A Video Soon to Be A Holiday Classic

Here’s a little video for all of you festive people! Or basically a video version of the last blog post. Enjoy!

Know your Material

I’m sure we’ve all had a job to complete, a part to be made, and at the last minute we grab some material in our proximity to throw something together. However, when it comes to ordering material months ago and trying to machine it today you may run into some great headache.

An awful finish

My issue today began with attempting to mill the track sections for the little coaster. Initially, I had opted to use HDPE (high density polyethylene) for the plastic parts due to economic availability and recycling aspects. Basically cheap and can be scrapped and recycled. This was my intention…and as we know: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Also pretty much all global conflict… I digress.

TraCk!

I have two sheets of stock material lying around the shop area for tracking material. What I wanted, and what I got were two different things (as the kids say). The less than acceptable (let’s face it, shitty) surface finish was a shock to me. I thought I had the feeds and speeds dialed in for HDPE. Well, I did, except the material in question turned out to be UHMW. Not a bad plastic, but not what I thought I had.

Based on the speeds and feeds I was using, the plastic seemed to have melted a little due to excess, well, speed of the cutting tool. I thought I could “buff” or sand the poor finish out of the material at the end; however, I was sorely disappointed. Pretty much the parts are trash…I mean, good prototype parts, but almost not at all.

Mistakes happen to the best of us, yes, even me. With humility aside. I would like to take this time to remind you guys: always know your material. If you fail to recognize the medium you’re working with, then you’ll be doomed…to…repeat… something like that. Pay attention to what you’re doing, or you just waste time and money. Take care!

Absolutely garbage

When Things Suck

First off, it’s been a while, I know. As I’ve been working, I have been thinking to myself about how many individual posts and updates must be completed across all platforms. Basically, I need a team to alleviate the burden of updating constantly. Yeah, maybe I’m being dramatic, but sometimes it’s difficult.

What have I been doing?

Most of what I have been doing is correcting many, many, many errors. There will be an update video-wise that addresses the errors, but for now this is a brief overview.

We Have Track (sort of)

If you remember, I had shifted design to both Autodesk Inventor and Matlab. With both of these programs, I began creating various programs to expedite the process to make track and final ride assemblies. Using Matlab specifically, I created some programs to produce ride centerlines at an extremely fast rate, while being more accurate in terms of continuity. I also used Matlab to produce rail position outputs for use in Inventor. To make modeling the track more simple in Inventor once Matlab produced data files, I wrote some Basic code to import data.

Before you think I’m the coolest around, I should let you know that I’ve never really programed a thing in my life. Sure we’ve all had some “fancy” class in undergrad where we use some backwards dated program for structural analysis only to find that the professor didn’t show us the simpler method. Yes, he was a d***. Either way… I had to learn some things and I spent some serious time creating fully functional programs that shorten my design process from a few weeks to a few minutes. Seriously, a few minutes.

Twisty (just a test…or things to come?)

As you can see, the programs worked pretty well…excluding the week long session of me pulling the remaining hair from the top of my head. Yes, baldness sucks, but that’s what the title implies. Keep going.

I now had a means to create smooth track sections since this little ride is not being built in the “traditional” sense with affixing laminates of wood at each support. Rather, this ride is more like a steel roller coaster incorporating prefabricated sections. Take that Rock Mountain Construction!

Now the problem…

Since I created some “fancy” design programs, I realized quickly that some of my segments didn’t mate smoothly. This is not something you want in life. Smooth transitions, people. Smooth. So…I redesigned the entire ride. Yes, I am THAT ridiculous to have worked so much previously only to change it and have to redo it all again. But more of that will be mentioned in the upcoming video.

So what sucks? Well, to make the newly design track sections from sheet material (much like the wooden supports), I needed to implement a method to flatten the often warped material. When sheet plastics are fabricated, they are typically rolled into large spools of material. When you buy, say, two feet worth of material, the wholesaler will unroll a portion and cut it to length. Once the plastic arrives in my hands, there will be all kinds of funky curves and warping. In order to mill accurate screw locations and lengths, I need a way to flatten it as much as possible. How do we do this for thin sheet material? One word (or two dummy): Vacuum Table.

The First Design (you kind of see where this is going, right?)

A simple vacuum table is a great workholding tool for sheet material. But, a vacuum table can also be extremely efficient when it comes to hold any type of material. That is to assume there is no open areas, porous material, high cutting forces…etc. So, it’s pretty much an “okay” form of workholding. But, when it comes to previously using doublesided tape to hold flat wooden sheets and small screws, this is the best method I can implement.

Now “The First One”

Beautiful and Wrong

After looking over many resources to build this little (kind of big) vacuum table, it kind of sucked. But it didn’t suck, at the same time. Trippy. Stay with me. For the vacuum table to work properly, you want plenty of airflow to pull the workpiece into the table. My over-engineering led to a nice looking failure. Basically, a week or more worth of work for limited suction. To sum it up: no suction kind of blows. See what I did there?

With no way to recover from this mistake of cutting too small of airducts (never do that if you make one), I had to try building a newer and simpler version.

Take 2

With this newer version of the vacuum table, I have nothing but airducts across the table’s grid pattern. Since I’m using a common wet/dry vacuum (let’s see if Rigid will sponsor me), this smaller table and this method will work well. Keep in mind that this is a DIY version and that more professional versions are made of plastic or aluminum (aluminium for you British people…you know who you are).

Standard Warping

For my initial test of the new vacuum table, that is once all the surfaces were sealed with wood finish so that no suction is wasted, I wanted to know if it could flatten my warped plastic track material. You kind of see where this is going, right?

Two Sheets Flattened

It was a suck-cess! And that joke blew. But, the vacuum table works as intended and the real struggle to flatten the plastic sheeting proved to be solved. So, now that I have the final designs, track modeled fully, and a method by which to hold these flat pattern sheets I can continue building this mighty mini wonder. Basically, this s*** sucks, but it doesn’t really suck.

