How Exactly is a Wooden Coaster Built?( Arch)

[PKICoasterFreek]

How exactly is a wooden Rollercoaster produced?

i mean, well, beisde the obvious ( wood and bolts) like what are some of the processes a park has to go though to buy, built, and run, a new coaster.

this is for a school project, (design processes class and business project). So your comments will be very helpful! This isn't just for the profect but, i think it will be very cool to know too. I would like to have an architects "point of view", if possible.

Thanks for yours help!

PKICoasterFreek

[coasterrz]

I don`t know how much architects are involved with the building of a wooden coaster. They might be responsible for the station design. I`m in my first year of architecture school at UC. I think most of the design is done by engineers at firms dedicated to designing and building wooden coasters, such as Great Coasters International.

[Beastfreak]

Correct, architects most likely would only touch the station if even that. The design engineers might be able to handle something that simple.

Its really hard to say. For a wooden coaster the park would most likely decide already where its going to go and about what general features it should have. Then they would go to a design firm (either one they have preference over or one that quotes them a low price) That company will take what the park wants and the space they are limited to, and do surveys of the land to get the profiles. From they they just start, I would assume. Just like any coaster you then have to deside upon a layout and then tweak that layout to get the right curves and hill sizes so the coaster can complete the circuit. Then once all that is done the company would present the ride to the park and they'd probably say yeah or nay and say they like this but not this .... whatever. Again, I have no idea, this is all a guess.

[fyrfyter]

.....I would assume. Just like any coaster you then have to deside upon a layout and then tweak that layout to get the right curves and hill sizes so the coaster can complete the circuit.......

Anymore most of this is done by computer, which can compensate for winds, weight of people, etc, so that no matter what build the computer goes with, the coaster will always complete the circuit. The construction part is where things go crazy. Every board for a wooden coaster is numbered, and you are talking about thousands of boards with hundreds of fasteners. Also, wood that needs to be bent, for turns, loops, etc, must be soaked before it can be bent. Almost any wood can be bent, as long as it has had time to take in a bunch of water. You can do stuff like this with furring strips, and make them bend, after they have been soaking in water for days on end. You know, you could email one of the coaster companies and ask them some questions about the process. Many of those companies are more than happy to help through the customer service department, but no one is gonna tell you what they are in the process of building.

[PKI_Man]

Remember Son of Beast is PKI's building marvel it was built without blueprints only by computer and they built the sucker with out problems occuring. This was part of the AZ expainsion after Face/Off and Drop Zone was built. this was the biggest upgrade to PKI since HBL facelift and thats about it

[fryler87]

I've heard that the first few steps to build ANY COASTER go a little something like this:

1) Park decides it's time for a new ride. They try to think what would fit there the best (like stand-up, sit-down, flyer, etc.) and have SOME idea of what they would want it to look like.

2) Call up different coaster companies. The park says, "...listen, we had this

idea..." and the company says something like, "...that's cool, we could build something like that..." and they make a design and modify the park's idea a bit.

3) Get the bids. The park chooses which company to go with and the price.

4) Hire the contractor, sub-contractor, etc. and build, build, build.

Again, this is just what I've heard, so this could be all wrong.

Edited January 1, 1970 by fryler87

[PKIDelirium]

Remember Son of Beast is PKI's building marvel it was built without blueprints only by computer and they built the sucker with out problems occuring. This was part of the AZ expainsion after Face/Off and Drop Zone was built. this was the biggest upgrade to PKI since HBL  facelift and thats about it 

huh? no problems? read this:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/12/1..._firm_says.html

Edited January 1, 1970 by pkidelirium

[PKICoasterFreek]

Fisrt of all, Architects and Engineers are pretty much the same thing, ( my dad is an acrhitectural engineer...........) Architects have tons to do with the building and designing of the coaster. What do people, take a piece of wood and a box of bolt and just throw um up......I don't thinks so! There is tons of plannig involved with it, there is excavation, pouring footers, contractors, and a whole bunch of other inportant processes, but what i am looking for are the steps of building and designing a coaster.

Thanks for the help!

PKICoasterFreek

[fyrfyter]

Fisrt of all, Architects and Engineers are pretty much the same thing, ( my dad is an acrhitectural engineer...........) Architects have tons to do with the building and designing of the coaster.

That's not true. Architects and Engineers are not the same thing. Maybe an architectural engineer brings the two together, but they are not the same. My dad is an architect. All he does is design work, and overseeing of projects and how things are progressing. Anything involving specifics, for loads, types of cement, structural steel, etc. is done by the engineers in the fim. I should know. They are building 5 different high rise condo complexes on the beach in Myrtle Beach, SC.

[coasterrz]

That is correct fyrfyter. The only thing that the architect would be involved with is possibly the station. And as stated above, the station is a simple enough structure that they probably didn`t even need an architect to design it. I do know that they used an architect for TR:TR`s building and they worked with Paramount Parks Design and Entertainment to intergate the theme into the building. Also, the renovation of Bubba Gumps Shrimp Shack was designed by Jack Rouse and Associate architects, who are based in Cincinnati. I also believe they did the transformation of the former skyride station into Animation Station in Hanna Barbera Land. They also are designing the new Reds Museum at Great American Ball Park which will open with the 2004 season.

[PKIDelirium]

sorry, here is the correct link:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/12/1..._firm_says.html