The electric requirements would stop you from putting it in your backyard.
The motor is 3 Phase around 150A. Residential areas are generally not wired to be able to offer 3P power to customers. You would likely need to rent some commercial space to be able to get the electric hookup.
If you didn’t run the lights, it’s only 33kW motor, less in newer Starships
Assuming you had 208V 3ph, that’s under 100A. Much less if you are in commercial area with 240V 3ph
If you don’t plan to spin 48 people, you could replace motor with a 120V single phase motor 5hp and remove a lot of weight from the ride (cut holes in every other fiberglass panel)
A decently small generator (relative to a full trailer carnival ride)… could power this. There are many tow behind 50kVA diesel generators. (Another $8k)
BTW the reason these UFO/gravs are for sale is because they are all rotting, the fiberglass panels that hold it together are like paper now and too expensive to repair.
nods knowingly
Indeed. 3p.
Look what I really pay them for is for them to know and for me not having to. They say 3p, 3p it is, whatever gets the monkeyfunkin’ GRAVITRON spinning!!
Where I’m from that’s enough for your ice lollies, your entry into the picture house, with enough left over for the bus home!
How many belt onions?
Wasn’t the style at the time.
Three penis. It’s a type of electricity with three penises.
I mean if you’re going tonreplace the motor just put in a small car or motorbike engine at that point.
I don’t know much anything about electric motors but could you use the same motor and just spin the thing up more slowly? Or would you need a different motor for that?
Shut up, nerd! Let me have my gravitron
Yeah four-eyes! We want results, not complaints! Now get back in the HOLE!
Nothing that a couple of cat batteries hooked up in parallel can’t fix.
Sounds like an innovative, potentially disruptive technology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk3xBhqcjqY
I mean a residential area home isn’t gonna have room anywhere for the thing in the first place.
which is why I had mine installed out back behind the stables, that we me and the livestock can all enjoy it.
Better still, buy an empty lot and it is your residential home
seems like it would make cooking… exciting. I say go for it.
Mmmmmmmm, Milkshakes…
His milkshakes brings all the boys to the yard.
And they’re like, it’s gravitron.
Damn right, it’s gravitron.
I could teach you, but it’s five tickets to get on.
You’d also need a buddy to be the operator for it to work
Cheap timer clock from the dollar store you say?
Nah, just get a Bluetooth power button that you strap to your wrist.
Power company asked if I wanted a three phase meter when I was checking power requirements for wiring my shop up.
I just needed a different meter.
Usually it’s the meter and the cabling that needs changing, like an extra phase needs to be introduced but it should be available at street level if any commercial place is around.
Your shop might have had the cables already and just needed the meter change.
Good thing my house backs up to a funfair! Place in garden, unplug the nearest fair ride… et voilà! New income stream for me!
Ooooh. I could hook this up outside my uncle’s store.
I hear him talking about his setup all the time when something goes wrong and I regularly hear “it’s 3 phase”.
Could be done with a large enough rotary phase converter assuming the electronics can tolerate the funky power
The problem would be feeding it enough power
Three phase motors are the bane of every siren enthusiasts’ existence for this reason. Anything with a motor over 5 hp is likely three phase.
Nowadays VFDs have gotten cheap enough that you can just use one of them to create 3 phases.
Or you just have 3 phase power at home (laughs in Germany).
(I actually dont right now, but my house is one of the last ones not to, and its all already prepared for it)
VFDs are definitely the way to go, that’s what most enthusiasts used. When we did SirenCon over at Camp Tesumas in Wisconsin, we had a giant generator that we had to use to run the bigger sirens, especially the Cyclone 125 which has a 50 horsepower motor. It nearly killed the generator!
SirenCon
jesus I saw people in the 2023 vid w/o hearing protection - like… neat event, but do you have minimal hearing protection at all?
you can’t control idiots but… perhaps… you could make them stand at a safe distance?
not personal criticism just damn… got my hearing loss in the army, it’s not fun.
Some of them seem to think they’re immune to hearing damage, which bewilders me. Smart enthusiasts have proper hearing protection.
Or you just have 3 phase power at home (laughs in Germany).
aside from running carney rides, and maybe a shed with a gigantic cnc or end mill - what are the reasons for pushing 3p to the domicile level? I have no doubt there must be, DE knows engineering so…
Usually, there is a 3 phase outlet in the kitchen for electric stoves
ty.
