Mar. 5, 2015 | By Simon
Although Boston, Massachusetts might have taken the biggest hit with winter snowfall in the United States the past few months, that doesn’t mean that other cities weren’t without their fair share of icy conditions, too. Naturally, with this being 2015, somebody found a way to make the situation a little more fun by incorporating a little 3D printing into the winter storm mix.
Aiming to provide a winter distraction in their Minneapolis, Minnesota backyard, Ann Bednarz and her family constructed an ice bar to entertain friends and neighbors who were willing to brave the sub-zero temperatures for a night. Thanks to a friend’s creative use of a 3D printer, they were also able to customize the ice bar experience a little further this year with some added ice coasters, too.
To build their ice bar, the Bednarz family filled storage bins with water in order to freeze the forms as ‘igloo’ blocks. To prevent having to dig the blocks out of any unexpected snowfall, the production was done in the family garage - however Bednarz admits that this later proved to be an unnecessary step due to Minneapolis only receiving 3.4 inches of snow this year.
In previous years, the family had used snow in the backyard to build snow couches in their outdoor ice bar living room, however due to the low amount of snowfall this year the family used small sheets of ice tied to a wire fence instead to create a more dramatic 'standing room' environment.
As for the ice coasters and even an ice sign, a family friend designed the items using Google Sketchup before printed them on a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer - which took roughly two hours to print.
Once the 3D printed sign and coasters were complete, Ben made molds of the forms using silicone from AeroMarine. After the silicone was poured, it took roughly a day for each of the molds to settle. Once these were completed, ice was added to each of the molds.
Unfortunately, the “Bednarz Ice Bar” sign mold didn’t hold up too well and ended up breaking after repeated attempts, however the ice coasters managed to work just fine and the family ended up creating multiples of the design to use for their bar.
To add a finishing touch, the Bednarz family added photos to the wall of their backyard bar by printing copies on printer paper and freezing them in water using low aluminum pans. To ensure that there was proper lighting throughout the bar, the family strung LED lights made using recycled ice fragments from their earlier ice experimentations.
Of course, an ice bar wouldn’t be complete without it’s own dress code. For their bar, the Bednarz had a simple (and functional) dress code given the conditions: snow pants, hats and gloves.
While the ice bar and 3D printed coasters are great examples of low-tech manufacturing, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen ice and 3D printing together in the same sentence.
In 2006, professors Pieter Sijpkes and Jorge Angeles of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec received a $173,000 Research Creation Grant for their "The New Architecture of Phase Change: Computer Assisted Ice Construction” project that explored the potential for 3D printed ice structures. The three-year study focused on computer-assisted ice construction techniques including using digital fabrication to construct buildings made out of ice. Among other small-scale products that were printed out of ice for the project included a beer mug, a statue, an egg carton and a martini glass.
This ice statue is 30cm high and printed in 862 layers. It took the team 132 hours to build.
Posted in 3D Printing Applicatoins
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