New Design Programs

It has been a while since my last update, but I assure you that I have been up to - some good. My latest dilemma in the making and designing of a mini-working roller coaster is fundamentally what makes a real, full sized, coaster complex: track location. More specifically, where will the track rails be at any given increment as the centerline progresses around the circuit. Sounds like a lot, eh? It is and it isn’t.

Moving on…

My goal for this first mini coaster is to not incorporate any banking to simplify the designing and fabrication. Much to my chagrin (Yes, I did just use that statement from middle school vocabulary), this wasn’t any simpler than banking the s*** out of the coaster layout. At least, designing isn’t any more difficult. The real problem comes from the fabrication of the ride. In order to streamline production, I opted to perform as little setup and multi-op machining as possible. The drawback to this strategy is that I will have to add some “finishing” tactics post machining.

Initial Designs

From the ride’s inception, the idea was to mill the track sections in one-fell-swoop (thank you Nate Bargatze for his joke about that damn expression…checkout his stand-up comedy special for reference). The track lip is roughly 1/16” square, and being that it is so small there exists a high likelihood of error if the CNC is not square. From the “L” shape, mounted track brackets will have a through-hole for placement of a small plastic threading screw. This screw would be fed into an undersized hole resulting in a tight consistent fit. Sounds good, right?

Now the issue…

As the track moves around the ride circuit, complex 3D geometry is produced despite simple geometry being used on my part. For a normal wood coaster, the track is cut in the field by experienced artisans and carpenters who take pride in achieving butter smooth results. This really depends on the company, too. The issue with a prefabricated coaster is now I have to provide a machining path for my CNC to follow. This is similar to a steel roller coaster, and the complexities begin to increase heavily.

Why did you mention new computer programs?

“When am I ever gonna need to know this stuff?” NOW.

The programs I am having to utilize as of late are Matlab and Python for calculations and automation, respectively. With the math programs, I can accurately define where each track rail will rest in 3D space. Currently, I have yet to automate anything more than a headache, but I’ll figure something out soon.

Now for fancy-looking stuff! (3D Modeling, that is.)

A side-by-side of the new and the old.

If you’ve followed along for a while, you know I have had my issues with Autodesk Fusion 360. Though this software has come a long way since it was first rolled out and “yours truly” tested it out, I have had issues with the cloud storage structure. Basically, a few of my files would become “unavailable.” Yeah, that’s some buhhhshit! (Not a typo)

So what is my solution? I have none, but there may be one. Huh? I have a different program to test out prior to making the monumental shift from Fusion 360. Ideally, I would use Autodesk’s Inventor since it’s the Rolls Royce software and can handle thousands of assembly parts in one file with ease. I may be a tad biased…

What is the newer program, you ask? Well, it’s Alibre Design. Alibre is a 3D modeling program that offers a “one-time” fee and stand-alone service. Yes, “ONE-TIME” fee. With the world moving toward a “rent all your shit for life” model (paradigm), it’s nice to find some companies that stick to a more traditional transaction. Again, I am not fully invested as of yet, but I will be playing around with the features going forward. As of now, the ease working with large assemblies is far superior to that of Fusion 360. However, the drawback for the Design package is that it does not offer a CAM (computer aided manufacturing) feature as Fusion 360 natively incorporates. There is an additional package to add to Alibre Design that allows up to 3-axis machining, and for my “basic bitch” skills that will be more than enough. Time will tell, but this is where I am, currently.

Street Car!

Chasing Perfection…or a working Prototype

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update here, but work continues on the little coaster. This time, CNC work is focused on tracking material. For the ride track I intend to use HDPE and LDPE. There are a few strategies in mind, but it’ll take some testing to see if they are successful.

A 6x6 HDPE sheet

With every piece of material there are slight imperfections. Usually, there is some warping in the material and the key is to flatten out the stock prior to detailed work.

You can see in the picture above the lines created by a facing cut with a quarter inch end mill. The next operation was to drill the through holes for mounting to the supports. These holes are 1/16 inch.

So. Many. Brackets.

The third operation after facing and drilling was contouring. The contour cut was supposed to stop with 0.02” of the bottom of the material; however, due to what I mentioned with material warping a few parts cut straight through. This resulted in piece going airborne. Sigh…

Regardless, I will have to improve this process going forward. For now, I have machined around 128 track brackets that will satisfy the ride’s supports. There will be specialty brackets for any bent that has varying track angle and horizontal curve.

So. Many. Chips.

This is just a little update, and I hope to be publishing the next video soon! Also, if you haven’t yet, check out the Patreon for a deeper look and more behind the scenes information. Subscribers to the Patreon will be given a better look into real ride design and my methodologies for creating working coasters!

The Other Side of Design

Despite the vague title, this post is simply about the “non-design” work I do for my little passion project. Seeing as it is really up to how much or how little I want to put into the site and YouTube channel, I’ve been thinking about creating more of “business plan” going forward.

Not only is it enjoyable for me to design roller coasters and rides, but I also adore creating the content to convey my designs. Video production has been in my blood from an early age when I would draw and record cartoons. Now, these cartoons were pretty awful but I like to think they impacted me greatly. Especially my desire to pursue what excites me in a passionate way, as opposed to becoming another “number.” Not that there is anything wrong with people working in any field or for any company, but my goal in life is to pursue what gives me purpose.

Really, David, this is what you’re passionate about?

Yes, I am, and don’t end a sentence in a preposition.

Final Cut Pro X - Part 3 Video TRCP YouTube

Many years back, I worked for Apple Retail in Atlanta. While working for Apple, I took it upon myself to learn their software ecosystem including Final Cut Pro X. With a generous discount for a new MacBook Pro Retina Display (yes…very generous), I now had the means to use this new software. I had previous borrowed the Macs my friend’s or my school had to use iMovie.

