Sad News Alert

I had a load of spare 1mm rod and id be buggered if i can find them😭
Thankfully they are fairly cheap

I have no idea how i managed it, but between sometime last night and this morning, i deleted everything in the timeline of the waltzer project past the canopy. That included the new handrails, the rafters and some other crap without noticing...

Thank fuck that fusion has the ability to go back through previous saves.
I was able to get back to a version with the rafters and the only thing i lost was some adjustments to the canopy ceiling, and changing from using numbers to mark the pieces to using the lines. Which i dont think i showed on here.

That was a close fucking call... I gotta be more careful😭
I really have no idea how i managed to delete so much stuff without noticing.

I have printed everything for the front canopy except the ceiling and front bezel.
It seems pretty sturdy. Im going to reduce the tolerances on the crossbeams, as they are still a little loose. They function, but can be easily dislodged from its location with a little nudge.

I need to change the way im marking the parts. I used numbers, but they are practically unreadable on the final print. I will probably move to using dots or something to number them.

I just realized, i could also use some custom made hooks with the 1mm rod for the ceiling panel pins...

I havent printed anything yet, but ive changed the canopy mounts, i didnt like the weird pear shape.

It now has a 1.1mm hole, i will cut down some wire i have left and form it into a hook, then use that as the pin instead of the 2mm steel pin.

Im pretty sure i haven't finished the canopy yet as i have probably forgot something, But so far i have something that looks fairly true to the real waltzer and should print / assemble well.

I wont know how well it functions until i print it all. But this is what i have...

This is the underside of the canopy. The black lines are splits between differant sections with a 1mm gap inbetween.

This is the top view

Ive tried to explain everything in this image.

The ceiling panels slot into place, and then you insert a pin that going into the main truss to keep the panels in place. Hopefully.

The thing i hate the most about this design is the pear shaped extrusions to connect the bezel to the crossbeams. I cant think of any other way of doing it that wouldnt remove space from the front bezel for lighting.

This is what im aiming for with the canopy

I haven't designed much today, but my brain has been going flat out trying to work out the best way to do it.

I have done the canopy bezel, still some things to check and test, but its as close as im going to get to the real thing tonight.

The reason for the pear shaped connectors between the braces and the bezel is because im trying to think ahead in terms of lights and such. Some waltzers have lights that go across the front bezel, so by using the pear shape, it reduces the contact point, thus allowing more useable space for leds, should i ever get that far.

Test pieces are printed and im fairly surprised... They fit pretty damn well. With a few adjustments, i think it might do the job👀

Im gonna print some test pieces for the dovetail. See u soon lol

So from the main truss, there is some more parts that stick out, and they need a support beam between them to keep them at the correct distance and to hand the front canopy bezel on. The thing is, im not really sure the best way to join the beams to the sticky out truss part.

This probably explains it better

I dont want to increase the thickness of the truss, as it will look odd, and these parts will be visible in the final model (as they are on the original ride).

Originally i was considering using a single pin, with staggered crossbeams, that way the pin would secure 2 crossbeams. But it look really weird, and i wasnt happy with it.

Then i considered using slots, which the original ride uses, but because these are 3d printed, the slots would need to be fairly chunky, where as the ride uses metal, so it can be fairly thin. But i have some crossbeams that go between the sleepers on the ride, and they use slots, but are kinda crap, always popping out of place and such. But that could be simply because i didnt make the slots deep enough.

Now, im thinking about dovetail joints, but the width of the truss that holds the cross beams is only 5mm, so the dove tail would have to be 1.5mm thick on each side, with only 2mm of material between the 2 dovetails.

It would have 2 of the dovetails above, but... 1.5mm is VERY small...

So overall..
I think the pin and overlapping beams would be easiest and probably strongest, but is ugly.
The slots i have no confidence in them staying in place.
The dovetails i have no confidence in the ability to actually print them at such a small size.

Looking at that video i just posted, it seems i made the supports that extrude from the truss a little too sticky-outty. I made originally so that they lined up with where the posts would be if they were there, but looking at the video and some photos i found of the same waltzer, they appear to have a less pronounced curve.

🥰 FINALLY FOUND VIDEO OF BUILDING THE CANOPY 🥰
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlEAjEHFQCQ

I have screwed a few of those eyescrews in, not all yet, the handrails seem to fit fairly well.

I was just looking at the cars, altho they are 99% complete, im thinking of reprinting them in 2 parts.

Printing in 2 parts would give me the chance to change the color of the base, which is usually blackish with chrome plate around the edge, but also, it will allow me to print the wheel mounts as apart of the base instead of separately.

At the moment, when the wheel mounts are printed separately, they are a bit of a bitch to glue in place perfectly aligned, even with little countersunk sections for it to sit in.

Incase you cant tell, im procrastinating doing the front canopy area😭

I have a bad feeling that i didnt add the correct holes for the handrails on the front posts that hold the truss up. I was just screwing in the eyescrews for the handrails and they look a little low 😭

Oh, i also forgot to actually measure the eyescrews to see if the length of the screw was ok, turns out, its not, It's to long for both eyescrews on either side of the posts to fit. To tackle this, im just using some flush cutters to trim them, Being as they are only 1mm thick wire, its fairly easy 🤷‍♂️

2 things

Number 1, I ran out of filament half way through a print. I brought the 2 pack of filament, and replaced the roll with the other roll from the same box, and it still printed 2 seperate colors. The quality control at eSun must be lacking 😭

Number 2, I just put the front truss and the taller posts in place and the ride is super rigid now. I can shake the entire platform back and forth and its just the paybox that wobbles

Excuse the awful picture, i cant be bothered to take a better one.

Im a dumbass. I put all the posts in place yesterday and completely forgot to put the eyescrews in 😭

Same brand filament, Same color, Same print profile, Same printer, Yet different colors😭

I printed the new posts and crossbeams, The entire waltzer is way more stable now.
I can shake the posts and the thing that moves the most is paybox, which is understandable as its on a pretty small column connecting to the motor mount.

I forgot to print the front 2 posts for the truss so im gonna print those today at some point along with a new truss, as i moved some of the mounting pins.

The only thing im unsure of in general regarding the waltzer is how to do the front canopy. The main videos im working from, the blackpool central pier youtube videos, they dont cover anything beyond the rafters being installed, So all the roundings and the canopy construction isn't covered. Ive looked around on youtube, but there doesnt appear to be any for videos that show that part of the build up process, not for a maxwell waltzer anyway. So im basically just going off of pictures from the NFCA.

Oh, i forgot to mention, I increased the width of the handrails by half a mm on each side, so 1mm total, Not much, but it made me feel better 😂

Also, ive decided to leave the posts as they currently are instead of using the eyescrews for the upper crossbeam, The upper crossbeam will be hidden most of the time, and i dont feel like screwing 100 of those little bastards in, And i feel like the eyescrews would allow a little too much movement, which i dont want.

The more i type eyescrews, the more i realize that its probably not the correct name for them 😂

I just started printing the posts again with some updated holes and such and i was thinking... the modification i made to it the other day, the one with the top crossbeam, im starting to wonder if i should have used eyescrews for the top crossbeams.
It would mean more hardware, but it might look better? hmmm