How to make an Ice/Snow Beirut Table

Step 5 Assembling the Table

After you've gone back inside for a few minutes to warm up and call a bunch of your stronger friends, head back outside to move the ice slab over to the snow base.

Before I continue, I must confess that my initial attempt to move this behemoth resulted in a nice, clean break right down the middle of the table. Yup, it cracked on me. Which might have worked out, in my particular case, for the better; the crack was clean enough that we could piece it back together, after moving each piece individually, almost seamlessly. In some of the pictures I took you can barely tell that it's cracked!

I'm not, however, going to suggest that you intentionally crack your table, because there's no way to guarantee a clean break. So, unless you know how to cut ice (I don't) and have the appropriate tools (I don't even know what they are, but I already know I don't have them anyway), then don't even think about intentionally breaking it.

So, how to move it? Well, I've obviously thought a lot about why my attempt broke it, and I've come up with a reasonably good explanation, even though my theory about how I would do it were I to build it again is pretty much the same.

The first thing that went wrong in my case was that my MDF board warped when freezing the layers. This resulted in thicker corners, which put more weight on the ends of the ice slab than in the middle. This, in turn, demanded that more manpower be delegated to the ends of the table (because that's where more of the weight was coming from), which in turn placed stress on the center part of the table (even though it was being supported by people as well), which caused the crack. Had we anticipated that and put more people in the center of the slab, I believe it still would have cracked, because the ends of the slab would pull down respectively, putting reverse pressure on the center of the slab...and cracking it. In fact, it would've been worse to do that latter approach, because those ends would have likely fallen to the ground and possibly broken into even more pieces; at least, with most people on the ends, we were able to catch the broken halves and transport them without any further damage.

The second thing that went wrong in my case was that we moved the slab on by far the warmest day leading up to the party. Even though the temperature was still only about 32 degrees F (apart from sitting in the sun), I believe it was enough to start the edges melting. I'm not sure if it was actually a problem, but I'm sure it didn't help any.

Soo, what to do? Given the somewhat fragile nature of the table on which your placing this slab, I still hold that the best solution it to get as many as your friends as possible to lift and slide the slab from the rig table to the snow table. Have as many people as you can all hold the table from underneath; you want all the lift coming from the underside of the table, not the edges. It's a good idea to have people stationed on the other side of the snow base too so that those on the inside (in between the rig and the snow base) can pass it off.

I found it's easier on the hands as well as providing more grip to use dish towels as "gloves" when lifting the table.

You can do a certain degree of shifting-in-place once it's on the snow basin; I found that my table was stronger than I thought it was in this regard, and I think that the texture of the ice helps it to slide more on the compacted snow. However, you should want to keep this to a minimum, since doing it will increase the risk of you damaging the table.

Well, now that you have the slab in place, the only thing left to do is to add some finishing touches...

Comments

[Killin Idea]

Just a pointer: --form the ice on a bed of deck lumber, or stronger lumber than what you used --to lift the ice, slide 2x4 or similar boards under the ice, carry it over to the table, put it down, and slide out the boards. --freeze LEDs in the ice for the lighting, because they give off almost no heat. But over all, great Instructable. I'm definently building one this winter.

[neezer]

Thanks for the pointers... the boards for carrying the slab wouldn't really work since the top of table is (albeit packed) snow; I was working with powder so the pack wouldn't be as thick as heavier snow. The sliding of the boards out from under the slab, with the pressure of the slab's weight bearing down on them, would've compromised the walls of the table. I tried several approaches like this, but couldn't find one that kept the snow base mostly intact. Good points on the LED's and the bed of lumber; I was kinda making this up as I went when I first built it, but second time around's always tend to be better. :)

[MEWesley]

Boil the water first inside then let it cool so when it freezes it will be more clear, and you can better see your logos or lights in it. Great instructable!

[eskimojo]

I'm pretty sure cutting ice would be akin to cutting glass, in case you do want to know. Scour along the area in which you want to cut with an implement harder than the ice(i'm sure a metal ice scraper would suffice) and then apply quick pressure to that area. The scoured line should produce a pressure fault in which the ice would crack along because that would presumably be the weakest part of the sheet. I'm not an ice or a glass cutter by profession, but I've heard that same basic concept explained a seemingly endless amount of times.

[eskimojo]

Oh, or there's my favorite route... a chainsaw C:< just make sure that the chain doesn't get caught... nobody wants fly shrapnel chains.