Making a smoke machine forcefully blast out the smoke.

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I don't know what fog machines use to make fog, so please forgive me if this is a stupid idea because it'll destroy the compressor, or such.

That is something I can actually help out with. There are two basic ways that "fog machines" operate. One is actually a smoke machine, the other is closer to a fog machine, but is actually a carbon dioxide ventilator.
The smoke generators use a heated chamber that has an oil based liquid injected into them. The resulting smoke is allowed to vent through a small jet or hole in the end of the machine. The rapid expansion of the smoke within the chamber is what forces it out the vent hole. This type of "fog machine" is usually used to permeate the air with smoke that has a fog like appearance. You can easily identify when this type fog machine is in use because the smoke usually has a fragrance associated with it, cherry is common, coconut is another variation. This "fog" usually appears suspended in the air.

The other type of "fog machine" usually makes use of dry ice as it's source of carbon dioxide. Honestly, I do not know what process is used to cause the dry ice to evaporate quickly enough to generate the blanket of "fog" that hugs the ground, or stage, that this type of machine generates.