I would like to create some interlocking blocks of ice for building ice forts, castles and such. I would like to minimize water use (and weight), so I am imagining molds that create ice like Lego blocks. Just thick enough not to collapse, perhaps an inch thick (for a 1-foot long block) but that is a guess.
The molds would be of cheap (but re-usable) plastic - so you could make a whole bunch at once. Unlike expensive Legos. They would probably have to be 2 interlocking pieces so that you could have a box-like shape for the final block.
I guess alternatively, you could make them for solid blocks of ice, but that would use a lot of water and be heavy to move around (would be sturdy though).
Twould be cool!-- trekbody, Dec 07 2004 Similar, but not connected to a product http://familyfun.go...mf19snowhouse4.htmlBlocks are made by filling household containers with water and setting them outdoors to freeze. (You can even stir in some food coloring for a special effect.) Then, all you need is a spray bottle filled with water to cement the blocks together. [Worldgineer, Dec 07 2004] Somewhat related Get_20it_20while_20it_27s_20cold [theircompetitor, Dec 07 2004] I like it. Couldn't exactly be traditional Lego shapes though - ice is too rigid to snap together.-- Worldgineer, Dec 07 2004 I want some. You could use a sort of Slush Puppy crushed ice as a mortar to freeze the blocks together rather than relying on the lego studs, cos I think they would freeze together anyway rather than remaining detachable. Add dye to the water before freezing the moulds to get coloured bricks.-- Belfry, Dec 07 2004 Might sell quite well in Inuit circles.-- RayfordSteele, Dec 08 2004 I like the idea of a robot making, (freezing) Lego-shaped ice bricks right on the structure that it is assembling from a program.-- mensmaximus, Dec 08 2004 Well..... well I never...-- wagster, Dec 08 2004 Lovely. Love it. Gimme gimme.-- jonthegeologist, Dec 08 2004 Finally the igloo that has thwarted me so many times will be within my reach![+]-- DocBrown, Dec 08 2004 The Great Wall of Chice, (chunks of ice).-- mensmaximus, Dec 08 2004 //You could use a sort of Slush Puppy crushed ice as a mortar //
kindda spoils the point of making it lego dony ya think.-- etherman, Dec 09 2004 Fantastic! This is one of the best I have read on the halfbakery. This could be a lot of fun!-- energy guy, Dec 09 2004 Those 100 litre tubs from Zellers work great with their slight taper but when you look out the window on the coldest and best night of the year to make blocks, my thoughts are with a warm fire and a robot making them instead.-- mensmaximus, Dec 09 2004 Freeze a string of LEDs into them with DC connectors at each end. Then connect them and light them up!-- pelarson, Dec 09 2004 You could do it with a two part mold: one an open sided box to fill with water, and a part that swings down and in like a waffle iron, displacing the water from the center, and producing crenelations along the top. The result: a hollow ice box with one side open.
You would want a lot of these. I wonder if they could be made out some something already cheap and available.-- bungston, Dec 09 2004 Did you know? Fort knowx has an inner wall made of these! [+].-- EvilPickels, Dec 09 2004 [+, of course] To build on bungston's notes, have a bunch of these "breadpan molds" mounted on a belt that spends some time "indoors" where the water is applied, and then slowly travels down the belt outside, to cool, and then drops off the edge into your pile of bricks. The same belt returns the empty molds to be refilled in a slow, no-robots required, assembly line.-- sophocles, Dec 09 2004 EP, is that *our* Fort?-- po, Dec 09 2004 [Sophocles], Water doesn't freeze that fast. You would need huge/nitrogen cooled fins immersed in bricks for a certain time. There would be many flat cooling plates involved in mass freezing. Maybe you can bubble nitrogen through them.
I use plasticore molds to freeze one inch sheets. It's the air that's doing the freezing.-- mensmaximus, Dec 09 2004 Not literally solid breadpan molds, but as others point out, one breadpan with water in it, and another smaller one squished on top to create a 1cm thick walled, hallow brick with one end open. Water doesn't freeze fast, but the conveyor belt can be slow. Just thinking of how you could rent a machine for a few bucks / day to hookup for parties.-- sophocles, Dec 09 2004 [mensmaximus] - What happened to Ice Robot 1 and Ice Robot 2 and the water skirt?-- wagster, Dec 09 2004 [Wagster], I can't be everywhere. I just started a blazing inferno out of a man's oil and water painting dream one step back.
Once Icebot actually took on a model of one of the WTC towers last winter but it was started too late or it wasn't cold enough. Hence the cooling plates, solid thin floor pouring technique. 4 X 4 base @22 ft tallattempt failed at three feet. Guess why?
Future versions will have superior 3D video technology/cameras to identify passing birds and mimick their prey or offspring. The birds are then trained to defend the tower and other chores.-- mensmaximus, Dec 10 2004 random, halfbakery