Impulse design flaw?

WoodenCyclone, you relax too much on rollercoasters now. That butterfly feeling is muscular tension. If you want to get it then you need to be a little more tense on the rides.

You have to be waiting in the front two rows to be able to hear it. It happens just as the train fires and then as the last row passes you. It's definitely there on Wicked Twister, I haven't missed it all season, but I only seem to remember it on S:UE or V2 (SFMW).

It's kinda fun to have somewhat stumped yinz! ;)

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

Volcano is already in motion when it hits the launch. Maybe Jeff is on to something.

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In my CD player: Centaur - In Streams
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Fu Manchu - California Crossing

I happened to hear it just once on Twister last year, once on S:UE the year before. I'm sure it's never a lasting phenomenon.

The Intamin loose spring syndrome is best felt on the hypers. Blue train of Millennium Force opened like that last year, and you could see sitting in the back every car in front of you do lateral shifting like a warped Arrow. A couple weeks later I got a lap with new springs and it was stiff and didn't shift at all.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Luau II Cam 7/19
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Also, the entry to LIM's on each end has metal plates that guide the fins into the slots, so loose springs/lateral shifting would not neccesarily cause damage on entry.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

I hear that on all Lim coasters, the Mr. Freezes do that as well. I guess it would be either what Jeff said or it could be breaks releasing, which I always assumed it was. The reason I though this was because the breaks have to be tight to hold against the strong electro-magnetic current.

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Michael Gibbs, formerly Mr. Freeze 979 and former patron of SFStL, who now calls SFGAm home

Hey, I'm not sure on this, but I have always been under the impression Intamin only uses LSM electro magnets. Is it just a common mistake to think they are LIMs or am I just lost. If they were LIMs wouldn't you hear them all "scream" at once and not just when the train is on them?

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www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com

The Premier coasters mount the fins on the side, which I think might make them more prone to the knocking. Since the motors are not as long as the fins, it's reasonable to think the forces would cause the train to pitch up or down a little as the springs give, meaning that the fins are not perfectly horizontal as the slots in the motor. So it's kind of a similar problem to the Intamin rides, only on a different axis (where the Intmain rides may yaw a bit).

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Luau II Cam 7/19
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I'm pretty sure all Intamin L_M rides, save S:TE, are LIM's. Also, the brakes on the impulses are magnetic and pull up well before the actual launch sequence starts, so the screaming is not the brakes releasing. They don't need to be active to keep the train in place.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

I have a question off subject was does wicked twister not use wheel covers? (I noticed this on V2 at Great America also) Is this something all impulses are doing or is this just a situational thing (The operators choice or something).

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WARNING:
You are no longer who you were and tomorrow is now yesterday. In the event of an emergency, do not become alarmed. Move Quickly to the nearest exit.

I don't think I've seen any recent pictures of any of them with the covers. Perhaps they didn't have very good means of keeping them secure. Not a big deal I suppose. They don't look half as bad without as the B&M inverters do.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I heard the metal noise on the video at Guidetothepoint.com
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Http://www.Philng.vze.com

SFGAMan said:
On V2 at SFGAm, there's always a sqeaking soundwhen it launches and when its stopped and going back into the station. I know a lot of people (including me) who always thought it was screaming on the launch part

Yeah, I hear that same screaming sound on V2 when the train re-enters the station. I thout people were screaming, but it's annoying as hell.

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My favorite coasters:

1)Shockwave (SFGAm) 2)..... There is no # 2.

Intamins? With design flaws? Come on, get real!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

The "smack" your hearing is infact the copper fins feeding into the slot that is used as a "funnel" into the LIM slot. I would usually descirbe smack if anything. It's really not that big of a deal in my opnion. Intamin knows the cars can shimmy, and that's why there is a funnel to begin with.

Secondly, Wheel covers are not used for many reasons, including that with the wheel covers on, it's harder to see any wheels that might be cracked or cracking. With the covers off, ride ops can report wheel damage to maintainece ahead of time. As for them staying secure, I wouldn't doubt that at some point in time, a wheel cover may have come off mid-ride on an impulse coaster somewhere.

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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Ride-Ops Crew 2002-2003(Find Me, Win a prize!)

On the door to my office at work I have a Cedar Point recruiting poster which includes a photo of Wicked Twister. The train has red wheel covers.

I rode Wicked Twister on Media Day. It didn't have wheel covers, and I have never seen it with wheel covers. So on that particular ride, the decision to run without wheel covers was made VERY early in the ride's operational life...sometime between the photo shoot and the press preview.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The Vampire at Chessington has wheel covers, but has never used them as it takes too long for maintenance to remove them and check the wheels every morning.

B&M ones have just a couple of tabs to flick off and the wheel covers hinge up - simple.

Do you think that the reason the Impulse coasters don't have them is because they're too fiddley to keep removing and putting back on?

No I don't think they don't use them on Impulse coaster because they are too hard to put on and then off, over and over. But when V2 @ SFMW had the covers they kept on moving and the covers would bounce up and down, cause them to shut the ride down and fix the whole wheel assembly...happened to me on the first time I was there and it was open...also SFMW did plan on adding them to V2 again this year but they never did.

Yeah and that bang you hear are the fins hitting the guide that puts the fins into the LIM's proper alignment. Also other weird noises come form V2 @ SFMW when it launched forward on the second trip, and I think that's because the computer/program fires a LIM that doesn't need to be fired...it sounds like a station LIM fires when the trains is already at the end of the "tunnel".

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-Ray
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If the fins are being "funneled" into the LIMs then why doesn't that crack happen on each launch and at every LIM? Shouldn't it be almost a firecracker effect as the train goes along then? Cause I've never heard it (and I listened for it) further down the launch tracks or on the 2nd, 4th or 5th passes.

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

Just a guess, and I'm sure I'm talking out of my ass, but once the fins are in the channel I assume there are equal forces acting on them from both sides, so they presumably wouldn't knock around.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?