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Ok, everyone should be able to "Like" now. Can someone try it out?

I was under the impression you had to have actual construction photos of your model before posting in this section.

I was also under the impression you had to be sponsored/directed by a company to post here. Not sure if your company was approved or not yet, if it has my bad, but until you have been approved as a company you should still be posting in freelance construction.

I am sure you spent plenty of time and long thought went into the layout of this coaster, but all I can see besides intersecting black lines are the three things you labeled on the diagram. Usually people color-code each element or segment so everyone can see the different elements you have planned. You see when all the elements are one color it is much harder to see what is going on...

think before you post.

I think you need to take your own advice here. I have not seen a single post from you on the forums where you did not mis-spell something, or had a punctuation/grammar error. I think you should have microsoft word open at all times, and just post what you want to say there. Once you are ready to post run a spelling/grammar check prior to posting on the forums, because your mistakes are borderline rediculous man.

Today Coasterkiller05 came over to my place to do some tests with the ball-bearing assemblies. We compared them to a below average regular train and to an above average regular train. And we put them through some tight corners to see how they do.

 

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This turn is too tight for a regular car, because the bottom wheel covers are rather large and hit the cross ties.

 

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The ball-bearing assemblies do not have this issue and are therefore suitable for very tight corners. Ideal for wild mouse coasters, especially when you combine the fact that these ball bearings reduce the minimal angle of declination for the car to start rolling.

 

 

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Tight crests have never really been a problem for the regular cars, apart from the chain dog grabbing onto the cross ties, when going backwards, when there's no middle tubing.

 

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The same goes for these ball-bearing assemblies, as the chain dog is untouched.

 

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Now I went overboard with making a tight valley. Obviously this is too tight for a regular car.

 

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The ball-bearing assemblies can handle a lot, but this is also too tight for them. But that's only because of one part...

 

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The front assembly touches the tubing when the valley is too tight. For practical purposes (imagine using it for a Eurofighter lift) it is no problem, though. One would never build a valley that tight.

 

 

 

We had the first drop on my new ride extended into a makeshift valley with a vertical spike at the end, so we could see how far back up the train would roll after being released from a certain height. The below average regular train (of 2 cars) went from a starting height of 140 cm (55 inch) to a height of 94 cm (37 inch). The ball-bearing assembly train went from a starting height of 140 cm (55 inch) to a height of 117 cm (46 inch). Once you experience these ball-bearing assembly trains, you cannot go back to regular trains.

 

I do have one feature request, however. Would you be able to print a chain dog holder onto the assembly for the last car?

 

I will send you a PM about a probable order I would like to place. Coasterkiller05's next order can be added to that then, since we live so close to one another.

Hey all!

 

Just reading over some of the recent comments.  My guess as to why the site has struggled recently is that K'nex is basically a dead product in a market that has to compete with electronics for kid's attention, and forums have fallen out of fashion (sadly) for things like reddit, twitter, etc.  It's a real shame about forums considering you can actually build real relationships here, while everyone is basically anonymous on reddit.  There's definitely still a desire for kids to build roller coasters, Disney and such is as popular as ever.  I think it's difficult for them to find the resources, though, having grown up with K'nex being basically unknown (and a pretty awful product with everything being micro).

 

I'm not sure how to bring back the glory days of SSC.  This place certainly means a lot to me, but I can't help but think it'll need to change to attract a younger audience.  Maybe source used K'nex and selling directly through the site?  Some advertising on youtube, or sponsoring by popular members who are happy to do it for free before their coaster videos?  Maybe an entire new user experience is required.  More like reddit or discord.  

 

Regardless I hope there is a new renaissance of SSC.  I'm in tech these days, BGT, so if you have any ideas, let me know.  I'd be happy to help out!

Steve jobs died in 2011. Bill gates is still alive. Windows wins
LOL jk that was a terrible joke I'm sorry guys

cool

 

So back in the day we used to have a minimum word count to avoid posts like this.  Since the forums are pretty dead these days it obviously isn't required anymore, but I'd still like to make a friendly suggestion.  Just saying "cool" doesn't add much to the conversation, and doesn't give Chaos any real feedback on his coaster.  If you're going to post you should take the time to say something that's at least a little insightful.  

Anyway, Chaos, cool coaster :-P

It's been a while. Almost 2 years. 

