Think of an ice resurfacer as a giant shaver complete with warm aftershave. That’s essentially how it works. First, the ice is pre-washed with cool water called conditioner. This removes contaminants and grit from the ice. Then a massive blade digs down and shaves the top 1.5 millimetres of the ice. The blade itself weighs 25 kilograms, and is sharper than a kitchen knife. Aligning the blade is very important and a delicate task. Shaving the ice produces ice shavings, or “snow”, and this snow is removed from the ice via three screw-augers. Two of the augers spin horizontally at each other to push the ice shavings into the middle of the machine where a third vertical auger carries the snow upwards, dumping it into a large tank. That tank is the top part of the Zamboni that looks like the hood of a car. In the ’50s, one had to shovel out the tank manually, but today the snow tanks dump forward via hydraulic arms at the end of an ice-resurfacing session.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE ZAMBONI
If you’ve ever watched a hockey game, you’ve seen one in action. Doesn’t matter if it’s shinny at the local community centre, a figure skating competition or an NHL playoff game, they’ll have one circling the ice every so often. Its official name is an “ice resurfacer” but with all those un-sexy syllables most just know it as a Zamboni.
Think of an ice resurfacer as a giant shaver complete with warm aftershave. That’s essentially how it works. First, the ice is pre-washed with cool water called conditioner. This removes contaminants and grit from the ice. Then a massive blade digs down and shaves the top 1.5 millimetres of the ice. The blade itself weighs 25 kilograms, and is sharper than a kitchen knife. Aligning the blade is very important and a delicate task. Shaving the ice produces ice shavings, or “snow”, and this snow is removed from the ice via three screw-augers. Two of the augers spin horizontally at each other to push the ice shavings into the middle of the machine where a third vertical auger carries the snow upwards, dumping it into a large tank. That tank is the top part of the Zamboni that looks like the hood of a car. In the ’50s, one had to shovel out the tank manually, but today the snow tanks dump forward via hydraulic arms at the end of an ice-resurfacing session.
Think of an ice resurfacer as a giant shaver complete with warm aftershave. That’s essentially how it works. First, the ice is pre-washed with cool water called conditioner. This removes contaminants and grit from the ice. Then a massive blade digs down and shaves the top 1.5 millimetres of the ice. The blade itself weighs 25 kilograms, and is sharper than a kitchen knife. Aligning the blade is very important and a delicate task. Shaving the ice produces ice shavings, or “snow”, and this snow is removed from the ice via three screw-augers. Two of the augers spin horizontally at each other to push the ice shavings into the middle of the machine where a third vertical auger carries the snow upwards, dumping it into a large tank. That tank is the top part of the Zamboni that looks like the hood of a car. In the ’50s, one had to shovel out the tank manually, but today the snow tanks dump forward via hydraulic arms at the end of an ice-resurfacing session.
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