New Roller Coaster Wheel Design....

*** Edited 3/2/2007 6:48:24 PM UTC by maXaiRaptor***

Should be an interesting design study. Do you see any advantages of this setup over more traditional ones?

Nice, but I wonder if the enclosed design will lead to heat problems...

Actually i think it would create a more smooth ride. It would put less stress on the tubular steel. With the scaled down model we made, this design was able to withstand a speed 142% of the previous design. Also there was less resistance. The track we used was starting to fatigue faster with the old design compared to the new one.

As far as the heat problem, the enclosure can be changed to accomodate certain problems.

*** Edited 3/1/2007 7:32:23 PM UTC by maXaiRaptor***

Yeah. you can add fins along the outside edge to dissapte heat, mich like an air-cooled engine.

Also, with a design like that, wheel replacement might become a huge chore. You'd have to take the the whole thing off to replace a single bad wheel. Not to mention it would be impossible to tell visually if a wheel was going bad.

I'm not trying to be critical, but your unique design has got me thinking today.

with this wheel design are you planning on still using the regular steel tubing for the track?

if so then wouldnt the smaller wheels wear out faster?

what kind of material are you planning on using for the wheels?

other than these questions i think it looks great...

Actually, i looked at usual polyurethane material and dislike it cause of maintenace and refurbishment. I was thinking maybe poly core with a 4-7 mm think neoprene coating. There are 3 sets of wheels on top bottom and outside. Alll are 5 in. in diameter.

I know on most coasters some of the wheels will be changed out to make the overall ride time longer or shorter. I would think you would need to accomadate multiple different setups with your wheel coating.

Looks like a great design maybe Intaride will use it on the 500' coaster for 2009. :)

haha, it could definitely handle the speed. but ill tweak it a little over the weekend and get started on the full size model. I didn't initially think of neoprene as a good material, but after a while of examining it i realized its not as vulnerable to deformity as i thought. especially if i could find a good synthetic core.

^ Where I work we use a material on our coated rollers that I can not recall at the moment that will not deform or get a "memory" from sitting in one position too long.

hmm..if you so happen to remember pm me or something. im trying to get ideas...the whole point of this design is for more durability, smoothness, and ability to handle high speeds.

The stuff we use is able to be textured and has a variety of durometers, so it may be something you would want to look into. Not quite sure on the high speeds though.

what about availability? how easy would it be to get, or where and how much is the cost?

We go through a company called Petco. They are based just outside of Chicago, I am sure you could find a source that is a little closer to home.

I belive it costs us about 300$ to do a roll that is 42" long and about 5" in diameter with an aluminum core and about 3/4" of coating. The rolls are a durometer of 60 with a micron finish of about 300.

We also use the material on another roll that has a durometer of about 75 I belive and is smooth to the touch. It is used as a squeege more or less on a sheet of silicone coated plastic.

Sounds pretty good, I made the layouts for it and animated it to see how it would hypothetically affect the track. I just want to wait til I make the full scale model. Hopefully when I go back down to Louisiana in April I can find some scrap coaster pieces from Six Flags New Orleans.

Im no engineer (even though I sometimes tend to think like one), but if it was bearing the weight of a large heavy car, wouldnt larger top wheels help bear weight better than smaller ones?

And speaking of making things in CAD, Im making an Intamin wheel assembly in CATIA and my teacher want to enter it into a contest (which I got first place in last year for a part I did in an auxiliary view).

So you're suggesting I make just the top wheels larger or all?

Good luck with the contest btw :)

Yeah, just the top wheels.

ill redo it tomorrow hopefully. maybe i can use the z printer and get a 3d model.