Magnetic Brake Question

Ken...you posted the link before I had a chance to promote it here. :)

Anyway, on Millennium Force (that is the topic here, right?) most of the brake calipers are fixed in position. There are a few that can be retracted, and those are positioned on the ready brake uptrack of the unload station. Let me direct your attention to another page: Superman brakes detail photos. Let me direct your attention in particular to the lower edge of the brake caliper, that cylindrical section mounted between the two pillow blocks. That's the part of the caliper that attaches to the coaster frame. That beam rotates in its mount, pulling the actual brake magnets sideways away from the fin. Which is a long way of saying, "Yes, they pull away from the sides of the train." But it isn't so much a straight pull as a rotation...there is enough clearance between the magnets and the fin to allow the units to clear. That's what the air cylinders are for: to actually pull the calipers away from the train.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

OK then. That makes sense.

I looked today and MF's retractable's are a bit different from that of S:RoS's. The physical caliper itself looks the same but the cylinder is much larger and appears to be protected. Their are two larger hoses that stem to the base of each brake from the cylinder instead of what looks like just one side on S:RoS. The hoses themselves are much thicker, although they don't look steel reinforced.

--------------
2001 Force Laps -121 
2001 Magnum Laps-250
6/11/01 Gemini Laps- 100