Having worked on real production sets in my past (no, I won’t go into that), I knew a little…very little really…on how things can come together for a presentation in terms of video. Once I started The Roller Coaster Project, the idea of a YouTube channel to work in tandem with the website was always in my mind. Unfortunately, I did not capitalize on video production for some time mainly in part due to lack of a real camera. When I launched the Kickstarter project, I used an older Fuji camera that maxed out at 720p. Once I created that video for Kickstarter, I felt an awakening within that was only paralleled when I first began working on The Project.

Moved on up to the EOS-side!

It’s been a process and many years, but now I have bumped up that film quality and honed my lack of skills. So now my skills are marginally better than when I started, but the videos look fancy.

You might be wondering why I’m going through all of this?

Don’t presume to know what “we” wonder!

Fair enough, I’ll work on that. Well, the reason I am discussing passion and film making or content creation with ride design is that in the next few days I will be launching another side of The Roller Coaster Project. Now, this may be a tremendous bust…kind of like that Flat Earth guy who made his own rocket. No, I’m not attempting space flight, yet, but more so a newer strategy where I work on content creation and design as if it were a full time job. And, if you haven’t noticed the worldwide pandemic f***ing things up for the past year, some people have all the time in the world. Oh, and a nice significant other who keeps me from living under a bridge. I would still be thinking of roller coasters under that bridge, though.

This will all make more sense in a couple of days, more like Monday at 12 PM Eastern Standard Time. Again, not launching myself into orbit, yet. Although, those Flat Earth folk do make a good point…despite that every piece of technology we use relies on the world being spherical. Really an ellipsoid, but that’s scientifically accurate. Have I lost you? Either way, just a little update and a taste of things to come… See you at noon on Monday.

The Ride is Complete(ish)

As stated in the misleading title, the ride is complete. Well, sort of. The ride’s structure is 99% complete, meaning all the bents are stood excluding the bridged area over the run-to-the-lift. Since an inconvenient power outage halted the milling of plastic bridges and their supporting brackets, I could not full finish the ride’s structure. I know, a tremendous pain. For the upcoming video, I document the lack of power while still showing-off the little coaster.

The final ride supports.

There are a few bents that rest on the unmade bridge, so naturally they cannot float in the air. Sadly, there are limits to my abilities. I hope to finish up the bridges in the coming days, assuming the power issue has been resolved where I build this mighty mini coaster.

But David, what’s next?

Good question. With the structure of the coaster completed, the next phase of the ride will be making and installing the track sections. These track sections will be installed similar to a steel roller coaster, despite resting on a wooden structure. I will go more into the design and thought process later, but just so you know the rest of the ride has been planned out.

The upcoming video will also mention something new for The Roller Coaster Project and will provide a way for you guys (and girls) to dive deeper into my madness. Aside from sounding redundant, more will be told a little later. But be on the lookout for the new video and to see the completed coaster structure.

Trust me, it slaps. Or, should I say, it “hits different.”

Pardon the obvious shower curtain backdrop.

The allure of a wooden coaster begins with the aesthetic. When I was young, the ride’s appearance is what drew me to ride. The natural vibrations and sounds of the ride hooked me for life. For those reasons, I think the first coaster I make at this size should be a wooden roller coaster.

With the addition of the Shapeoko XXL CNC router, fabricating my own wooden creation reached a new level. Now, anything I can design, I can make. I plan to continue making these beauties and updating constantly. So, for now, enjoy some more photos I took will standing the last of the ride supports…sort of.

Interested in more detailed coaster designing? Checkout the Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/therollercoasterproject

Checking-In

Seeing as I’ve had “radio silence” for the past week, or so, you might be wondering where I’ve been. Well, I haven’t gone anywhere. I know, sad, but also good. I took a trip back to Georgia (USA) for the weekend, so I didn’t have a chance to get much work done. However, I have been thinking of ways to improve the little coaster going forward and a few things on the horizon to share with you all.

Simply, this post is really just letting you guys know that I’m still here and am working on the next video installment. In this video, I will be completing the ride’s structure and discussing successes and failures in execution.

Plywood hell

Most of my issues have been revolving around using plywood for such small features on a CNC router. Though not ideal, it was a good starting point. Going forward and for the production ride I will probably change the material and fabrication strategy. Again, more to come soon and I hope you guys enjoy it all!

From Centerline To Track

After completing the last video depicting the fabrication and assembly of the next sections of the ride, it dawned on me that I am about to complete the full structure. With that being said, I need to complete the detailing of the ride’s track. Since wooden coasters are traditionally built in the field and cut by skillful carpenters, most detailing revolves around good practices and standards. Meaning, this little wooden coaster will not be built in the classic sense.

So how is this little ride going to be built, track-wise? This ride will be constructed similar to a steel roller coaster utilizing prefabricated track sections. Intamin (a large ride company) and Rocky Mountain Construction (another company) incorporate prefabricated sections in their building of wooden roller coasters. The latter sometimes using only steel track on a wooden structure. In order to detail and prepare the track sections for machining requires some finesse. What I mean is that I will have to produce extra points along the track path from the ride centerline.

Interested in more detailed coaster designing? Checkout the Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/therollercoasterproject

The photo shows every point along the track center of the ride at each support (bent). One problem with using this few of points: error of spline creation. Fusion 360 has multiple scripts created for ease of producing drawing features. Perhaps one of the best scripts is the importing of CSV data from Excel (or your favorite brand of tabulation software…I don’t care too much, so HA!) and connecting the points with a cubic spline. A cubic spline? Yes, a cubic spline that is created to pass through every imported point. Cubic splines are extremely accurate, to a fault…

In areas where the centerline of the ride travels from a “straight” section to one with curvature…fancy for curved section…too few data points cause the spline to bow in and out of the path. This is extremely problematic when creating the track pieces. If I keep the spline as is currently, then the track will have chaotic bowing and, let’s face it, the ride will look like trash.

