes it. They divide them out to the different companies, and they sell them out. So, yes you can buy them you don’t need another card, but that’s up to you.
Don’t quote me on this I’m not responsible for any liabilities or warranties or anything like that, just make sure it’s granules and not sand. Yes, I’ve had somebody put sand in it, and it’s not a pretty sight. We’ve had to redo the entire cold spark machine almost because it just ground everything away. That’s what’s going to happen on your machine, not all the time is the amount of time that the machine has on it going to be consistent with the granules that are in the machine. In a perfect world, they would be, but this isn’t a perfect world as we all know so that’s not the case.
How Best To Store Machines
Moving on to other questions. What is the best safekeeping for these machines, and what is the best way to handle them? Don’t leave the granules in the machine. It’s somewhat like if you park your car, lawn mower or pressure washer if you put them in a storage unit for seven months, would you leave gas in it? The same idea applies here.
You want to take the gas out because it’s going to get stale and it’s going to clog the machine up. It’s going to make things not run correctly, the same thing with this machine except these really don’t go stale. However, they can get moisture in them, they can clump together and cause a problem on the machine. If you’re going to be using the cold spark machine, and you’re going to be transporting it, just empty the sylvain units, SPARC Euler units, I can’t speak for any other ones those tend to do the best.
You can leave granules in them, but we have not seen as many problems when people leave granules in them, and they move them. This is what happens in your machine when you’re moving it around, and you’re setting it down with granules not removed.
How Unremoved Granules Affect Your Cold Spark Machine
What’s going to happen is that those granules are going to compress they’re going to compact like sand would on a beach, and it’s going to be harder for that funnel and that corkscrew. It’ll push it through the machine now if you want to see some of our videos on how these machines work and how the internals of spark machine works, you can follow the links attached to this video.
They give you a better idea on how they work, and they’re not super complicated, but it is a machine, and it will tend to cause some issues occasionally.
Handling Clients When the Cold Spark Machine Break Down Unexpectedly
The best bet that I would say regardless of if you’re having a cool spark machine for a wedding or if you’re having it for any event is to inform the clients. Tell them that this is a machine that’s working with a number of mechanics. Normally it works okay. However, there may be a time that this may not work. Leave yourself a way out because you know what the worst thing that can happen is you tell a client that these are the best things in the world, and you promise them the world and guess what, they don’t work.
Now, I get it that’s not what you really want to tell a client, but if you’re confident in saying that, and you follow it up with an explanation the client will respect you for being honest with them. This is because the company that’s not honest with them, that’s the company that they’re not going to want to go with because they’re not honest, and they are susceptible to lying.
Conclusion
I’m Chris with CryoFX here, and I hope you enjoyed this article on cold spark machines. How it works regarding a time card and how the time cards work, how the RFID cards work with the machine. Make sure you contact us if you have any questions, we have an array of spark machines available.
Need Quality Cold Spark Machine? Contact Us Today!
Moreover, we do repair jobs too. We have garnered a lot of experience so if you’d like to know some information go ahead and contact us. I’d be more than happy to have myself or my staff provide you some information on some of these products. These products are unique, and these products are cool, as you know.
Be sure to go through the material we have on our site. Also, please be safe with them, don’t do it inside. Make sure you abide by the state’s fire marshal laws. I have to say that I’m not telling you where or when they use these or how to do that. This video does not endorse anything illegal. Make sure you run permits for these. Trust me, if you get caught without using a permit on one of these it could be a bad situation.
If you have any questions about how the cold spark machine works or on the granules, contact us. Also, if you have any questions on the product I have links below. This is CryoFX and until the next video. Thanks for watching guys.