It reduces the thickness of the cables and improves the balance of loads over all 3 phases.
There are some good zoning laws I guess
Two words. Diesel generator.
Within 20 years I bet we’ll have small fusion reactors that just sit onsite and generate all the power you want. If we survive WW3 that is. A toaster-sized generator will be able to run a gravitron no problem.
Could get a large dedicated panel and rotary converter.
I used to turn my body upside down in this death trap and the dude in the middle yelled at us.
They did? The dude in the middle just sat there smoking meth every time I was on one of these. I stood up on the wall once, with my whole body perpendicular to the floor. It was awesome!
I stood up . . . perpendicular
Whoooooa. You are legend.
It’s pretty crazy! The farther from the wall your head is, the more you can feel the spinning forces. It definitely felt like I was in a blender by the time I was standing up.
I had exactly this idea. I tried it but could never make it to a full standing position I don’t think. It was more like an awkward crouch.
Haha I did that too if it’s the same machine. It had an open top and you just stick to the side as it spins and hinges 90 degrees. There was a chain but you had clearance to flip yourself.
The Gravitron wasn’t the open top kind with the chain. That was the Round Up, and it would lift up after getting g up to speed and go almost vertical.
The Gravitron was enclosed and had angled walls. I think the walls were padded and would slide up a bit when the machine was up to speed. Heavier people would have their section slide up sooner than others.
The top was tent material
You are taking about a Round Up/Zero Gravity
And no you never turned yourself upside down in a zerog cage.
Erm… were you there mate?
Yes, I’ve been there. You can turn around facing backwards, but you would slide down even if you could fit sideways between the bars in the cage. https://brisbaneamusementridehire.com.au/images/round-up-ride-lge.jpg
Only in UFO/graviton do people spin upside down because of the centrifugal forces and angle of the wall.
All I can say is I did this on a ride similar to this, perhaps it’s not that machine, but it looks very similar to the post you linked but it was more a solid outside rather than the individual bays in the image.
It was the centrifugal forces I believe as we would literally be stuck to the back wall but with enough strength you could flip yourself 180 and just get dizzy and a head rush.
I literally have no reason to make this up my guy.
Right, well it’s a gravitron then, and it didn’t go up in the air https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F2pqT-VdPl0/sddefault.jpg
Honey, I’m home! Fire up the mothafunking GRAVITRON!
It’s actually going to set you back $120k, but still a better investment than a cyber truck
Why does it have a Denny’s light package?
I was so jealous of the carny who would get up and walk around on the inside wall.
Yeah one of them did that near me and then he fell in and get splattered on everyone.
In? In the Gravitron I rode, it was just sleds on the slightly-slanted walls that went up when it got up enough speed. There wasn’t really anywhere to fall into. I mean yeah, he could easily break an arm or something, but nothing that would splatter him.
Tbf we lost gravitron privileges at my country fair because kids kept getting fucked up trying to stand up on the walls.
Oh you’re right. It was a scrambler ride, not graviton.
A scrambler doesn’t have walls? It would definitely splatter someone anyway.
Right what threw me is that the particular scrambler was at an amusement park not a carnival. It had walls and was in the dark with lights and music.
That damn centripetal force!
You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round
my hometown’s park had one of these. one day it malfunctioned and dropped. I was a kid but for some reason I went to see the aftermath. horrifying. dried blood everywhere…
Well if you’re okay with the perpetual maintenance costs which include paying someone who knows how to maintain it if you don’t know how to
If the meth head Carnies can figure it out, it can’t be that hard to work on.
Doesn’t the same go for cars tho
dude carnies are cheap. you just have to catch them drifting through town every few months.
This was, by a long shot, my absolute favorite ride and memory as a kid. 🥹
Ye old pukerator
No, that was the Matterhorn. Who designs a tight circular track and then not only spin people forwards, but stop mid way through and spin them backwards? I think that was the 3rd hardest I’ve ever puked in my life.
3rd hardest I’ve ever puked
You can’t just hit and run like this. Spill it.
OK, well the 2nd hardest I puked was at a cottage with some buddies not long after college. I didn’t have much experience drinking, and I thought it would be a great idea to drink a magnum of red wine on the first night. I was doing good for most of the night, even ate dinner and was having a great time. And then…I didn’t feel so good. And then I really didn’t feel so good. I ran to the railing with a bright red spray, as my buddies laughed their asses off because they thought I sounded like Donald Duck when he’s angry. I thought that was funny and started laughing while puking, which just made me sound more like Donald Duck when he’s angry. They called me Donald for the rest of that week. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with red wine ever since.
