Hot areas have a lot of sand, and people want to swim. But pools are expensive and must be made of poured concrete, or cracky crappy fiberglass. Until now!
BUNGCO introduces the Solar forged swimming pool. Simply excavate a hole of desired depth in the sandy area and wait for a sunny day. BUNGCO forgeologists will arrive with the bank of giant solar concentrators and play them to and fro around the interior of your pool, fusing it into glass. Let cool, fill with water and splash to your heart' s delight. Pool cracks? Fuse it back into shape! Pool violates neighborhood association rules? Fill it back up with sand and no-one need know! Get swimming today!-- bungston, Jul 21 2006 Better late than never I hope http://scaryjim.mul...tos%2Fphoto%2F5%2F5I'm not great at sketching, but this gave me an idea I really wanted to draw. [fridge duck, Jul 28 2006] I thought there was an idea similar to this on the HB - making construction materials out of fused sand. I couldn't find it. I will move this to an anno under under that idea if someone can find it.-- bungston, Jul 21 2006 inability to exit the pool due to its polished surface? add suction cup gloves for only $19.95. [+]-- tcarson, Jul 21 2006 //Pool violates neighborhood association rules?// nah - break it up and sell off the irregular lumps in presentation boxes as meteorite fusion vortex slag.
I also vaguely remember that other sand fusion idea, but so what - this one is original, daft enough for me and a welcome change from much of the recent crap +-- xenzag, Jul 21 2006 Cool, but.. will take about a year to fuse all the sand?-- jmvw, Jul 21 2006 /it will amplify the power of the sun 105200 times/ - from your Backyard Death Ray idea, [jmvw]. I invite you to crunch the numbers and calculate how long it would take to make the pool, given a pool of a size you choose and the energy content of concentrated sunlight.-- bungston, Jul 21 2006 Not bad, but I'm too lazy. You?-- jmvw, Jul 21 2006 Won't the fused sand contract as it cools, causing it to pull apart?
I know that with ceramics, you have to let the stuff cool very, VERY slowly, like two days or so, just to keep the silica glaze from cracking apart.
Does the solar bank come with a way to solar heat the pool for several days, slowly decreasing the heat a little at a time to prevent this sort of cracking?-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 21 2006 You might need to spot treat the cracks with an acetylene torch.-- bungston, Jul 22 2006 //You might need to spot treat the cracks with an acetylene torch.//
Wait a minute! You never said anything about fixing it with a torch in your ad. Now you want me to go out and start torching my pool? You know how long it took to fill that thing? And buckets of water aren't light, you know.
By the way: +-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Jul 22 2006 You could always put the lens slowly out of focus after the initial burst of heat - bringing the temperature down at a controlled rate.-- fridge duck, Jul 22 2006 BILLY! Get off the diving board!-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 22 2006 Well Phlish, I realize that ceramics and glass do have some differences. Assuming that this sand has a bit of dust in it, it may be a lot like clay already though...
and I was speaking mostly about the silica-based glaze which goes over the pot. I've been told that this glaze layer has properties quite similar to glass... I've even seen it swirl and mix with bits of glass that have been stuck to the pot before firing.
I would assume that whether glass and glaze are significantly different or not, they would both shrink to some degree during the cooling process. A pool is a big object, so there could be significant shrinkage.-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 29 2006 Wouldn't a small atomic explosive device prove "faster"? The Trinitite created should form a nice ceramic / glass surface with no "fixing" needed.-- csea, Jul 29 2006 you might need to take your rad pills though.-- tcarson, Jul 29 2006 That guy does not seem too happy about his new pool, [fridge duck].-- bungston, Jul 30 2006 It’s bad engineering, completely flawed at every level. But that’s Bungco.-- ldischler, Jul 31 2006 random, halfbakery