DIY SNOW MACHINE

by Zinventor in Outside > Snow

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DIY SNOW MACHINE

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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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Materials

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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

Punching Holes...

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I used an electronics tool with a REALLY SHARP POINT (which snapped off, but oh well...)

be carefull not to poke yourself, and put a few holes through the nozzle peice.

i used 5 width wise, and one height wise.

Small Tubing

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it's a pain to put in the small tubes, so you might want to improvise a bit (unless you want really sore hands from pushing on the fittings)

put tubes going all the way through the pipe, with fittings on both sides (or just one fitting, and a plug on the other side.

the pictures make more sense than the words...

Main Tubing

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poke holes in the main tubing, but not all the way through, then push fittings into the tube.

tape the main tube to the underside of the nozzle

image notes explain better...

Piping

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here's the hellish part...

it takes forever to put on all the tubes, but if you use less, there won't be enough water flowing to make snow...

Assembly

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hook the nozzle to the blower, it might be a good idea to support the main tube better...

Test

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this i the machine running with the surrounding air at 38degf, so there's no snow...

SNOW!!! .... or Not....

it's taken a few tries, and a few hours with a heat gun (i forgot to bring it inside while i had dinner...)...

and as of yet, i still haven't gotten it to work consistently...

so far, the problem is that the water freezes almost instantly once it gets out of the hose, and blocks up the whole system... grrr...

-- sorry this is coming out in the summer... i just got around to posting it...

it never worked, the system froze too fast, then the hose feeding it froze, and everything stopped...