The hardest I’ve ever puked though was during my year of hell, when I was going through my Crohn’s diagnosis. I had hit a pretty major flare and my bowels were practically swollen shut. My doctor wanted to do a scope, which meant I had to be cleaned out first. And for that, they give you powerful laxatives. They told me to drink Gatorade with the water to help hydrate me since it blasted all the water through your bowels. What they didn’t tell me was to avoid red Gatorade. So I’ve downed the laxatives mixed into a bottle of water, and I’m sipping on Gatorade on the couch when my stomach starts hurting. My stomach was already hurting, but this is a stretching kind of pain. The laxatives are working, I think. But then I got that feeling at the top of my stomach, and I knew what was about to happen. I ran to the bathroom, got to the door and couldn’t hold back anymore. I projectile puked 6 feet and hit the toilet. An almost perfect red arc, but some got in the bowl. And then…I felt the other end. I barely made it to the puke covered seat and began shitting my brains out while still puking hard into the bathtub. I was crying and sobbing by the end of it while still puking. My bathroom looked like a murder scene. I’m covered in red puke. And I still had 3 more bottles of laxative to get through. I’ll be honest, I contemplated my continuing existence in that moment.
Those wacky college kids and their… red wine!
I was still trying to find what I liked. Beer was and is disgusting. Hard liquor required mixing to make it taste good, which I wasn’t good at. Coolers aren’t bad, which I drank for the rest of that week. But red wine was tasty. Really tasty. Deceptively tasty. It also contains a lot of tannins, which I found out the hard way later can cause stomach cramps and nausea in some people such as those with Crohn’s that I didn’t know about at the time. So does tea for that matter. It’s all part of the journey. I know what to avoid for the most part now.
The story. Spill the story.
Removed by mod
the Vomitron
Just to be serious for a mo; why the fuck would I want a sports car anyway?
Showy cars are for smoothbrained insecure chucklefucks. I don’t come from money, and I have very little, but I certainly have no psychological need to attempt to appear like I do. Even if I got a gazillion bucks tomorrow there’s no way in hell I’m going to start purchasing shiny shit to show off with.
I take it you’ve never driven a finely tuned automobile. It’s quite the fun experience.
I actually have but I felt embarrassed as hell each time.
I’m not against fine tuning and efficiency. I am against A: “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!!” And B: any sort of aggressive driving on public roads.
If there were such a thing a really ‘nice’ car that was ‘luxurious’ inside etc., but looked like absolutely nothing extraordinary outside, then I might buy one (in the alternative universe where I had lots of money to blow on new cars).
It’s pretty funny because personally I don’t care at all about comfort and very little about looks. I just want something that’s fun to drive. If I had the money, Id get maybe a Subaru BRZ, it’s not too powerful but lightweight. But I live in France so I dont need a car either way
In France all you need is cheese, wine and a haughty woman.
I don’t drink alcohol either and I am the haughty woman
Bravo! I don’t drink alcohol either and I am not a haughty woman!
Power to you.
in the alternative universe where I had lots of money
Well I for one hope that you manage to get lots of money (or enough to be completely comfortable) in this universe.
That’s very kind of you. I’m not starving and have a secure roof so I’m doing better than many others around the world. I am certainly not complaining in regards to that.
When I have day dreams of winning millions of dollars my first thoughts are typically “how could I help others”.
I would have to actually play the lottery though, which I’m not inclined to do.
so there’s lot of people - kids who ate lead paint in their childhoods, victims of being dropped on their heads, FAS babies etc., who suffer from cognitive deficits but LOVE the vroom vroom. They love it so much they do illegal shit to their vehicles just so more vroom vroom smoke comes out. They love it more than they love having a livable ecosystem, more than their own children’s futures. And if you try to get the crayons out and explain it to them, it just makes them angry.
that’s my take on the situation.
LOL
You put a new of these bad boys in your yard and no one will mistake you for being wealthy.
This is true.
Sports cars are fast and handle well. I don’t care for the look of them but they do create a ride like feeling.
Your inferiority complex has blocked you from understanding how stuff can be exciting. Vroom vroom go fast and sound awesome.
What pity. I really like mangoes, but you’re a very poorly thought-out person.