So what do we do? We calculate extra data points along the track and centerline. We already have the equations for the ride, so producing more points along the path will be somewhat easy. In the future, this will have to be streamlined with an external program/script to expedite modeling.

Using a sample section of the ride to produce a CSV file, we have the columns from right to left representing X, Y, and Z, respectively. There is an issue with importing into Fusion 360, however. For the life of me, I could not figure out why my data points were spaced out by a factor of ten (10)! Want to know why? For some stupid reason the default import in Fusion 360 is in centimeters (cm) instead of something user defined. This kind of sucks, especially if you don’t realize it. So, after much cursing and throwing of furniture I figured this out and reduced all the values by ten (10) to ensure dimensional accuracy.

Factoring the design values by 1/10 resulted in proper data points. Now, I can insert extra points and produce accurate and smooth track sections. For reference, I chose to add ten times the data points per section. So far, this has not resulted in any issues with the ride pieces.

From the data points, a sweep operation in Fusion 360 along the path with the track “profile shape” is performed. The above track section is between Bents 116 and 118.

I’ll be working on finishing the remainder of the coaster structure this coming week and will be adding the track sections, afterward. This is getting exciting as the ride is coming together and I look forward to sharing more with you guys in the future!

Learning Python to expedite ride design.

A Little Bit of This. A Little Bit of That.

Now that the next few sections have been fabricated and stood, I’m in the process of completing a few things. The next video installment is complete and will be uploaded soon. This next video will be a little shorter, but I am adding some additional info for upcoming media and happenings.

The mass of wood

In addition to the recorded narrative, I thought it would be interesting to add some animations for ease of explanation of concepts. For the animations, I am using a few programs from Adobe. Primarily, I am producing animations with Adobe Animate CC (Creative Cloud).

Simple AnimAtions

Now, these animations won’t be the most elaborate things but they should offer more explanation on design concepts. Since starting this “project” or as I often think of it as a money-pit, I have had to utilize many programs in design and engineering.

To add to the many design suites, Adobe has a great set of programs that can ease creative expression and produce such gems as the ones I’ve created.

The next video thumbnail

Some men shouldn’t have access to Photoshop. But, I will never stop making these ridiculous photo concoctions. Obviously, Bernie was not too pleased with the coaster’s progress. I think he’s a tad serious.

Interested in more detailed coaster designing? Checkout the Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/therollercoasterproject

So David, what’s next?

I get it, stick to the point. In the coming week (hopefully not plural), I will be providing some information on how The Roller Coaster Project will be moving forward. With that, I will be offering some options for those of you who are brave enough to venture deeper down the rabbit hole of this little design venture. Again, I’ll explain more once I have things sorted.

Either way, just a little update so you guys don’t think I’ve fled the country again.

Bridging Gaps and Trains of Thought

With the vast amount of work required to bring the big, little, coaster into this world, I am spending around two (2) weeks to produce spectacular YouTube content. Yes, a bit full of myself, but the last one “slapped” as the kids say. I was thinking this past week, “I should make one nice video one week and maybe more of a spontaneous shop happening the other?” Now, this may be a catastrophe in the making, but I’m sure you guys will let me know if I bit off much more than I can chew. Clichés aside….

The video that will be released Monday, February 1st, will focus on more of the coaster structure and some elements not seen on other desktop models: bridges. For this mini coaster, I have included “nested” structure and bridging. Nested simply means a track within another track’s structure: the final turn.

Floating Supports

The picture above shows a curved bridge leading into the second turn of the ride. Turns are usually numbered from the top of the lift onward. Now, it’s not the best design philosophy to create a curved bridge since all dynamic structures “shouldn’t” be able to deflect or sway as a moving object traverses. If anyone out there is a “coaster nerd,” then you are well aware of Boardwalk Bullet or the older Texas Rattler. Both these coasters feature and featured inadequate bracing and structural design which would allow the structure to move multiple feet as the train rolled over a section. This can lead to many things that will put your face in the news the next day. So, do me a favor and don’t make such inadequate trash. This is the upon which I will die…sorry bad jokes. I lack the chutzpah to deliver my humor, let alone write it.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the idea of using a curved bridge can lead to some funky sway due to lack of bracing for shifting forces. Now, you can design anything to be solid as a rock, but that will ultimately cost too much money and give your field guys a complex.

“If it don’t shake, it’ll break…”

Since this little coaster won’t have any gigantic forces on the structure, a curved bridge will do just fine. Yes, yes I am just rationalizing my error. So what, you make it better… The nerve.

Trying to fit this little coaster within a small working envelope meant that I would undoubtedly have some track crossing at some point. Being that I am designing this coaster to mimic a real wooden ride, including complex bridging is an added garnish. We have bridged the gap. Now do you understand the title?

Moving on, David…

The next piece of this ever growing puzzle is to make the cars function properly. As I said in my previous YouTube video, “…building at full scale is simple compared to 1:48th the size.” This car design is no exception since ever piece has to fit within less than 25mm of space. There is a reason I am bald…

It’s MUCH smaller than it looks.

The cars will be connected with a ball-and-socket joint. This socket and ball connection allows for full articulation (look at previous post for that word) and any errors that may exist from track segment to track segment. Also, having 360 degrees of freedom is pretty sweet.

The smaller wheels underneath the track, or “up-stop” wheels, rely on a one (1) mm pin as an axle with an outside diameter of three (3) mm. That’s about 1/8th of an inch for us normal folk. But seriously metric is simpler.

Is the car going to look like that? How many will there be? What’s the meaning of life? Will the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Super Bowl?

For the coaster there will be three (3) cars with working brakes and lift hill mechanisms. And, no, the car will not look like this in the final stage. The cars will, more or less, look like the photo below:

Brings a tear to your eye.

