[TC14] Trabant Amusement Ride

[Bublehead]

Ok, So I am in the midst of building the Rough Terrain Crane (RTC) and just got done building the mega turntable with roller bearings.  I don’t think I will be entering the TC14 contest, but my mind will not let go of how easy a Trabant ride would be to build using this mega turntable as the platform for the undercarriage. The parts for the RTC lend themselves to building the lift mechanism, and If I can do it with a single L motor driving the whole contraption, I think it would be a decent entry.  Just don’t know if I will have the time to get it done for the contest and focus on making it fit the rules, or just build it like I did my Twirl and Hurl, as a flagship MOC. Either way, it will be my next MOC and this thread will be where I post my updates.  Stay tuned for more amusement ride fun...

Edited September 7, 2018 by Bublehead
Removed WIP from title

[Magical Duck]

Will it be similar to this?

Also, do you plan to make it a c-model of the 42082? Either way, it looks like this could be an interesting MOC. Good luck!

Regards,

Magical Duck

[Bublehead]

@Magical Duck Yes, that is the ride. Other names of the Wipeout/Trabant are: the Mexican Hat, Hully Gully, Sombrero, Wagon Wheel, Casino, Razzle Dazzle, Super Satellite, Roulette Wheel... 

I think it is #9 on the White Trash Carny Favorites list...

http://thedod3.com/whitetrashcarnierides/trabant/

[sirslayer]

@Bublehead The TC14 entries ain't due till September so you got plenty of time!!   

[Bublehead]

Ok, been working on this in both real parts and in my head (the fastest place to build things is in the minds eye) and I think I might be able to pull this off... a marathon build session is coming Sunday night... will have something to post Monday I hope...

[Bublehead]

Well, no pictures until tomorrow, the wife said come to bed, but I got the ride working, the lift mechanism working, the lower turntable drive working. I still have to motorize the upper ride turntable, but I did the prototype drive mechanism during my proof of concept model so it should be easy to add to the final model. I have to rebuild the seat restraints to allow me to motorize them and add the drive motor for that.  I foresee two more complete rebuilds before I’m done.  So far the performance of the lower turntable is beyond my wildest hopes, that coupled with the upper turntable in the same spin direction and stomachs will be emptied.  My hopes are this performs like the real ride, doing everything from banyan curve to the Mexican hat dance forwards and backwards, the bucking bronco, dolphin ride..... all the phases of the turntables mixed. So turntable base fwd/stop/rev and turntable with cars fwd/stop/rev.   I am using the train IR controller to give me stepped speed control on the turntables. So you can control the ride like a real carny.  Kind of impressed with the performance so far.

[Bublehead]

Tilted...

Untilted....

 

So this is my WIP so far...  having to use the big banana gears as a turntable, you really have to redesign the original ride to incorporate them, but the weight of the ride requires the RTC bearing design to have any performance at all. The real ride also uses a rubber tire motor drive on the upper turntable that is located on the outer rim of the ride. With Technic, there is no creating a large round “rim” for the tire to ride on, so I incorporated the curved racks to make a cylinder that the tire can ride on, but to match the scale of the ride, this makes it a inner ring not an outer rim.  So this changes the entire geometry of the design, where the original had a high mounted and offset central hub and used the natural inclined shape of the carrousel to allow the lifting mechanism some room underneath, this design doesn’t have those things going for it. So the height of the inner hub had to allow for the lifting mechanism. It uses an offset scissor design to produce a virtual hinge point that is located outside the diameter of the carousel so that when it starts liftng, the outer edge of the carousel doesn’t dip down into the platform surface.  I use two large LA to operate the scissor lift driven by a L motor. The lower rotational housing is driven by a L motor directly geared to the gear racks inner ring gear.  A Buwizz would have been the preferred method of controlling and powering the whole ride, however my order got delayed and so I am having to use 2 PF IR receivers for the contest.  The upper turntable will be driven by a M motor, and a medium motor will drive the safety harness mechanism.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Bublehead

[pagicence]

Come on Bublehead, a few more pieces, platform... and you're done. There is only 3 more days left. I know you said that you probably won't make it, but com on. Finish it and post an entry, you will rebuild it after the completion ends.

