I feel your pain Z3R0. Just to ease your concerns, I recently opened up my fogger to look for leaks, and it also has the copper rod that appears to be melted or pushing through the air bubble chamber. I believe this is part of the design. I can't help with the broken gears, but I can tell you that these things leak all the time and throw fog juice all over the bottom casing. I started a thread to hopefully help us all fix these issues. You can find it here:So after taking it apart and then sticking it all back together, (well for the most part) the nozzle now fully dips down into the bubble fluid chamber. However a lot of smoke comes out and I am wondering if I was supposed to delete it in the first place. However I can't stick the whole machine back together since a few of the screws are stipped and I can't seem to shove it all back into place. So I still think I need a new one, however I think I might get this one to work for now. And I still need to know if it is supposed to have sticky fog residue everywhere on the inside and leak through its sides and front.
Thanks for any more info anyone can provide about this machine, whether they have experiance with this exact one or also need help with theirs. Feel free to post
http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/139310-official-broken-leaking-bubble-fogger-repair-fix-thread.html