Making a Home Made Dark Ride Part 1

[@hawaiianhomestead398]

I am so excited you are doing a series on this! Back when Hollywood Haunters did a walkthrough I was hoping to find out how it was made. 🤙🏼

[@HollywoodHaunter]

This is so cool you guys we are looking forward to all the episodes. You're doing a great job! We will go add this and the rest of your series as they come out to your videos description over on our channel.

[@pixelvisioner]

Thank You so much! Glad you liked it. I got nothing on you guys, you’re the best!!

[@dhm74]

Hey this is such a great video. When you’re talking about the PEX pipe connectors do you know what they’re actually called. I’m from England and having difficulty finding them. If you could send me a link or tell me what they’re called I would be so grateful. We are just starting our journey on this project and yours is the only video so far that seems to be really detailed enough to give us the confidence to try building our own dark ride. Thank you so much for recording this I look forward to the rest of your videos x 🎉

[@matthunterross]

Thanks so much for putting this together and sharing. Super helpful. Great work Brett!

[@pixelvisioner]

My pleasure! When I was trying to build my ride, I. noticed there wasn’t much out there showing “how” they built everything so I wanted to make this series so other people can see it’s not too far out of reach to accomplish!

[@matthunterross]

@@pixelvisioner That's exactly right, and it's really great of you help fill that void. I can concept, design and construct all day long, but things like the electrical I'm not well-versed in, so it's a great help. I messaged you on Messenger (Facebook) by the way, so let me know if you'd like assistance.

[@jamesoniris2647]

My HighSchool does a yearly haunted house and (not to brag or anything but) it's probably the best in the state. I'm currently trying to get my fix of haunted houses because we couldn't do anything this year. If I can find that motor, I will make one of these things in my house.

[@pixelvisioner]

That's awesome! Yeah we did haunted houses for 8 years and decided to do something different and build a Dark Ride. Hit me up with any questions you might have if you decide to build your own!

[@RredLlor]

Fantastic! Thanks for doing this!

[@ecgodsmack86]

So cool. I feel Halloween is not really celebrated anymore like back in the 80s or early 90s. Great job. Happy early HALLOWEEN 🎃 HAHAHA

[@pixelvisioner]

Thanks

[@GemmyFreak]

Hi! I had a few questions for you if you don’t mind! - Would you say that the motors use less power when mounted to roll on the floor, or the sideways pinching the track? - how is it storing the floor panels with tracks in the off season? - I do like the idea of batteries, but I’d also love to have a powered track. Given that the motors run on 24v 30amp, how would you connect power to the tracks, and would you need a power supply every so many feet of track? My idea would be to have a loading area for guests to get on and off the ride vehicles, and that loading area would have a powered track that I could turn on and off. So once the people are loaded on, I can power up the track, move them forward, and once they reach a certain point at the entrance, the vehicle would make contact with the constantly powered rails that line the inside of the dark ride. Would you say this is possible or even recommended? Thanks!!

[@pixelvisioner]

Hey there, to answer your questions, as far as the power usage it depends if your using one or two motors and the speed you run the ride vehicles. the advantage of using the system pinching the track is that it will give you a higher weight capacity for each vehicle since you will be eliminating a majority of the weight load on the motors. Keep in mind that you will most likely have the vehicles traveling at a slower speed which means you will be using less amperage per vehicle (mine ran at about 5-8 percent power).when I ran batteries(2-12v 20ah lead acid batteries per vehicle), my ride vehicles ran for about 4 hours without going dead (you can also run lithium batteries which are much lighter ). As for connecting a powered track I will be using a 2000w power supply with 4 outputs which will be connected at 4 equal distances along the track. You can run run a powered track manually the way you described, but you will either want to run separate speed controls for each powered area, or onboard each of the ride vehicles as well as having onboard relays to connect the power to the motors and to control the speed for each zone. What I did for storing the tracks for my first ride system(most were 4'x4') was I made a rolling pallet and stacked all of my 4'x4' tracks with 2x3 pieces of wood on the top sections with the rails to keep them even. I hope this answers your questions, feel free to ask as many as you like!

[@GemmyFreak]

@@pixelvisioner Hi there! Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. For my application I’d like to use two ride vehicles with dual motors in each. Let’s just say for example that each motor is listed at 12v 5.5A continuous and 60 watts. How would you figure out how much power you would need to power the rails? And if possible, how would this differ between having one power supply running to different points in the track (similar to your method), or powering the rails at different points with multiple power supplies (the method I mentioned before). I’m no electrician or expert, and the last thing I’d want to do is cause an electrical issue within the ride by simply guessing what I’d need. Another question, so you mentioned connecting your power supply at 4 different points in the track. Will you be isolating those areas and powering them separate from each other, or can the metal that lines the track remain continuous as one piece? Thanks very much again for the response, I really do appreciate your time!