[Bublehead]

I am planning on finishing it for the competition... a couple of really long nights are coming though.  I will confess, I had a moment of pure frustration yesterday when I was getting the lift mechanism to work reliably... the mount to the upper turntable would hold until the ride would get almost to the maximum lift position then two pins would slip out and the entire upper turntable would buckle, the scissor jack would rip free from its mounts and the whole thing would crash down on itself.  The problem was the upper turntable mounts, although pinned, the connector https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=92907&idColor=11 was free to rotate on the beam ends. This rotation allowed it to slip off the pins and self destruct.  After adding a couple of 4x2 L shaped lift arms to prevent the rotation, everything was fine.  However, during a “collapse” and in frustration, I ripped the top turntable off, ride cars a-flying as I ripped the battery box and IR receiver out and threw the whole mess across the table.   It’s amazing how far something will spontaneously disassemble itself when you get angry at it.  

A little more on the design elements-  the upper turntable, cars and superstructure had to be strong but light as possible, this was to keep the load on the lifting jack mechanism as small as possible.  I originally tried a single set of scissor arms but ended up doubling them up to increase stability and spread the load across 8 beams instead of 4.  The L motor is reduced through two sets of 12 to 20 tooth gear meshes to drive both LA. The L motor to drive the lower carrier is through three, 90 degree distribution meshes to drive a 20 tooth gear that drives a 12 tooth idler gear that mates to the ring gear of the curved racks. The torque and the speed that this gives the lower carrier was better than I had hoped for.  Both of the L motors were chosen due to their mountablity, their torque being the icing on that cake, but the LA’s do need a lot of torque to lift the whole upper turntable structure. 

What is really interesting is this mechanism could be used to build several other amusement rides, the “chain swing chairs” being the one that jumps out at you. This is the exact mechanism that is at the top of that ride, and the lower rotation of the carrier could drive the circular covering on the central tower.  Any ride that you would want to rotate and elevate like Haley’s Comet could also use this mechanism.  The double turntable using the RTC bearing construct is a thing of frictionless wonder, though, even though there is a real Technic turntable at the heart of each bearing.  The performance of roller bearings is so missing in Technic Lego.  It is the friction that kills some of the really interesting things you could make if each journal bearing didn’t have so much of it.

[1gor]

So far it looks good but you need few twitches here or there... when I saw Trabant in your title I was afraid that you decide to make this

[Bublehead]

@I_Igor, yes, here in the states Trabant has no automotive meaning for us.  And I am not sure why the original ride got this name... maybe a google search is in order...

[1gor]

Yes, but important thing you made the right thing and not some sparks on wheels...playing with words is sometimes wired

[Bublehead]

Ok seems “Trabant” means “satellite”... and since the ride was invented during the “space craze” of the sixties, they were looking for a new space based word to name the ride...

[Erik Leppen]

Please enter this to TC14. The more entries, the more fun, right? :)

[Bublehead]

@Erik Leppen, I am going to enter it, but I have to finish the details... running out of a few key elements... may have to bust open a Claas tractor as a parts donor... we shall see.

[Bublehead]

Ok small update... the absolute necessary three motorized functions are in place and work reliably.  Upper carousel is now driven so the ride does its thing. Both the base rotation, carousel rotation, and carousel lift work without major disasters or interactions with each other so I can start either rotation in either direction and run the lift while running both rotations either simultaneously or individually.  Only thing left now is the safety bars/restraints which will take a lot of time because I have to rebuild 16 ride cars and run the motive force from the motor to all 16 cars. I may do working gates and platform, ticket booth... not sure what will get done by the 7th.  The ride would actually work better as an installed ride with a center well to house the lower mechanics and use a poured cement slab apron like many permanent rides installed at amusement parks.  To simulate that I am going to make a platform using 5x11 and 3x11 panels mounted on a board with a center hole cut to allow the base to sit below the ground plane.  I am simply amazed how fast this thing turns... to scale, I think it would start to make people pass out from too many G’s.  The cars are a blur so the ride would be similar to a passenger, except it’s the world blurring not the ride.

