Cutting/trenching ice

[atgreene]

Have you seen the old ice harvesting saws? A modification would seem to work for what your doing. We have one at the farm museum, iirc. I'll try to grab a pic.

 

[sandman2234]

If you have a hydrostatic tractor, of 20 hp or so, then a trencher like the one I built might work. It has several problems, but most of which are tied to a gear tractor pulling it faster than the teeth could stand, and them loading up and breaking shear pins. The teeth were 3" wide flatbar.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/71073-trencher-poorboys-stump-grinder.html

David from jax

 

[tommu56]

I'm just curious is it for a heat pump?


The article on one I saw the pipe was looped in a flat pattern that looked like the Olympic symbol 1000 times over. with black wire ties tying the mat together the matt was about 200- 300 ft square

There were some bricks tywrapped to it too.
they kept it filled with air and floated it out were they wanted it and then pumped in water or antifreze (I don't remember what it was) to sink it.

tom

 

[20 20]

Don't over think it, Ice is not that hard to cut through. It is not wood and doesn't need a coolant, allready there. Guys up here use chains saws all the time for cutting holes for ice fishing. We can get ice well over 2 foot. You could use two chain saws cutting a width but you'd need to chunk that in order to move it{either pull it out or push it up under} out of the way. I perfer to push ice under if possible for a couple of reasons. 1 Makes the ice stronger and if someone is snowmobiling they won't hit a jump/bump on a nice flat service.

 

[Mace Canute]

What were you planning to use for anchoring the pipe down? 22,000 feet is a lot of trenching to do, even if it cuts as easy as ice. How deep is the lake, btw? It's just a thought, but could you use GPS to position yourself accurately on the lake? Maybe float the pipe out, use GPS to accurately locate anchor points and lower them to the bottom? Maybe possible also to anchor one end securely and use a boat to pull it taut and slowly release tension allowing it to settle to the bottom. If you prefer to do it in winter, and want a cutter to open an ice trench, maybe you could make one from a couple of those old circular wood saws. Two of those of a good sized diameter on a common spindle with a spacer between them and you could cut any sized width of trench you wanted.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Rent a stump grinder with good teeth on it.

 

[powerstroke444e]

We have a frost chain for our big trencher but I would be a little gun shy of putting a 15K machine on a lake with 12" of ice and cutting it?? I have cut 15" of frost with it but it was a little rough.

 

[MikeD74T]

Heres how ice was cut a few years ago:
http://www.cutsoldtrucks.com/iceday2.htm

http://ohtm.org/blg/collections/engines/1926-ford-t-ice-saw/?calmonth=6&calyear=2009&calmonth=7&calyear=2009

http://lincolncountynews.smugmug.com/gallery/7401156_Vq5ZE/1/476827031_z2w8G/Medium


Heres an out fit that could make you a pair of hi-tech circular saw blades for ice.: Precision cutting, precise angles with water jet cutter
MikeD74T

 

[tommu56]

Nightmare / brainstorme
After you cut ice what is going to hold up the equipment?

What about putting the pipe on the ice with weight tied to the pipe to make it negative buoyancy (pipe with water in it would be neutral buoyancy) and run hot water through it till it melts through and drops down on bottom.



A second thought on rigid pvc pipe it will break if frozen I would think polyethylene pipe (think well pipe) be a better material choice it will swell and not brake.
tom

 

[PILOON]

Lay the whole network out on the top of the ice, weighted if necessary, and wait until spring.

Mother nature will do the job for you when the ice melts.

OR

Make 2 holes, hire a scuba diver and pull the pipe under the ice.

OR

B4 winter, lay a cord/rope attached to markers at the ends, during winter retrieve the ends, attach the pipe and pull the pipe under the ice.