Ben & James: Snow-Making

Hey! It’s Ben and James.

We're here to tell you what's been happening with Ben's snow park project.  The project is mostly about terrain park design.  For those of you who don't know what that is, all ski mountains have jumps, rails (hand railings), and jibs (anything to jump on or tap) to ride.  Please read Ben's post (linked here) to learn more about the parks!

Now, we are trying to build a terrain park here at Kildonan, and we have a little problem this winter in New York.  There is an extreme lack of snow on campus.  So, an idea that we have been floating around since the beginning of the year is to build a snowmaker.  That process may seem easy, but it actually involves several gas-powered and electrical machines. 

A snowmaker forms snow by shooting pressurized water (made using a pressure washer) at a high velocity into the cold, dry air.  That process involves a temperature of at most 28 degrees Fahrenheit (but, if possible, preferably lower).  Then, a fan, positioned behind the snow gun shoots the newly formed snow even farther away, giving it a chance to absorb more water as it slowly falls to the ground.

So...what have we done so far? The gun itself has almost been constructed.  It’s based on several successful models that have been out on the market for years.  It uses three pressure nozzles for spreading the water in a misty state so that it can fall slowly to the ground, giving it plenty of time to freeze.  In addition, we were loaned a powerful air compressor to help break down the water into ever smaller molecules.

Here is where we need your help:  all we need is a powerful pressure washer capable of putting out 3 - 3.5 gpm (gallons per minute).  If you, or somebody you may know, is interested in helping us acquire a pressure washer or otherwise supporting our dream to bring skiing and snowboarding back to the Kildonan campus, we would love to hear from you.  Join us in bringing a long, successful, snowy season to our school by donating to our GoFundMe.

GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/let-it-snow

Thank you,

Ben & James

To reach Ben and James, please leave a comment below and the Edge Team will make the connection!

Note on photos:  Ben and James working diligently on their snowmaker.  All images taken and shared by Ben and James.

Ben & Ambrose: Collaborating on Jib Tubes

Ambrose preparing a jib tube (and surrounded by his finished pieces).
Photo taken by Ms. Charlap.

Below two Edge Makers - Ben and Ambrose - discuss their partnership in preparing features for Ben's project:  a terrain park.  Their words are a testament to their robust collaboration skills and effective work processes.

Ben:
Finding parts for the wind chime, I came across some really strong cardboard tubes.  My original plan was to use it as a tail tap even though it wasn't going to last long.  It wasn't going to last because the weather would get to it.  Talking with Ms. Charlap, she said we could have a student paint the tubes and then use the leftover NOVA Gel (from the pictures hanging on the side of the schoolhouse building) to cover the tubes.  That way they wouldn't weather.  We chose Ambrose, a fellow EDGE student, to paint the tubes.  By now, I had two long tubes, so I decided to cut them into five sections with a saw.  Then, I needed to seal the tops so that water couldn't get in and ruin it from the inside.  So, I took a plastic garbage bag, cut it to the size, then duct-taped it on.  Next, I took a piece of sheet metal and cut it a little bit bigger than the hole, drilled holes in the metal and tube, screwed it down, and hammered the metal so it was beveled along the edge.  Then, I gave it to Ambrose.

Ambrose:
As this was going on I would paint large sheets of rag paper with different designs, shapes, and images.  After the paintings were done, I covered them with NOVA Gel, a waterproof acrylic medium, and attached them to the cardboard tubes and finished them with two more layers of that substance.  I made five paintings.  The images are all different, but a lot of the paint colors are the same.  I only had a couple colors at hand, but I managed to figure out how to mix some of them to get the colors I was looking for.

Ben:
Now we just need to wait for the right weather to try them out!

Have a suggestion on materials for Ben and Ambrose? Want to know more about the project and/or these students' work? Drop us a comment in the section below!