Homemade Zamboni

[Triguy1]

Well it has been cold enough here in Northwest Ohio for the pond to freeze to the point of being able to skate. I have looked at a few you-tube ideas, but as you lot are so resourceful, I thought I would see if any of you had ideas. Sadly, I don't think the ice is thick enough to take the BX out, but I do have a little craftsman lawn mover I could use.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[murphy1244]

What does a Zamboni have to actually do? What makes it work?

 

[Triguy1]

Basically smooth out the ice. Most designs spread hot water out and use something to smooth it, then it re freezes quickly.

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[Dr Dave]

Do you have a pull behind lawn sprayer, aim the nozzles down and hang a rubber flap behind to smooth the surface.

Dave

 

[xtn]

Redneck Backyard Zamboni Ice Resurfacer

There are a lot of youtube and google image entries from which to get ideas.

 

[zzvyb6]

I made one out of an old rototiller by cutting out the tine mounts and welding in flighting from a grain auger to use as a scraper. You need a slush collector at the feed end to pick up the scrapage otherwise you can use an offset front plow to push the slush to the edge in order to make 'boards'.

Worked wonderful (we get a lot of wind and snow driven ice that is unsuitable for neighborhood Hockey Nite in Canada clashes). I quit using it when I broke through the ice (pond was only 18" deep). Now we use a pto irrigation pump to flood the rink with enough volume to get flat ice. Otherwise you get a mushroom shaped buildup. If the pump inlet hose is too deep, you get dirty ice from the slime and vegetation.

Skaters need to be patient enough to wait for the water to freeze completely through. Otherwise, you get a lot of hurt skaters when they trip on the gouges.

 

[Triguy1]

Thanks all.

I will post when I have something put together. Several ideas I'm working on. Sadly it is going to be 40 here Thursday and Friday, so it will be slush anyway...

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[RBA50]

Red Green made his from a K-car!:laughing:

 

[jimgerken]

My friend made his system by putting a flat metal part on his push lawnmower instead of a cutting blade, then bolting on solid metal blocks on the ends, and lowering the deck till the blocks rode on the ice. That contraption did the shaving step obviously. then he swept up the shavings with a push broom. I think the kids were helping too, skating and brooming. Last, he had some bucket of water with a handle deal, and it leaked slowely, followed by a towel being pulled along, all flat and nice. This allowed him to put down warm water to get a nice final surface. I wish I could show you pictures, but I lost track of this guy when he left our company. So basically he broke the zamboni function down into individual steps he could do manually.

 

[Scotty Dive]

I have a small pond on my property. All I do is after a day of skating I pull out the garden hose and I spray down the whole pond. It's about 150 feet by 100 feet. Takes me about 10 minutes to wet down all of the ice and then it freezes over night and is almost perfect.