You're as cold as ice

Ever wondered where all these ice cubes in your drink come from?

No, I didn't think so.

However, being into nerdy engineering things I found it quite interesting. There's a chilled plate at an angle of around 30 degrees off horizontal which has water poured over it. After a while, a rectangular block of ice builds up. At some strategic point, the plate is warmed slightly and the block of ice slides off and lands on a grid of wires which are heated slightly. The upper wires cut the block into slices and the lower wires cut the slices into cubes which then drop into the bin below.

That's when things work correctly of course.

On Saturday night, the grid wires got a bit over excited, glowed bright red and then burned out. They were replaced yesterday evening and the machine seems to be working again. That's a relief because the replacement cost is pretty high even for a small machine.

I spent Wednesday afternoon plumbing the glasswasher in in the old kitchen upstairs. Much cursing and swearing, but it's done. That's in preparation for a birthday party a week tomorrow in the function room.