Since this coaster is the “standard” model, I thought it only appropriate to use more of a classic wooden coaster train design. For all future models, or at least ones that are “twister” style with high banking, I will design a custom train. Now for the cars incorporating lift attachments and brakes, I will go more into detail later when necessary…or I actually design it. But, for now, be on the lookout for the next video installment on the YouTube channel, and feel free to comment or contact me via the website.

A Banking Update

Since the last video, I’ve been working on applying banking to the coaster for two turns. Only turns of higher speed will require banking, and some considerations had to be made: don’t bank this coaster.

What? I thought this was an update on banking?

Calm down, first of all. I will be banking A coaster just not this one. For a banking example, I will be creating a spiral drop to show the design process. So why not banking in this coaster?

PrOfile aNd banking designed

I actually designed the banking for the coaster. But through more and more examination, I figured the cars wouldn’t be able to maneuver the turns without becoming pinned. The reason for this lack of travel is due to “articulation.”

Articulation represents the car’s ability to turn some angle per unit length. For this coaster, the cars are a fixed wheel base meaning that the wheel assemblies do not rotate along the longitudinal axis. Sounds complicated, yes, it is. Also don’t end sentences in prepositions…oops.

My goal for this mini coaster is to make a “Standard” version, since this is the first one of many (hopefully). Being that this coaster is the first attempt, a prototype if you will, and the cars are fixed base we have no banking.

But you said you designed the banking already? I can see it above, David!

Again, calm down.

Adding banking

I did begin to add the banking to the 3D model and it began to look very realistic. The above image is representative of how real banking on a wood coaster is calculated. I will go into this a bit more in later videos.

About halfway through the banking update, I decided to check on car articulation. At that point, I figured the best change of angle these little cars could achieve was 4 degrees per 30 mm. This is an axle-to-axle dimension.

For future car designs, I will be incorporating trailer style hitches which should allow high articulation rates and banking galore!

The First Sections

Since completing the ride centerline and bent design, it was time to start fabrication. The entire ride will be broken up in multiple sections due to complexity and time.

The lift hill

The first section of focus includes the “run to the lift” and lift hill. I chose these portions due to lack of banking. Sadly, I still need to complete the banking for the turns along the ride.

Since the lift hill incorporates many mechanical features such as chain, sprockets, and anti-roll back I had to include drilled holes in locations for future use.

Now the building…

The shapeoko going strong

Creating the machine code in Fusion 360 and setting up the Shapeoko XXL, the lift supports could be machined.

Initially, I had a few problems with how to secure the large wooden sheet of Birch, which is 24”x32”. Using a laser cutter would probably be simpler, but I don’t have one…yet. Either way, the Shapeoko works well for large items and even using small cutting tools for the intricate details proved to be pretty simple.

The real issue with using any mill or CNC router is how to hold work pieces. This proved to be no exception since holding this massive sheet was simple, but accounting for small parts to be cut out required some thought.

Material cut too thin faIling to hold.

My thought process for holding these cut parts to avoid extra finishing work later was to leave a 0.01” “onion skin” around the edges. Basically, don’t machine too far down to cut straight through the material. Another option would be tabs of material to keep the workpiece connected in specific areas. Sometimes cleaning up the tabs can take far too long, so I decided to use the onion skin method.

Man, did I make a bad choice…

A mess in the making

To make things easier, without using my box cutter, I decided to get an Oscillating Tool. Now, this would have worked better had I chosen tabs, but nevertheless I attempted to cut out the supports.

After an hour or so, I realized I now had to sand every inch of the parts. Leaving the onion skin led to an exorbitant amount of work. F***

Using a set of files and trying many methods to clean up the excess wood, I found a good balance of sanding with metal files. Eventually, I cleaned up the parts enough for prototype quality. Next time I’m use tabs…

Now came the install of supports on the foundation.

The first section

There were some issues with pressing the supports in the milled foundation holes due to dimensional inaccuracies. I had a feeling this would happen to an extent, but maybe going forward I need to find a way to improve the fixturing method of the supports.

A few thoughts I had were cast foundation pedestals, or rounded holes. The way to straighten the supports finally will come from the track rails and final bracing, so either option might work.

Just some thoughts, but I’ll be uploading a YouTube video soon to cover the first section’s assembly.

A New rail type

The Desktop Coaster

From the beginning of The Roller Coaster Project, I had always wanted to make a smaller version of a working coaster that could sit happily on a desktop. What I mean is that the original model is closer to “G” scale and would require many feet (or meters) of space to develop curves and profiles. Sadly, that ride has been postponed due to constant moving. However, with the launch of the Kickstarter and a reward of working model coming about for those who contributed greatly I began working on a desktop coaster.

The mini coaster - standard

Enter the desktop model roller coaster…

Now, I know there have been some “others” who have attempted or claimed to have made the most realistic working models, previously. However, this will definitely take the prize position. This model has been in the works for some time, but with some successes in the recent month a full prototype is on the horizon.

Foundation

With the help of a few CNCs, the layout of this desktop beauty can be accurately achieved. I mean, who doesn’t have their own CNC machines laying around? It seems like everyone has a 3D printer at this point, so I’ll do you one better. All kidding aside, using a CNC router definitely has improved progress by leaps and dips…uh, bounds. Sorry, roller coaster joke.

So how large (or small) is this thing?

Funny you should ask, the coaster footprint will be 31”x12.5” and roughly 8” tall. The sizing is roughly “O-scale” for you model railroad peeps. So, if you need a mini amusement park for you model trains, then this will match your train’s quality and sizing.

But will it work? Tell me, David!!!!

Yes, or that is the goal. The margin on friction in the design should be appropriate for a level ride model. So don’t hang it from a wall or anything.

Some upgrades in the future might incorporate some type of computer control for station release and chain lift. Yes, chain lift with full anti-rollback (ARB).

