Subject:
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Re: Roller Coaster runs on Monorail Track
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.technic
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Date:
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Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:11:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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9774 times
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In lugnet.technic, Jason J Railton wrote:
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In lugnet.announce.moc, Chris Phillips wrote:
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I have designed a minifig-scale roller coaster that can run on standard
monorail track.
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It’s a neat design, and I like the idea of using monorail track to do smooth
loops.
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Thanks! I actually got the idea when I displayed a not-yet-working prototype
coaster on the NELUG train layout last weekend. We posed the “broken” coaster
in our amusement park with a working monorail (Airport Shuttle) running through
the center of the loop-de-loop. This is a complete re-design since then.
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4ft is a hell of a lift to make out of LEGO though! I’d be happy
with something smaller, even if it meant going without the loop.
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If you do away with the loop then you don’t need much vertical lift. You also
don’t need any monorail track, either. The pin-in-tube method is good for doing
curves, and the SNOT tiled stack of 3 1x’s is an economical, sturdy, and
low-friction way to synthesize straight track.
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Have you thought of fitting more wheels on the vertical spigots to act as
rollers? I suppose you could have wheels underneath the rails too, using
this method. It gets a bit bulky for minifigs, but I don’t know if you could
get round the loop at a lower speed.
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Yes, I’ve tried things like this, but simplicity has serious advantages. I
first tried to do
something like Nico Bestanpouri, and
could usually do a couple loops before the track broke apart somewhere. A more
recent design had a third wheel directly beneath each rear wheel by about 1
brick height. But ultimately, I found that not having that third wheel
eliminated so much friction that it wasn’t worth the drag.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing this ever since I saw
pictures of Matt Chiles’
coaster several years ago, so I’ve tried a lot of different techniques.
Once I had a reliable slope and loop (which wasn’t changing shape with every
trial run) I learned a lot from repeated experimentation. One thing I noticed
is that a heavier car can loop from a lower starting point. I haven’t tried to
load a weight element onto the car- yet, but the track could probably support
it.
One consideration that really drove this design was a desire to make it true
minifig scale, suitable for use in our club layouts. I’ve discarded a few
“superior” wheelset designs, for example, simply because I couldn’t reconcile
them with a proper-scale passenger compartment for four. Whatever else you do,
you’ve got to maintain a low center-of-gravity.
I also plan to do a variation on this design as a GBC module for a
club-sponsored event coming up this summer.
That is a cool design! Definitely the most compact working design I’ve seen.
I’m surprised that I never noticed this before. I bet you could eliminate a lot
of friction by using a layer of SNOT for the rail bed. I also used plastic
wheels (no rubber) because I don’t mind if the wheels skid all the way down the
hill. All the better if they do!
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I tried using pneumatic tubing for the rails, but it just kept giving way.
It was a bit too sticky too. Track System isn’t flexible enough to maintain
a gradient, so I had to resort to making my own rickety stairs, which jam up
quite often.
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I actually have considered using a loop of pneumatic tubing as a conveyor to
pull the cars up the incline. I would prefer to use string, but I think it’ll
just slip over the pulleys. I’ve also tried building chains out of discrete
Technic parts.
I want this to be very reliable. Our amusement park displays are expected to
run continuously for at least six hours at a time, and I don’t want to spend the
whole weekend picking up after derailments and answering minifig lawsuits.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Roller Coaster runs on Monorail Track
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| (...) It was designed to be modular - each section is 16x16, and drops either 2 bricks (straight) or 4 bricks (corner). I carried it all in flight luggage, each part wrapped in tight cling-film (plastic food wrap) and I'm amazed the curves held (...) (18 years ago, 29-Mar-07, to lugnet.technic, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Roller Coaster runs on Monorail Track
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| (...) It's a neat design, and I like the idea of using monorail track to do smooth loops. 4ft is a hell of a lift to make out of LEGO though! I'd be happy with something smaller, even if it meant going without the loop. Have you thought of fitting (...) (18 years ago, 29-Mar-07, to lugnet.technic, FTX)
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