 

It's been a busy last 8 months or so. I started my first job as a doctor back in August and with all that's going on at the moment it might get a bit busier. My new 'covid' rota whilst looking pretty gross on the surface does, however, give me chunks of time in between sets of days and nights. I can't do any of my other hobbies, sport and photography, so I needed to do something with my free time, and so I cracked open my k'nex. 

 

An ambitious project, and one that's got me saying I'm gonna need more pieces :/ 

 

Any guesses? 

 

https://www.flickr.c...8/shares/MY66Jt

https://www.flickr.c...8779@N08/viGpzq

 

Also if anyone can remind me how to embed flickr photos, that would help.

[The uploader always crashes on me] 

 

 

Coaster is complete! Probably my fastest build ever. Wouldn't have been able to do it without all of Jonnie's help.

 

In one week, Rhys a.k.a. Britfag, Joe a.k.a. Micronex and me will go on a week's journey to ride some awesome coasters in the neighbourhood. Some highlights: Fenix, Taron, Expedition GeForce, Monster and Baron 1898. I can't wait!

Now I can see all those fun little details you were talking about yesterday. “Heeeeeeere’s Johnny.”

As I promised a long time ago, here is a quick circuit test run of my flying coaster, Charger:

 

I actually rarely receive reputation. Maybe once or twice a year.

I definitely like the looks of this! But I do have to ask: are the trains themselves fragile? Can they withstand running into an X-tie or being grabbed, or does the train need to be avoided until it's no longer moving? 

 

I finished the first drop yesterday, it's about a 1,1 meter drop (drop, not total height) and I won't risk running it directly into an X-tie that is locked from sliding, but I run the train into pillows at the end of the drop and it's perfectly fine. Sometimes the seats pop off but I want to improve the mount anyway and they're easily popped back on. I know it's not the highest drop, but with some care and preparations I can see test runs from bigger heights working quite alright.

Hello coaster fanatics! It's been a long time, 2020 is finally passed us and I am starting to build again. This post is what could become possibly a future tutorial if things work out well. It is also the beginning of the construction of my new custom Euro fighter.

I recently purchased a set of Johnny's ball bearing wheel housings. They work extremely well (tested on the super duper looper after the final video and the results were amazing). When I started to build my new coaster a week ago I realized that the most of the existing brake models will not work for the ball bearing housings. The spacing between the wheel housings and the track is different.

So behold! My new version of brakes especially designed for Johnny's ball bearing cars. I have not been able to test them out yet. But the initial fit looks good.
The first image shows the six different pieces needed to create these brakes. Then add whatever track segments you want to sacrifice. If this works well maybe it can be a tutorial.

A couple of quick notes: my intent for these is station breaks. As you can see they are easily concealable. The ladder connectors, which you can see in the third image, are staggered in order to prevent the long orange rods (that hold the brake track) from pivoting. More to come...but on this ride I plan on utilizing some mechanical automation.

Let us know what you want tested. Coasterkiller05 lives quite close to my place, so we may be able to get some results.

Can't wait to see the results!

Hey guys,

 

For the past couple weeks I've been working on a prototype ball bearing wheel assembly for a knex train. Currently I made the non-screw pieces out of plexiglass but am planning on eventually 3d printing these pieces. After some small adjustments and a couple tests, they run quite smoothly and seem to have a good bit less friction than the standard knex wheels. Has anyone else tried to make custom wheel assemblies or use ball bearings? If you have any pointers/suggestions for a 3d printed wheel assembly like this with ball bearings let me know! Thanks!

I work at Staples (largest offics/school supplies store in USA), and back to school is so big for us, we've been stocking up on school supplies since early May. Right now, we have about 20 pallets of just marble notebooks, among more pallets of other things. I work in Copy and Print in my local store and I've passed hundreds of boxes in the back for back to school supplies. It's crazy and you just don't know how big it is until you work at Staples....

Amazed I could remember my password after all this time, can't believe I registered here over 10 years ago!
Just popping back in for a moment to let you guys know about a project some friends of mine have been working on. In short, it's a custom coaster building system that can be done entirely with 3D printing and some cheap components from your local hardware store. They're hoping to get a kickstarter opened up soon to fund the initial design and production.

https://www.youtube....h?v=YA69OHlNMEQ

https://www.youtube....h?v=1dnl5IFSHsI

Check out coaster-track.com if you think you'd be interested.