[@pixelvisioner]

@@GemmyFreak My Pleasure. LOL, I'm no expert either. I had someone in the industry help me design my new system I'm working on. So to determine how many Watts you will need use following: (Watts= Amps x Volts) or how many Amps: (Amps= Watts /Volts), then double the answer as you will be running 2 motors, but be sure the power supply(s) provide enough to cover more than that amount of current for 2 ride vehicles . I would highly suggest you use wheel chair motors as they are designed to run continuously with no "cool down" time. Keep in mind the power listed on the motor is the maximum rated for the motor, and you will most likely not be using as much current. You can run multiple power supplies, but make sure the track sections are separated between power supply connections, and be sure the Voltage/Amperage is the same. I'm using the power supply set up I have so the power will be consistent, plus I will have 6 separated "zones" in the track that will be turning on and off individually via a micro computer program, and with "over ride "controls at the control panel, as well as anti-collision programed in. Each of my ride vehicles will have an onboard speed control as well as a heavy duty relay to connect the power to the motors from the track. I also use speed controls and components that are "overkill" power handling wise, but I'd rather be safe. I'm hoping to have a running test track and 2 ride vehicles running sometime this year and will be making videos showing how I made the cars as well as the track set up with proximity sensors.

[@GemmyFreak]

@@pixelvisioner thank you for all the help and the great advice! It really helped and I appreciate it! Looking forward to seeing more updates on your channel as well! Love your videos man

[@KnottsBear-yTalesPreserved]

This is amazing!!

[@pixelvisioner]

Thank you

[@AutumnCanvas]

Not even joking if I could find the wheel mechanism for cheap online I would try to make one in front of my house open for bendy fans!

[@FraidyZone]

Great job! This is really cool!

[@BlackSheepAntics]

How many people can fit on ride vehicle? What is the weight limit?

[@pixelvisioner]

I can fit 1 adult , 2 small children, 1 small adult and small child, I guesstimated 230 lbs for max weight as the scooter had a 260 lbs limit but I had more weight added from the ride vehicle build. I had to adjust the speed for lighter patrons vs. heavier people to keep the ride cars traveling a similar speed.

[@ThyDungeonman2]

Could we get links to the sedgewick and don o'neal stuff? I found sedgewick, but the other I'm having troubles with.

[@pixelvisioner]

The link for Don O'Neal www.halloweenforum.com/threads/my-home-built-dark-ride.127498/ He also has a youtube channel

[@Currychicken5]

Cool!!

[@bobandbill4839]

Can I do PVC instead of PEX? I know how to bend PVC

[@pixelvisioner]

Yes you can. Pex is PVC as well, the advantage is that their connectors fit on the inside of the pipe, vs regular PVC which the connectors fit on the outside.

[@bobandbill4839]

@@pixelvisioner Ok thanks so much!

[@LarryMantiss]

Would a electric Razor E100 Electric Scooter work?? It has 100 watts. I wasted 200 dollars on that thing and now it goes slow. Repurpose what you have, you know.

[@pixelvisioner]

You could possibly use that. Your ride vehicle might have to be much lighter than what I built. Just experiment and see what you can come up with. Hit me up if you have an other questions!

[@LarryMantiss]

I’ve been experimenting with the scooter and I found if you get a wagon and you takeoff the handle you can attach it to the electric scooter and it can pull a full adult. For my ride it has four rooms and to make it simpler I made the track in a circle so you don’t have to worry about the track.

[@dononeil]

Great job!! Thanks for the shout out for my ride build. Check it out on my channel!!

[@pixelvisioner]

Thanks Don. Yeah I've watched all of your videos, loved your second ride! Hey so what were the dimensions of your ride vehicle? I'm working on a new ride system that is fully automated, and with larger ride vehicles. Im using a click micro controller with photo eye sensors and power from the track.

[@dononeil]

@@pixelvisioner it was roughly 3:x5'. My biggest challenge was weight and stability. The larger it got, the thicker the plywood on the base needed to be, and of course the heavier load from more people. I used mobility motors like you, but found out that they couldn't handle that much downward force, so I ended up mounting them horizontal and gripping the center rail. When I rebuild my system here in Texas (we moved, which is why I didn't build anything the last couple of years) I plan on using much more powerful motors, and a steel center rail. Good luck on your next project!