Get a leaf blower. Build a venturi to make a vacuum strong enough to pick up pebble-sized particles. Use the combination to broadcast rock salt over an extended area.
Well, I specifically want to be able to broadcast a slurry, as I've got both ice and snow, and rock salt doesn't handle snow...but a saturated saltwater mix with salt rock salt (so, a salt slurry) would handle it without refreezing.
A venturi will do for saltwater as well as rock salt, but if you have a film of saltwater from dissolving rock salt any snow that falls on it will tend to melt. The problem with brine is that it's not very concentrated and gets even weaker as it melts stuff; salt crystals maintain their kick until they're gone.
I can hardly wait until the 3D printer is replaced by a Star Trek style replicator.
You mentioned that you need to clean both snow and ice off of your driveway but using either rock salt or regular salt alone won't do the trick. If you can skip the water you may be able to mix the regular salt and the rock salt together and use a hand held fertilizer spreader.
If you ever need to disperse weed killer you should get yourself a Herbi. I used one on a farm in 9th grade and you cannot believe the results you get.
It's funny, I was starting to think about something similar. Specifically, get a fertilizer spreader, fill it with salt and pour in some boiling water. Same result.
Speed is an issueext_1617918January 27 2013, 17:03:18 UTC
The only problem with your vending machine idea (that keeps it from being technically-feasible-right-now) is that simple objects take extremely long periods of time to extrusion print -- on the order of eight hours for a screw. We need several orders of magnitude of speed improvement before a vending machine type device becomes as feasible as something like Shapeways or Thingiverse.
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You mentioned that you need to clean both snow and ice off of your driveway but using either rock salt or regular salt alone won't do the trick. If you can skip the water you may be able to mix the regular salt and the rock salt together and use a hand held fertilizer spreader.
If you ever need to disperse weed killer you should get yourself a Herbi. I used one on a farm in 9th grade and you cannot believe the results you get.
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Provided that the water will not rush out of the bottom before you get a chance to use it.
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