Schmiedecke was given permission to climb the ride and photograph it for its dimensions, and that is how this project was first born. The initial prototypes of the ride were made using the build/cast system using plastic: he ended up making an entirely static model of the ride this way. Then he decided he wanted one that moved, operating just like the ride does in real life.
How does the ride work? Schmiedecke explained to 3DPrint.com that the ride’s model has a servo “like the ones used on radio control models” and a DC drive motor/gearbox turn the cars while the servo drives the sweep arms up and down. Like so many other 3D printed models, the electronics proved to be the most complicated part.
DC motor. The micro computer runs a program that tells the DC motor to turn slowly, then increase to its running speed. At this point, the sweep arms raise to about half of full height and briefly remain there. The sweeps start to bounce, increasing in height until full height is reached while continuing to bounce the full swing for a while. Finally, the bounce decreases, the arms and cars reach the original position, and the turning motion slows to a full stop.
As for the printing aspect of the project, the model featured on the below YouTube video was 3D printed by Shapeways without supports, but Schmiedecke has his own 3D printing setup as well. He explained some of his own observations about printing the carnival ride to 3Dprint.com:
“I purchased a [Da Vinci] printer about a year ago and have learned a lot using it. Its capability is fantastic but limited. It needs to generate supports as it builds which requires a lot of hand work be done with the parts after printing to make them useable. It is an iterative process for sure. The final model has about 25 printed parts, plus a few dozen other things like micro bolts and brass tubes for the drive shafts.”
All of this long time passion for carnival rides, and this new interest in 3D printing, has led Schmiedecke to launch his own company — Carnivalkits, LLC. This business is in its start up phase, but the goal is to make kits available to collectors who share his same love of the carnival life. You can contact the company at carnivalkits@aol.com and check out the shop on Shapeways.
Let us know what you think in the Carnivalkits forum thread over at 3DPB.com. Check out the video below.