Homemade kiddie drop tower

Hey!

I'm not sure if you read my earlier post but I'm making a home amusement park.

My current project is a kiddie drop tower. It'll be about 12 feet tall used a from a wooden ladder connected to a sturdy swingset.

I plan on using a hoister/winch to lift the "car" up. My question is..if its brought to the top of the "tower" on a winch, can you have it just become "lose and it'll drop still connected to the winch, or do I have to find a way that the car will unhook from the winch?

I plan on using two bungee cords plus two pieces of sturdy rope to use as brakes. Basically once the car is brought to the top it'll fall and the bungee cords will be the right length to stop it at the bottom. My problem is if I need it to unhook at the top from the winch.

Thank you so much

sounds like you'll have quite a lawsuit on your hands if anybody actually rides that thing.

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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

Hey! You should read the "The Great Brain" series. It's a series of childrens books about a kid growing up in Utah around the turn of the century. In a chapter in one of the books, he builds his own Chute the Chutes from the top of the barn.

In short, he makes a bundle of money from all the kids who wants to ride the thing...which ended up being just enough to pay for the doctor bills of a kid who busted his arm when things went ary.

Good luck! Be safe!

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"It's not a Too-mah!" - Arnold after riding Batman the Ride
*** This post was edited by janfrederick 6/19/2003 6:48:03 PM ***

Ok, I think I may have a solution for you. I am making a "launch machine" which is pulled back by a winch, then when the whinch releases the car zooms in the opposite direction. (it is a tad hard to explain)

To make the winch unhook from the car I am using a system almost identical to a typical boomerang coaster. It is a very simple and just about failsafe system. There are two pieces to the winch separated by two large springs. When the rear on the whinch gets stopped the springs compress causing the arm to lift up unhoking from the car. Errr, I'm trying to think of a better way to describe this. Well, maybe someone *cough*Dave*cough* could explain this much better than I.

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This is the kind of thing I wish I could do: make rides in the real world...

But its too expensive and difficult unless I get more details on how these things are made.

the brakes will be two bungee cords? wake up and smell reality kid, that would never work.

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"You know its a good ride when you come into the final break run wiping tears from your eyes"-me

The bungee cords worked with my rollercoaster I made a few years ago.

Yes, a bungee system is actually very possible, just not as reliable as I would like for a drop tower.

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You mean model coaster? I thought this will be your first ride...

No no no..

A few years ago I made a "coaster" down a hill. It was actually a side friction coaster. There were long bungee cords attached to stop it at the bottom.

As reinforcement there WILL be rope too.

In the event of a bungee break, it would probably be safer just to let it hit the soft dirt rather than jerk to a stop by a rope. Dirt can compress a lot under force where as a rope would stop it instantly.

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www.SFMWZone.com
*** This post was edited by GoliathKills 6/19/2003 7:51:37 PM ***

Well see there will be two bungee cords so say if one did break the other would still hold it.

Homemade drop ride:

Lots of mattresses piled at the side of your house. People pay you to jump into them from the jump.

How much money do you have to make this amusement park? Seems like costs could be pretty high.

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This place would be be a nightmare for midgets.

Yea costs are pretty high. Its mainly for fun.

A little off the subject here but I once made a skyride for my cats. It worked great until the large kitty snapped it. lol

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~*Grab the brass ring!*~

If one bungy cord breaks, then the seat falls to one side, the person falls out that side, sticks their hand out to stop their fall and breaks their wrist. Not to mention the whiplash from when the cord breaks. Do whatever makes you happy, but I'd leave the ride manufacturing to the pros.

--Ryan

I would use more like three or four Bungees in this case on either side the chance of breaking that many at once is much lower than one breaking.

carrouseler said:
A little off the subject here but I once made a skyride for my cats. It worked great until the large kitty snapped it. lol

That's not funny! I feel sorry for your kitties... :(

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Tales for the L33t

I would love to do that to my kitties. My long-haired tabby cat, Chessie, would freak out. He's afraid of the outside world!
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My mind works in strange ways. Yeah with a chain driven lift hill and gravity.