[1gor]

10 hours ago, Bublehead said:

Ok seems “Trabant” means “satellite”... and since the ride was invented during the “space craze” of the sixties, they were looking for a new space based word to name the ride...

in my country Trabant is synonymous for something what is useless and worthless... and from states I remember Disneyland and Magic Mountain...but your interpretation is very nice, only if you have enough parts to make all "vehicles" the same or every second is the same...you understand what I mean (sorry for late response, but there is a time difference over big pond...) 

[Bublehead]

I have 4 sets of cars... 4 black with red seats, 4 Red with Black seats, 4 Lime and Red cars with lime and red seats, and 4 half red half black cars with red and light bg seats.... I can either have 4 sections each one different or go type 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4, etc... etc...

the pictures above have 4 sections of 4 similar cars... I don’t have enough panels to make it completely uniform.... but hey it’s an amusement ride and it’s supposed to look poorly maintained, rickety, and ready to fall apart. 

[1gor]

well to have "scars" and to see that something is aged also requires a lots of effort. what I really like usage of gear quarter wheels from BWE. Perhaps you can distribute cars evenly, but it looks Ok like this. Perhaps lime color with yellow is not my favorite, but parts limitation is always key point 

[Bublehead]

And... we come to the end of the parts bins and now have to stop for the night and decide what gets disassembled tomorrow.  I got all 4 motors installed,   3/4 of the cars rebuilt with new safety bar, and got motive force to all cars to drive the safety bar. Rebuilt the scissor arms, mounted both IR receivers, rebuilt the rubber tire drive mechanism to prevent tire/axle creep. Added reinforced mounting for scissor arms, rebuilt the LA drive train and shortened the drive/pivot axles back to the journal ends. Remounted the center spire to open up real estate to allow the safety bar drive actuators enough room to get out to the safety bar distribution shaft in the outer rings.  I am lacking 2 of these:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=87408&idColor=11

or the thing would be almost done.  A note on performance- after today’s rebuilds, the thing needs a wider base. The speed on both turntables has come up to the point that when in full wobble mode, it now throws the ride off balance on the 15x15 base. Yesterday the drag due to several misalignments (due to my constant prying and twisting to rebuild without completely taking it apart) plus the poor tire alignment on the upper drive made it not as fast. So, during today’s rebuilds, several pins and bushes were added that where missing due to haste on the initial build/design.  Time is now the enemy... the design is solid, the features all work, it’s just can I finish the build and get a good video for the contest between now and the cutoff.  Wish me luck.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Bublehead

[Stimy]

can't wait to see the finished result, although I won't go on it's real world counterpart anymore 

[Bublehead]

So after sleeping on it, looks like I am going to use the Extreme Adventure and Airport Rescue (42069, 42068) as the parts donors to finish this tonight.  Hopefully all the rest of the build goes well, the safety bar drive mechanism, though workable by hand has yet to be tried by motor alone, but once I get it all put together it should work.  Now comes the “let’s make a pretty video” segment of the competition, which I will gladly concede as a weak spot... I have very little time to script, light, shoot, edit, score and publish a slick vid like my fellow competitors so don’t be surprised by the quality (or lack there of)  of my single take, naturally lit, hand held, on a smartphone, crappy audio/video presentation. 

[Bublehead]

Trying to not waste any time, but I have time to think, if not build,  at work today... been working out the safety fencing in my head... I think I have enough parts to just finish a decent presentation... Color scheme is going to be weird... dark blue 3x11 panels for fencing with a red/black/lime/yellow ride... oh well 

[mocbuild101]

14 hours ago, Bublehead said:

Color scheme is going to be weird... dark blue 3x11 panels for fencing with a red/black/lime/yellow ride... oh well 

Well amusement park rides are supposed to be colorful, aren't they?

[Bublehead]

Ok, here is a nearly finished shot and a top view. Notice the octagon safety bar drive distribution shaft and the mechanism to operate the bars.