Upper idler and chain return

This model has been designed to incorporate all that a real world wooden coaster entails. Profiling and banking come from years of design experience and some best practices featured on many real world rides.

This coaster is simply the “Mini Coaster - Standard” since I’ll be working on some new ideas for “twister” style models. Also that is a working title, so some clever will be assigned later.

To show progress, I’ll be updating on the blog regularly. Also, I’ll be making longer YouTube videos for each section of the ride with releases every Friday around noon (EST).

The pictures show final designs, but you’ll see more later. With much in the works, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do…assuming it works. Take care!

Turn before banking is applied

The week ahead.

For the week leading up to Christmas, I’ll be machining a full car prototype for the mini coaster. Hopefully using the same method to hold the wheels as before will work with the aluminum frame.

Wheel and frame assembly

The frame will be made from aluminum and the wheel assemblies will be fabricated from Delrin plastic. Just as before, the axles will be secured within internal reliefs. When the two identical parts are mated together using adhesive, two small tapping screws will ensure nothing comes loose.

A video of progress…

In addition to the car prototype, I’ll work to upload a video to see progress and something “festive.”

Either way, just a quick little update for now.

A Miniature Coaster in the Works

As the year comes to a close, a few things have happened to us all. In my life, I was able to resume building wacky little roller coasters and have ceased to work for an amusement ride company. I know, heavy right out the gate. Although I’m far from the only one to have had such unfortunate events affect their life, I think it’s good to look on the positive side and add up what remains: design experience, health (hopefully everyone else too), charming humor, and handsome good looks… Perhaps I’m a bit delusional.

Since I was able to resume building miniature coasters, I shifted my focus from a ride the scale of 1:22 the actual size to a more common gauge: O-Scale (1:48).

The Test Section - Proof of Concept

Since running the Kickstarter, the idea of building a smaller version of the roller coaster had been in my mind. It was actually one of the rewards (I still plan to make good on my obligations). Until now, how to fabricate such a small and exact little coaster was proving to be a bit of a pain. With my milling experience limited to the Taig CNC, fabricating wooden supports accurately and repeatedly seemed to be out of reach. The key would be a CNC Router or Laser cutter if I were going to produce accurate bents (supports).

Enter Carbide3D…

At about the same time I was wrapping up my Kickstarter, a small company from California named Carbide3D was beginning theirs with an all-in-one turn key CNC mill for the desktop. Having just purchased the Taig, I was not in the market for any other CNC equipment. However, Carbide3D was successful in launching their Nomad CNC and eventually produced a router called the Shapeoko. The Shapeoko would utilize a hand rotary tool at first, but through various iterations the spindle would become a 1.25 Hp palm router. The frame would be strengthened and accuracy improved over time.

The Shapeoko XXL

Prior to the world “locking-down,” I had been looking for ways to get back into building the mini coasters. I sought out a local Makerspace and even went to an orientation to join. As I was looking to join, things began to change. Businesses were closing up, people were working from home, and makerspaces halting operations. Since my determination to build some mini rides never faltered, I began looking around for a small CNC to help me achieve my goals.

I had been following Carbide3D for some time, and I knew of their Shapeoko 3. From the reviews, its price point and robust frame seemed like a good fit.

Shapeoko XXL Cutting its First Bent!

I decided on their larger size Shapeoko XXL due to its large cutting area. With a cutting area of approximately one (1) square meter, I could layout an entire baseboard foundation for the mini coasters and have the CNC mill the exact locations for the supports. Since I had little experience milling wood, I knew there would be a learning curve, too.

Fortunately, using the CNC Router along with Carbide3D’s intuitive software made learning the ins-and-outs of the Shapeoko truly enjoyable.

The Test Section

Through my practice cuts and design iterations, I knew fabricating a test of final assembly was crucial. The test section would have to incorporate each aspect of the structure and similar hardware that would be used on the final design. With this test section, it would be a good opportunity to develop miniature rollingstock (the cars).

Fusion 360 to model it all.

The ride structure would be comprised of the supports, track brackets, and track rails. For a real roller coaster, the track is typically laminated and the first layer is nailed into the ledger (horizontal beam between supports) with 3-5 heavy nails. Now, the original nails come out or break off as the ride runs the first few times, but the weight of the track stack holds everything in place. Yes, the track is not connected to the ride. Most bridges are constructed in a similar way and the weight of the beams holds the bridge intact.

The materials I used for the test section and will make up the final version are Baltic Birch plywood for the structure (thanks to Matt from PrintMyRide…follow him on Instagram @PrintMyRide), Acetal Delrin for the track brackets and some type of flexible plastic for the rails. For the test section, the track rails were milled out of Delrin plastic, but I plan to use LDPE due to its flexible properties.

These screws are 1/16 of an inch in diameter and the bracket is less than a quarter of an inch in thickness.

Once the track was connected to the brackets with “self-tapping” sheet metal screws, the overall ride became surprisingly rigid. Each track section was created based on the designed centerline, and the placement of the ledger is then based on the location of the track. The hardest portion of the test section proved to be the track brackets. I went through three (3) versions of the bracket prior to settling on the above version, and the final design looks and performs tremendously.

So let’s make more!

Had some white Delrin available, but final color will be black. The drilled holes are 1/16” in diameter.

Using the Shapeoko, I milled out the remaining parts necessary to construct the test section. Setting up in Fusion 360 (CAD program from Autodesk), and utilizing their new features for flat patterns allowed rapid production of the full design. Once the code was prepared from the design, I affixed the plywood to the CNC and began cutting the bents.

Successful Bent!

With all supports milled, brackets finished, and baseboard routed, I began to assemble the test section similar to an Erector Set. The small hardware was a tad difficult, but with proper tools from iFixit, such as miniature hex screw drivers, I was able to tighten the hardware appropriately.

