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Banshee Construction Progress


IndyGuy4KI

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If you look at the wheel assemblies/bogies on Diamondback during the rattlier parts, the wheel assembly vibrates. It's especially obvious when the wheels themselves get older and get that worn oval-like area in the polyurethane. I didn't notice that sort of thing on Nitro, Raging Bull, or SFOG's Goliath (or any other B&M I've ridden), so I wonder if it's something to do with the staggered B&M hyper seat design. Has anyone here read/heard a complaint about rattling on Behemoth, Shambhala, or Steel Dragon 2000?

Where I politely differ from TheCrypt's and YoungStud's rattling complaint is that I've never found it strong enough to be unpleasant, apart from hot days where I haven't had enough water and any sort of vibration would cause a headache. But I'm probably not the best judge; I tend to love wooden coasters that most consider unpleasantly rough.

Also, if I heard the noise you were hearing, TheCrypt, then I think that's just the anti-rollbacks clicking like on Diamondback's first drop. Shouldn't be a big deal, I think.

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My wife and I both experienced that rattling on Diamondback the last couple of years enough to comment about it being a bit "rough", which most B&M's are not. I also felt it on Gatekeeper last year, but those are the only 2 B&M's that I've felt it on. Not enough to make me not want to ride, of course, but enough to make me think, "What happened to the smoothness of the first year?" Hope Banshee avoids that.

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For those that think the sound is the ride "jackhammering" you're completely mistaken..

Jackhammering on Diamondback was a real thing, especially more evident the further back on the train you sat. On the ride it started getting vibrations that were worse and worse on the ride and noticeably different on different trains. You would notice these vibrations usually at the bottom of hills or in between the transitions. As a prior ride op to me, it was the sign of worn wheel. Being towards the end of the season I doubt they were concerned with throwing sets of nice new wheels to be used only for a few weekends. I expect Diamondback to be a great ride as per usual at the beginning of this season. The ride is fresh, maintenance has been done, and the ride will be functioning practically as if it was brand new (albeit she needs a pretty new paintjob but ah well :P). The wheels yes are u grooved wheels. This allows it to stay in contact with the track more. However nylon/poly wheels wear down. So here's a picture of U grooved wheels, albeit an idler wheel and not a road wheel.

ugroove_idler2.jpg

Think of that inside area wearing down more and more. Even though the wheel assemblies are spring loaded to keep them pressed into the track, when the wear isn't uniform across the wheel or spots develop where the wheel can separate from the assembly, theres your vibrations. This is all what I was taught by my ride supervisors and a few maint. friends. I'm guessing this is all correct. If anything is wrong please don't be afraid to jump in and correct a minor issue

The sound you hear is the anti rollback devices hitting the chassis/fully extending from the bottom of the ride. In zero g/transitions/etc. they move, they aren't fixed in place. If you never knew, the sound you hear on every lift hill isn't the chain. That sound is the anti rollbacks Here is a picture of one up close, from an Arrow train.

anti-rollback_dog.jpg

Here is a shot of the Anti Rollbacks/Chain Dogs on a B&M train, Sheikra The four outside sections are the anti rollbacks and the large inner piece is the chain dog (grabs a link of the coaster track to get pushed up the lift hill)

tp1628ly0.jpg

Anti rollbacks engaged

Anti_rollback.jpg

This is Diamondbacks hill. See the chain in the middle. The chain dog will engage the links by resting on the back of one and getting pushed up. To the right is the anti rollbacks..That slides into the spaces and sits against the back of one to keep it from going backwards on the lift and to stay in place in the event of a stop as pictured above.

rsz_dsc_2196_173.jpg

When you hear the clack clack sound, especially on an Arrow or any wooden coaster, this is produced from that. This is also the jagged tooth design you see going up the lift hill. It is used so if the chain dog (object that connects to the chain links), the coaster will sit on the anti rollbacks in that same spot. Also in the event that a chain dog becomes unattached, these keep it from running down the lift hill. Think of these as anchors in the event of a train stopping or coming off of the chain/chain break/etc. So here is a picture, notice it's in a down position right now, however to get over the jagged teeth on thelift hill these devices have to be able to go up and down. So when g forces are applied to the train or lack threof, these things can move around and make noise.

Last thing too, you have the sound of it going over the track, yes the track on B&M's is butter smooth but there are times when you can hear the wheels hit the next bit of track, it's just there. To never hear that sound it has to be once piece of track or just welded together perfectly with no imperfections.

To further prove a point, here are videos of a few rides with that same sound. Notice these are opening day, and all these rides gave butter smooth rides, can't say it had this problem then. This sound has always been there, that's not the issue. It will always be there and theres no way to remove it. The jackhammering itself though as explained above, that is/was a maintenance issue, and that hopefully has been corrected for 2014 opening day.

Diamondback opening day. Yes the sound is a little more prevalent but that's to be expected after years of use/wear. Think those anti rollbacks have been used for thousands of cycles, they'll loosen up a bit. But the sound is there if you know what to listen for.

Even with it being brand new and butter smooth track and sand filled rails, you can still hear it on Gatekeeper in the zero g/barrel roll elements over the front gate especially.

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1) Thanks for all of that information. It is very interesting.

2) Those pictures are great and really put into perspective what you're talking about.

3) I could watch those videos all day with the volume all the way up. I miss those sounds so much right now...

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I had one terrible, grease ball of a weekend... but when I got up this morning, and saw the news that testing had begun: I tossed that weekend right out the door! Thank you Kings Island for entertaining me and brightening my day, even during the offseason!

And thank you Devarious, that was an awesome and highly informational post!

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Dragster is obnoxious lol. Can't miss that coaster no matter where you are. I don't know how many times I got run into because I would hear the sound and stop to stare lol

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

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Some of us of a certain age feel the exact same way about the sound of a wood coaster chainlift. Some particularly about Son of Beast's. Arrow chainlifts, especially Top Gun aka Flight Deck aka The Bat, The Bat, Vortex.... Some about the sound of Rolling Thunder's wheels happily spinning on the brake run-/the train lifted up off the track by the skid brakes...

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About time! I'd've thought one of the news stations would've wanted to be first to post a video of the new ride.


Oh, and yes, I believe dual contractions should be an acceptable way of writing, as we speak with the same pronunciation.

"wouldn't've" as another example. Very useful when speaking in the hypothetical.

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Wow! Love the sound already! I imagine it'll probably get louder too as they change out the wheels that will actually be used during the season.

At least I think this will be the case. I know previously that it has been said they start testing B&M coasters with a softer wheel (or is it a harder?) Anyways regardless most likely it isn't running at normal speed during these test runs.

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