Skyride cable being replaced.

Check out the latest blog update, it seems that they are replacing the skyride cable

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun%5Fonline/blog/

The weird thing is that it says it will take them 12 weeks to replace. Just seems like a long time to replace a cable.

Not really. They have to raise the counterweight on the west station, and somehow release the tension. As far as I know, this is the first time they have ever replaced the cable since the ride opened, at least, that is what I was told last year.

I wonder if we'll see some new 'improvements' added to the ride.

I hope they (Tony and Tyler) really get in-depth with this. There's a lot of welding and what not to be done.

To support that counterweight they will probably have to use hydraulic jacks. Also where the ends of the cable meet there is going have to be some serious welding.

I find it hard to believe that this is the first time this cable has been replaced. As safety concious as CP is I would imagine that it has been replaced before.

I'm fairly certain that wire rope splicing does NOT involve welding. Welding would do Bad Things™ to the strands in the rope.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
*** Edited 11/21/2005 9:42:03 PM UTC by RideMan***

How else do they connect the two ends together then? I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to splicing a cable together.

Well, by them saying in the blog that: "That’s what you call, “off-season cable replacement,” " it sounds almost routine. So maybe you just recieved some faulty information last year, Ben? Just a thought.

bholcomb said:
How else do they connect the two ends together then?

Elmer's and Scotch (the tape).

How do they put on the cable for TTD? Is it done the same way?

It's very possible, as the information came from my ATL(and roommate).

Either way, I'm hoping Tony and Tyler clear it up for us, which I think they will. They hopefully will read this thread.

Actually, they don't have to connect them.

A wire rope is made up of a number of wires combined in strands. The strands are twisted and rotated about a core. The thickness and number of the wires and strands vary as well as the core makeup and size. A 6x19 cable has 6 strands and 19 wires per strand. I don't know the makeup of the wire rope used on sky ride.

There is very specific number of seperations that a wire rope can have in a lay. A lay is the distance that the strand takes to make a full revolution around the core. The max number of seperations per lay is 6 total or 3 per strand. The whole cable needs to be replace upon a single external seperation of the cable. Thre are actually several sensors that will detect a single external seperation. The interweaving process will leave seperation internally on the cable. The cable is wound tightly so the harder the tension, the harder the strands are forced togther. The friction on each strand holds the rope together in terms of length. The rope would snap before the wires are able to unwind.

The splice is quite long actually. If there is 1 seperated wire per 1 foot lay, then a 6x19 would require a 114 foot splice.

There is (or was) a point where you could visually see where the wire 'ended' if you will. Obviously it was very smooth looking, but there was an actual point on the external part of the cable where you could see exactly where the outer strands had been welded (or whatever) together.

How close where the ends?

Why will it take 12 weeks to a replace the cable?

Ryan, the actual replacing of the cable will happen in early 2006 when the replacement cable arrives. It's not necessarily a 12-week job, it just takes that long for the cable to get here.

There we go. BTW my names not Ryan and yeah.

I, too, have a problem believing this is the first time the cable has been replaced.

It's been done before, I'm sure.

MrScott

There are bridges over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland with counterweights on cables that are older than the Sky Ride. There are elevator cables in the older buildings that have never been replaced too. There's no reason why I wouldn't believe that it's the original cable.

Millennium Force has unusual abrasion wear. I don't know what causes it. It got compounded by shock loading by stopping the train moving forward to the lift as high as it can go without engauging the anti rollbacks. The catch car stops quickly because of the brakes on the drum and flywheel. The train slows down, stops, then rolls back. The train slams the crap out of the catch car. On one occasion it bounced and slammed again. That was standard practice for a while. Now you need to wait untill the entire train is on the lift before stopping it. Emergency stops are of course excluded. Also, there were period where the train would bounce forward a few inches while engauging the catch car. The catch car would speed up and bang into the train.

What are you talking about? This is about the SKy Ride. Not MF

When people think cable life, they are likely to remember MF's cable snapping after less than two seasons.

That is not the case with Sky Ride.

CP4eva'04 said:
How do they put on the cable for TTD? Is it done the same way?

TTD uses three separate cables and they all are connected to the catch at one end and the drum on the other. Basically they don't make a complete loop. Two are used to launch, the third is used to drive it back into launch position.

Even though I trust CP's safety record. Sky Ride has always been the scariest ride for me. 20+ cabins hanging from one cable all the time, yicks. I like the view from the ride none-the-less.