Being that this is only a test of the final assembly, a few things need to be solved: connection between track segments, sanding of supports, and handrails and walkboards. However, this little test was a success and allowed me to begin development of the cars.

More to come soon, along with videos to go through the progress!

It’s been a while.

As the title states, it has been a while. Much has happened over the past few years: moves, new jobs…etc. Although not much is an excuse for updates, it can be somewhat hectic resulting in lack of posting. Currently, the issue of illness around the world is a toxic icing on top of the cake of life. I hope everyone is well, first of all.

So why the lack of posting? I haven’t forgotten about the project and the plans for the future. Far from it. I’ve always wanted to continue posting and making videos of the progress, but when I had no time to progress then everything else suffered. So here is how things have been since 2016…

As some of you know, I worked for Great Coasters International designing wooden roller coasters. I worked on more than ten rides around the world. A few of the rides I personally oversaw construction onsite. The picture below was taken at Alton Towers during the Wickerman construction. This would be my last full coaster I worked on with GCII.

I spent nearly seven (7) months in Staffordshire working at Alton Towers and experienced many things I will never forget, as well as working alongside some truly remarkable people. Fortunately, I was able to explore the country and surrounding areas. But I am getting ahead of myself.

My progress began to slow as I was working in the United States on Mystic Timbers at Kings Island and eventually InvadR at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

InvadR Final Helix

Spending upwards of two (2) months in Virginia, away from my home in Cincinnati, Ohio was difficult, but it would be the precursor to my long journey that would take me across the Atlantic Ocean for almost a year. I would end up commissioning InvadR prior to heading to Belgium.

What is commissioning a roller coaster? Prior to opening an amusement ride to the general public many tests and quality checks must be completed per law, park codes, and manufacturer’s recommendations. Checking the controls, operation, structure, and accelerations can be a lengthy process at times, but those who build are first to ride. So, if any of you have seen the Busch Gardens video of InvadR in POV (point of view) format the park released prior to opening, I actually recorded that with my personal GoPro camera. I became the the third person to ride the coaster, too. Perks of the job.

Once Busch Gardens was complete, my job led me to opening a prolonged project in Europe: Heidi The Ride in Plopsaland De Panne, Belgium.

This ride holds a special place in my heart since it was plagued with issues from the local government’s noise regulations. Long story short, I spend many months the previous year solving the noise issues and the coaster had its debut to the public in April of 2017. The layout is similar to White Lightning located in Orlando, Florida, USA, but Heidi’s structure is comprised entirely of wood. More forgiving than steel…

Heidi The Ride was welcomed by the public, and is extremely re-rideable. While in Belgium, which was for one (1) month, I made friends with park staff and continue to chat with them to this day. I hope to return to Belgium, and the Netherlands in the future since words cannot describe the impact made on my life.

Once my monthlong stint in Belgium was complete, I was destined for Staffordshire, England for my next onsite project: Alton Towers.

Alton Towers had always been a park, almost Holy Grail in idea, that I could only experience in Travel Channel specials during my childhood. Never did I imagine that I would be able to visit the park, work at the park building a wooden roller coaster, and be given personal tours of the grounds. To this day, I regard Alton Towers as one of my favorite parks. The rides aren’t necessarily the most intense, but offer enjoyable experiences.

Beginning construction on Wickerman was a tremendous experience, and the bents in the picture to the left are for the initial drop out of the station during the approach to the lift hill. The company used to erect this coaster was based in Germany outside of Hanover, and the guys I worked with were some of the most skilled coaster builders in the world. They also brought some delicious German beer and food with them for us to share. Let’s be honest, there was plenty to go around.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Wickerman, the main draw of the ride are the fly-throughs passing through a large burning (yes, actually on fire) structure. This structure is the Wickerman, and to build a wooden coaster through such an elaborate steel mess proved to be one of the greatest collaborations I experienced while working for Great Coasters. Timing and positioning had to be carried out so that no contractor onsite would be delayed. The code name for the Wickerman statue was “Big Bob” and we had many meetings to ensure we always referred to it as such.

The topping of the highest point in the ride is a great achievement when it comes to building roller coasters. Since we had a mix of German, British, and Americans working to bring Wickerman to life, I thought it only necessary to represent those involved. Later we would have a few Polish workers, and those guys were some of the nicest, and craziest human beings I have ever met. Overall, I worked with a great group of guys to bring Wickerman to life.

One contracting firm I worked with was a local architect that has been involved with many of the Alton Towers projects. The company Smytheman Architectural were the pinnacle of professionalism. I befriended a couple of guys from the company, and we remain in contact today. Since Smytheman is located in Stoke-on-Trent, I was fortunate enough to go to a Premier League match with a few of the guys in the company box. Those mighty Potters!

When you first start building a wooden coaster, once the structure is standing and plumb (vertical) you begin by nailing the walkboards and handrails. Once the walkboards and handrails are installed you can begin by adding the first ply or layer of track. In the picture to the right you see a few guys adding more walkboards up the lift of Wickerman, and the wonderful “kink” in the lift hill…that is a mind numbing story of why it exists.

Swooping Drops and Tracking the Lift

As you can imagine, being in another country on another continent and on a job site building a full scale coaster makes it pretty difficult to build miniature ones. Nevertheless, I never forgot about proceeding with The Project, it was just difficult.

While the structure and track are being completed on a wood coaster, the trains begin being installed and tuned for testing. Most of the cars are fully assembled prior to leaving the shop, but linking them together and proper shims to allow a tight fit are done in the field. Great Coasters has some of the best rolling-stock in the industry, and it was a pleasure to work on and with them. I even made a few modifications that are present today.

Work continued on Wickerman even after I left England and returned home. While working, I had begun to think that maybe my time at Great Coasters was coming to an end. GCII’s business practices were changing and I wanted to pursue a graduate degree in engineering, so staying on the job site for the better part of a year started to seem less doable.

