DIY SNOW MACHINE

Here's my attempt at building a snow machine from some watering system stuff, a leaf blower, and too much time on my hands.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY DO NOT MIX>>>>> BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL

Also, it may be a good idea to store the water feed line (water hose) and the blower assy. indoors, since they'll probably freeze solid if you don't.

Even just a bit of moisture can completely block up the rig if it's stagnant, eg, if it's off, bring it in...

BTW, this is my first instructable, feel free to comment on things i could do better in terms of the instructable...

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Step 1: Materials

Here's what you need:

- Leaf blower (best if it has a detachable nozzle.

-about 2 feet of plastic tubing (half inch)
-alot of 1/4 inch plastic tubing

-various 1/4 inch tubing connectors, i got away with just using t's...

-hose fittings to attach to the plastic tubing

-something to punch holes in the plastic with.

LOCKING EXTENSION CORD

COLD

Comments

[james91375]

try misting nossels that are out side the air flow but spary in to the air flow. Insulate the hose supplying the water all the way back to the source and purge the system once you turn it off. either its snowing or there is no water at all. You should be able to get away with 2-4 misting nossels, other wise there will be too much cross flow of the water and they may combine as they freeze resulting in a product more like hail than snow. you also may want to wait till it is below 20 degrees. before starting the system. pipe insulations should work well for the hose.

[Liam.great98]

Only problem with that is that at -20 degrees Celsius your home's copper pipes will freeze up around the outside of the house and you'll have to heat the outside nozzle with a hair dryer before you use it. Which would also heat the water and sacrifice funtionality.

[Liam.great98]

What if, instead of having a dozen tiny hoses and nozzled, you just fed mist into the air pipe? Couldn't you just have a single hose lead in and have a bunch of 1mm wide holes so the water mists out, then it would be blown into the air and freeze?

[lilrou15]

this would be alot better if you put the snow in the air intake instead of putting it in the air flow

[budabob07]

i did this a while ago but with an air compressor instead of a leaf blower. was really loud though (sounded like the ones at the ski mtns)

[IW5 Industries]

actually water and electricity do mix! In fact they mix very well. but still either way you think of it is bad....

[torkerman]

Keep trying mate! A great first effort! Your problem is the hose and nozzle system, you would be far better of with 2 3/8 or 1/2 hoses, feeding 2 brass 'ultra fine' misting nozzles from local irrigation supplier (this will help cure the freeze up). Also will work better if the water is fed in under pressure (more than standard gharden hose) Good luck!!! Adam

[lemonie]

Where does the freezing happen? I read it thrice but I don't understand how this produces ice.

L

[Zinventor]

Ha, thanks for mentioning that... The device was originally intended to be used in sub-freezing weather, creating a cloud of mist that would turn to snow... the main problem was that I forgot to bring it indoors after testing it, and it totally froze.

[lemonie]

Ah right, where do you live? L

[Zinventor]

PDX, but every winter is colder than the last... when i was working on this, the water would freeze before even getting to the machine...

[rimar2000]

The black color of the components difficults viewing. Can you add a hand design? (El color negro de los elementos dificulta la visualización. ¿Podrás agregar un diseño a mano?)

[Zinventor]

CAD drawings will be added once i get them done...

[rimar2000]

CAD is too much, a simple lineal draw is sufficient!

[mrbob1000]

you might be able to use slightly warm water from a faucet indoors

[Zinventor]

good idea! I'll try it next winter!

[SeamusDubh]

You have too much water flowing through too small an outlet.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/snow-maker.htm/printable

Make the outlet/overall airflow larger and or reduce the amount of water jets.

[Zinventor]

I tried several variations before this one, but they couldn't produce the velocity i was looking for. had i kept the device indoors up untill i turned it on, i believe it would have worked, and my small scale Proof-Of-Concept (a paint sprayer with water in it) worked ok (but still froze up...)

[Transquesta]

Cool proof-of-concept.