Apollo 11 Commemorative Ice Ball Press
When the Xometry marketing department was looking for a sweepstakes prize to encourage more business, I proposed an ice ball press to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and as a nod to Xometry’s significant custom manufacturing business for aerospace industries. The project was a good demonstration of my ability to rapidly design and deliver a consumer-grade product. I took on the entire project from conceptual designs to final part processing and inspection, completing it all before the anniversary.
Splashdown
An ice press needs to be two things, highly thermally conductive and food safe, that meant only using corrosion resistant aluminum and stainless steel. To incorporate some space-themed panache, I had the aluminum body anodized in black to contrast my engravings. I also gave the ice itself a fun thematic shape. Rather than a sphere, the press makes ice shaped like the reentry module -- so you can mimic a “splashdown” in your glass. Being a space nerd, I got a kick out of this.
The press itself was 4.5 inch diameter and 7 inches tall. It was constructed with aluminum 6061 and stainless steel dowel pins.
