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Experiment One Event Log
Event Log - Jan 17, 2003 to Jan 18, 2003
7:00 PM - Let the craziness begin. We have plans, we have visions, we now must acquire parts. Off to Lowes
to get what we need.
8:00 PM - Well, the folks at Lowes thought we were crazy, but they helped us select all the parts. Now to assemble this device and wait for the cold weather.
9:00 PM - It figures. Got the thing mostly assembled and realized we were short one part. I bet Lowes is closed. Oh well, I might have the needed part at the office building or we may have to run to Wally World to see if by chance they have it (doubt it, but we are determined).
9:15 PM - A sign from God. This project is ordained for success. Arrived at the office and found we did not have the part. Also, we did not set off the alarm, so we are doing good so far. Just as we are ready to leave I spy a plumbing truck at the gas station.
9:20 PM - We were lucky enough to meet Frank Mewhinney, a local plumber. He did not think we were too awful crazy but he did not have the part on his truck. However, he did think he might have the part we need on his truck at the house. He offered to let us follow him and he would try to help us. Gee, two guys grab you at a gas station looking for a fitting to make a snow machine in Florida. I was amazed he even talked to us.
9:45 PM - Frank is a super guy. He would not take any money for the part or his troubles. Fortunately his daughter was selling Girl Scout Cookies, so we placed a large order (thin mints, our favorites). We left Frank and on the way home discussed how this must be an ordained mission for us to find Frank and for him to have the exact part we needed.
10:00 PM - We got back to the house and finished assembling the device. Checked the weather and it was not quite cold enough. We decided that we would have to play a little cribbage and wait for a little while in order for it to get a little colder.
11:00 PM - Well, as usual, Tony lost the cribbage match. We checked the weather and it was 29 degrees with 65% humidity. We are on the top of the cusp for making snow with our crude equipment, but it was time to try. Our first attempt was with our first nozzle design, a single hole drilled in the cap (largest hole). We found that we could readily make ice on my daughter's car. Boy, she is really going to like trying to get in it tomorrow morning.
12:00 PM - Several nozzle sizes later and we are finally making snow. We have found that making two holes with my smallest drill bit seems to do the trick. We are getting some snow but found that we had to cut the air pressure down low. We are only running about 25 PSI. Any more and the stuff stops coming out. Any less and we get a stream of water shooting out.
12:30 AM - We finally reached a good balance between water and air pressure. We decided to warm ourselves and let the thing run on it's own. Back for some more cribbage while we wait.
1:00 AM - Air compressor stopped working. Is it a major failure? Not quite. We had left the space heater running on the same circuit as the air compressor. Just tripped the circuit breaker. Oh well, we did not want heat anyway. Got it fixed and went back to cribbage.
2:00 AM - Finished beating Tony at another couple of hands of cribbage (damn I'm good, and modest too). Time to check our handy work and document our success. Got the video camera out and found that we had indeed made some nice snow. Enough to make several snow balls and test them on the side of the car. No dents, so it must be decent enough snow. Not too dry, not too wet.
2:30 AM - Well, that is enough excitement for one night. Got some video tape of our snow making and made a few snow balls. Did not produce a large volume, but we figure that is because of our low flow rate. We really should hook the pressure washer up to get more volume, but maybe next time. Now for some sleep and dreams of snowflakes in our heads.
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