Upon returning home, I would attend my last IAAPA trade show in Orlando with GCII. It was bittersweet the leave the company I had admired from childhood and even sought to work with designing rides. But, it was something I had to do and I think things have a way of working out if you stay true to yourself, true to others, and your ambitions.

The strange thing is that I never know who is actually following along, so the chance to meet one of you guys face-to-face is always a tremendous experience, and I greatly appreciate your support. Don’t worry, I will continue with the mini rides.

So what happened next? I began working in Atlanta after moving from Cincinnati. I worked for a small engineering firm until the next industry job presented itself. I now had a chance to resume The Roller Coaster Project fully. You can see in the picture that I make a bent building fixture to expedite the building process. In this time I also began to learn more about machining, having worked on real rides definitely helped.

It seemed like nothing was going to slow my progress on the coasters, and I finally was landlocked with no foreseeable travel to new lands on the horizon. But…things have a way of “working out.”

Davey goes to Washington.

Through an industry acquaintance, I happened to accept a new position as a mechanical engineer with a newer ride company. This company had limited roles when it came to roller coasters, but it did offer a new area to expand my knowledge: motion simulators. Incorporating what I knew of coasters into the design of these complex motion simulating devices proved to be a great learning experience.

All the while, I had begun pursing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, but this meant I would have to move yet again to a new area and put the project on halt. I know, can’t catch a break…kidding of course. But wait, did I have to travel overseas again?

The Land of China: Zhuhai

Welcome to the land of China, population 1.2 billion+Dave. Having worked on three different coasters in China, but never having traveled to Chongqing, Chengdu, or Nanchang this was my first experience on the mainland. I had to oversea the completion and commissioning of a few rides in Zhuhai, located in the south near Macao and Hong Kong.

China was an incredible experience and I look forward to returning someday. The culture, food, and people were otherworldly, and I had an eyeopening time. This also allowed me to work with different cultures, including a large Australian population. But with great travel comes less than great progress on The Roller Coaster Project.

Midnight Ride: Lionsgate Entertainment World

I remained in China for a little more than three (3) weeks. Perhaps the funniest part of the whole experience was meeting some colleagues from our Beijing office who happened to follow TRCP and discuss it with me. I mean, to travel more than 10,000 miles and find out the people you’ll be working with follow along? Small world, Project speaking. Their culture is remarkable and vastly different than any I had come across previously.

Chimelong Ocean Park - a great B&M wing coaster.

The streets of Macao

So that was the last of the traveling, right? NOPE! Next on the list was even farther…Malaysia.

Genting Highlands

For the next assignment I had to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. More specifically, the Genting Highlands summoned my presence to their new outdoor theme park. But this time it was for a coaster!

The fog at the top of the Genting Highlands was something else, and the frequency at which it would roll in was sporadic at best. This was my first experience working with a steel roller coaster, albeit a mine train and relatively small, it proved to be a worthwhile endeavor.

When the fog clears you realize it’s the opposite side of the mountain. Good Luck!

An old colleague of mine and I thought it was ridiculous that there were so many open areas without barricades to prevent falling to some sort of death. Probably should be showing or mentioning this, but oh well. In all fairness, they did follow working guidelines and I do think that this just happened to be removed due to a delivery on the faux mountain.

Malaysia was an interesting place, and I would also like to return one day. My time on this project, or at least onsite was limited, but being that the plane flights to the site rounded out at about 23 hours you can see how little to nothing could be accomplished on mini coasters.

The Lifting Force is Strong with this plane

Bringing this long story to present day…

After much happening and much travel, I have now had some time to resume designing and small fabrication of the biggest little ride to ever be. I will be working on providing updates more regularly, and I hope to resume some YouTube videos too showing the progress. I appreciate any and all of you who have stuck with The Project these many years, and I hope my story provides some insight to the many delays and radio silences. In closing, I still think things have a way of working out as long as you never lose sight of what it is that awakens you on the inside. Not to be “profound” or anything, but remain persistent and follow what it is you care about.

Thanks guys!

More Ride Design, sort of.

First off, I apologize to anyone who’s not a math person, but also I don’t want to alienate those of you out there who are...so HA!  Designing a ride is math intensive, and more so nowadays that previously.  You’d be shocked at how many companies that engineer amusement rides today are bad at math, or hire a consultant to “check” their work.  Werner Stengel and his company is a prime example of a consultant hired to check math functions, smooth curves, and check accelerations.  

The basic fundamentals of roller coaster design, in particular, are simple Newtonian concepts from the outside.  However, as you delve deeper into the ride’s layout, you’ll notice a relationship between high order Calculus and Physics.  Many of the questions I get about ride design is “how do you get the centerline?”  Or, “is the ride designed in NoLimits?”   

NoLimits is a great simulation software, just Google it if you haven’t heard of it, and it has some great spline modeling.  However, it’s not used by the industry for anything more than just simulation purposes.  Most companies have their own math programs or spreadsheets designed to output necessary ride features.  There are a multitude of things not included in NoLimits since most people don’t realize they are factored into ride design.  Another discrepancy is that there are limits in real life (IRL for the kids).  These limitations have an ultimate effect on the ride’s final design: budget, space, rider data...etc.  

As for the centerline, previously I had mentioned a few different types of design processes.  If you think of a ride being similar to that of a building or a bridge, then you know you have to develop the loads and produce something to react them.  Just as you design a building, you have a set of codes for weights and accelerations to apply.  But unlike a building, you manipulate the loading in certain areas to produce a ride path.  The math can become a little chaotic, but when possible you should try to simplify it.

Remember, simplicity is key.  Most students and post college people want design to be super exact.  That’s not necessary, even NASA has a range of tolerances to stay within.  You should keep trying again and again to produce the results you want.  Change the methods slightly each time and simplify it as much as possible.  Focus on the concept, and use the math as a tool.