Bill Ward's SCRAMBLER Carnival Amusement Ride

[DLuders]

The end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere often features FAIRS and CARNIVALS with old-fashioned amusement rides. On Flickr, Bill Ward writes this about his MOC:

"This amusement park ride, known in various parts of the world as the Scrambler, Twist, Twister, Cyclone, Sizzler, Merry Mixer, Grasscutter, or Cha Cha. In my part of the world (California) I've always seen it called the Scrambler.

"I built this model for the 2009 Bay Area Maker Faire where it was a part of BayLUG's largest ever public exhibit.

"The operating mechanism is similar to the real thing - a central axle drives the whole mechanism, and rubber tires attached to each arm's driveshaft transfer that motion to the ends of each of the three main arms, where a 90 degree gear causes the 4 cars to spin around."

Click on this Flickr link for many pictures.

VIDEO:

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[dolittle]

Those poor lego people, did you ask them whether they wanted to hop on or not, I assume you just put them in and started spinning them!!

Thanks :)

Noam

[Burf2000]

I love building Lego rides! Roller coaster was my fav

[mostlytechnic]

Sweet! Love a good scrambler ride.

[DLuders]

[bUMP]

CosmicXanadu posted this

of his "5000-brick motorised LEGO model of the popular Twister amusement ride, also known worldwide by various other names including the Twist, the Sizzler, the Gee Whizzer, the Grasscutter, the Cyclone, the Cha Cha, and the Scrambler.

Three clockwise rotating suspended carriage assemblies with four carriages each are rotated anti-clockwise around a central core. The opposing rotation of the carriages to the core result in a sweeping sensation for the riders and the illusion that the carriages are going to collide with each other."

[Alasdair Ryan]

No exciting moc's to post David?

I guess that's why you have started bumping 3 year old topics.......

[DLuders]

(Alasdair after riding on a Scrambler --> )

CosmicXanadu elaborated some more about his 5,000-brick Scrambler:

Model Features

• Motorised rotation of central core and carriage assemblies
  
• 12 carriages arranged in 3 colour-coordinated groups of 4
  
• Holds up to 36 riders
  
• Each carriage holds 2 minifigs comfortably
  (3 at a squash, with outside arms/hands raised)
  
• Carriages have a swivel safety-barrier and optional clip-on canopies
  
• Carriage rotation can be tilted using manually-operated top-mounted elevation wheel
  
• Elevated base with room underneath for mechanics
  
• Perimeter steps with safety-barriers, 2 entrance gates, an additional exit chain, flags, and twenty speaker sound system
  
• Control booth with motorised roof-mounted rotating Twister sign
  
• Decorated with 790 transparent pieces to simulate lights
  

"Larger versions of the ride have the whole thing mounted on a raised platform.

"All modern versions of this ride support the rotating carriage assemblies with lower and upper arms connected to the central core and use a double wheel/tyre mechanism on the lower arm that rotates the carriage assemblies as the arms rotate around the base of the core. Much older versions of the ride only used upper support arms containing gearing that rotated the carriage assemblies from above and this is what I've done on the LEGO model since it avoids tyre slippage and is a nice use of Technic gearing from a single motor.

"My version of the model also includes an elevation mechanism that can raise the carriages so that they rotate on a slightly tilted axis. I'm not sure if any Twister has ever done this. Certainly none of the modern ones do, but I seem to recall seeing one in the 70s that did. Or perhaps my mind is playing tricks with me. Either way, this is LEGO, and the LEGO version elevates, so there!

"Built with LDraw (MLCad) and rendered with POV-Ray.

Further information and images here: http://equinoxe.byethost16.com/lego/twister/ ."