Recent Posts

New Record Breaking Three Inversion Backyard Coaster – Tilley’s Terror

After a lot of thought and planning, I’m going to do it.

After seeing the John Ivers’ Blue Flash, I’ve wanted to make my backyard coaster with an inversion. After looking at a vertical loop, I decided it would be too tall to construct on my land for it to be smooth and safe. So I abandoned that idea.

Then I saw Will Pemble attempt a barrel roll. That looked like it hurt tremendously….challenge accepted.

But why stop there? If I make it a shuttle coaster, I can get 2 inversions for the price of one.

But why stop there? Instead of a spike, why not a scorpion tale? There’s only one of those around…

In conclusion, I am making a 3 inversion backyard coaster with a 25 mph Dragster style launch and professional control system. It will be ledgendary!

But I Need Your Help!

Projects like this are expensive and take a while. I need help. I’ve created a Patreon channel to help others design and build your own backyard coaster. Take a minute to check out the channel. Perks of joining are:

  • Invitation to Ride Once Complete
  • Shout out in up coming videos
  • Your name engraved on a plaque to be mounted on the coaster

Easy to Understand Compressors and Hydraulic Piston Pumps

My buddy can find strange things. On a recent trip to the dump he found a worn out air conditioner compressor with the shaft broken off. Trash right?
Well not for him; he wanted to melt it down and cast stuff. Luckily for me, I was able to intercept and use it as a teaching tool!

Compressors and hydraulic piston pumps are a lot alike, but there is a reason they’re different. Let’s take a minute to see how they work and what makes them cool.

Live Event – Fury 325 Update with Theme Park Predictions

As many of you know, Fury 325 suffered from a structural crack and was shut down on Saturday. This beloved attraction is already missed and we hope that it will be up and running in no time.

I will be live tomorrow evening, July 5th at 9:00 pm EDT with Brandon from Theme Park Predictions. Brandon has been on site all week giving updates and talking with those “in the know.” I will be joining his audience to bring and engineering and product support angle to the discussion. Join us!

Roller Coaster ‘Fury 325’ Closed After Major Crack Discovered

Oh no! One of the premier coasters in the South is closed due to a structural crack! Luckily no one was hurt and the coaster closed without incident.

Coasters are very safe so failures like these need to be investigated fully. I’m a firm believer of the saying, “you will learn more from one failure than a thousand successes.”

Lets see what we can learn from a video taken 100 ft away.

Fury 325 is located at Carowinds, which is a unique park that straddles the North and South Carolina Boarder. This ride is one of three coasters in the park that crosses state lines which could provide a unique twist to the investigation that will ensue. The break occurred on the NC side.

It’s Not A 4D Coaster – Silly Freespin

There are certain things that get on my nerves like improper use of FEA and gussets. This is one of them. Most coasters are 4D coasters (Surge, pitch, roll yaw) but the S&S freespins are not 4D. Actually less, 3 Dimension and still a good ride!

Take a few minutes to understand how we calculate degrees of freedom. And yes, they all have names.

DIY Track Fabrication: “Let’s Get Ready to Roll Form”

Hopefully you all read that title with your best WWE announcer voice. Anyway, after the death of the Black Widow Backyard Roller Coaster due to failures in both PVC and ABS pipe failure, my kids wanted nothing to do with MY backyard coasters.

I couldn’t give up, but there was no easy solution. Schedule 80 (thicker wall) pipe? Maybe. But I wanted this coaster to last. And honestly, the wooden ties were needed to be replace sooner than anticipated

So I turned to steel pipe. I reworked 30 feet of the coaster to use 1.5″ SCH 10 steel pipe. And it is solid! Now that it is built, this is going to last a long time. Can’t you tell that I’m excited!!!

So I picked up the pipe and bent it with my bare hands into the shape you see. Easy Peasy.

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