This is wonderful! Congratulations. You mentioned this was a hobby project but it is really interdisciplinary thesis quality work. Sure it’s fun but it includes physics, engineering, programming, design. This professor gives you an A+!
That was my hope too, but because it's battery-powered, I'm not able to do that. Right now, I'm thinking about some ideas for another one that wouldn't have to be battery powered and then could run continuously if someone wanted it to.
@@jonmendenhall5074 I'm thinking you could possibly monitor the battery voltage and when it goes low have a routine where the train pulls into a station that automatically replaces the battery through a drop in/drop out mechanism. The station could use simple servo arms to replace the low battery with a fresh one, and then put the low battery on charge until the cycle completes.
@@jonmendenhall5074 i have a suggestion since you already got the track switcher made up. how about you have multiple trains 2 charging and one running. have your microcomputer monitor battery power and when the levels get too low swap the train with one of the 2 that are charging. you could wirelessly charge them or have the cart indext some sort of port.
@@jonmendenhall5074 what about running ground and voltage wires along both sides of the track so the train gets power from the track rather than an on-board battery?
This project is amazing! You capture the scale and nature of the coaster experience with a fine sense of abstraction. It doesn't need anything more really, but one tiny add. Please put a small speaker on the car so we can hear a few well timed screams! I think the model might have a Doppler effect that you would appreciate.
Oh wow I thought the footage was simply slowed down. I always love it when people scale the video speed proportionally to the scale of the coaster to simulate real size speeds. This is even cooler.
It would be really cool if you added a weight distribution function to the animation. So you could see how having a heavy loaded front end for example, might effect the motion of the car!
This is absolutely fantastic. What an ingenious solution to the unrealistic look that model coasters have. And making the controls wireless was ingenious too. I especially love the colors and the use of the LED strip on lift hill. It looks stunning. I’d love to see multiple train operation on this track and if the station had a queue with opening and closing air gates that would just be the icing on the cake!
I have wanted to do this for years, was planning on a continuous chain embedded in the track. Your application of the motor in the train with an ESP32 is genius.
If you decide to do something like this on your own and with local power I would suggest using some kind of capacitor (or sc) and recharge it at the breaks / loading area. This would allow continuous operation, unlike a battery, for some added complexity.
Without a doubt this is about the most clever and deeply intellectual thing that I have yet seen on TH-cam. For you to combine so many disciplines together to achieve your ends is simply superb. Just the thought of attempting to make the speeds to actual scale rather than just “let er rip” is a level of thought that most of us don’t possess and to come up with such simple, deeply well thought out solutions to combine together for such a stunningly successful result is breathtaking. Even the idea of not bothering to get the lights exactly synchronised tho you knew you could easily have done so added just another very, very clever layer of realism that few would have ever considered. How true to life is it that they are close but not just right in timing, it makes it look so real as normal wear and tear brings such a result in a full sized mechanism. Bravo and Bravo, what a remarkable young man you are and I pray and hope that your future is as bright as your intellect shines already. Thank you for sharing your remarkable and wonderful work with us all, you truly are up there with you tubers like Matt Cremona, Woodworking, Chris from Clickspring, Metalworking wizardry, and the dream of the crop of 3d printers. Thank you, what a privilege to share in seeing your incredible work, it truly is wondrous, thank you
Simply amazing. Just thought of a fun addition, wouldn’t be hard to make one of the storage areas an automatic charging station for the coaster battery:) Just set up some contacts on the base or side “homed” with an additional magnet post. Great Job!
NO WAY. I had this idea for YEARS to build a roller coaster that simulates real physics, and I searched for a LONG time for resources on how to build my own. Jesus man you're a genius, doing what I couldn't, because I'm a potato with no engineering skills. Honestly, I would buy one at a good price, I think there's a market for it...especially if you add the option to control the speed yourself as a "mode". Maybe even partner with theme parks and get famous coasters made. I would cry if I could build Nemesis from Alton Towers with all the scenery 😂
Imagine an API that lets you export coasters from Planet Coaster, RCT, etc. to any size 3D print, and then calculate physical speeds for something like this. That would be amazing.
Very impressive! Not just the construction was astounding, but the whole planning, conceptualization, printing, engineering of the motorized car, the Raspberry Pi and your iPad app. Mind blowing!
I have a couple questions. My apologies if I missed the answers in your video. And, please don’t feel obligated to answer or divulge your “secret sauce!” 1. Did you print these FDM or SLA? 2. When you said that you printed the track pieces flat and then heated/bent/glued them into shape… did you print the entire track piece flat, or just the gear strip? 3. Does your custom software act as a script to “automate” Autodesk Inventor? In other words, does it read the CSV file and then use that data to automate certain actions in Inventor? I seriously hope this is your resume for Bolliger & Mabillard or Disney Imagineering. Very impressive and entertaining.
This is the greatest model I've ever seen, the consistent issue with all the other models is the speed making it look so unrealistic, but you solved it perfectly
So so cool!!! It even kinda makes the right sound. This feels like a whole can of worms, but have you thought about putting sensors onboard and dynamically simulating the physics? It's not like you're snapping these pieces together out of a kit, but it would be kind of cool to be able to run it on any track. Or to change up the conditions of the simulation on the fly.
Accelerometers would probably struggle to find "down" with the noise from vibrations. Also, the accelerations from the actual turns in the track might be enough to throw them off, even though they're scaled down. If there was some magic "orientation knower" sensor you could do it. If you're already gonna go through the effort of modeling and printing the whole track anyway it really wouldn't be any use, but it's a fun idea.
Holy smokes, this is awesome!!! One of the nearly insurmountable issues with scale models is scaling physics, but here you have done it superbly! This would translate to anyone trying to do motion at a scale, great job!
Well done! Do you have any on board pov video from it? Have you any plans to make more? Perhaps Smiler at Alton Towers in England - 10 inversions on that!
Freaking cool! On some rollercoasters I remember a distinct slow down right before getting on the large hill chain. Sort of felt like a delay before the chain would catch the car and pull it up
When I get near my capstone project I would totally do this for one of my favorite coasters. As a computer science minor and engineering major this would be sick!
i love such hobby projects, with so much serious work done, that some pro companies would charge 100s of thousands for the same. The level of dedication and time spent is... wow! and i love that you made the bolts on the flanges and all the artsy things it is wonderful. Send a link to the NoLimits creators they'll like it for sure :)
Awesome job. For my own, I decided to play back the last few minutes at different YT playback speeds just to get an idea of what FEELS realistic to me after seeing large scale coasters...I think you're pretty close, I'd say changing the speed to 1.25 to 1.5 was closer but that's being extremely nitpicky on my part and probably way slower than similar "gravity" small scale coaster models
Very cool project! Btw, If you attach a camera at the front of the cart, you can run the cart without a Pre-Simulated Animation and let it go. And then you can just slow down the footage proportionally to the model (1:40) and you will be able to see how it would be in Real Life if you were sitting on your coaster. I forgot how to do that but I remembered that trick while watching your video. I believe there was a video online that was very well documented on how to do that. But Im very impressed by your roller coaster and the electronics! Edit: I didn't watch your video till the end and you did the idea that I gave you ;D
Beautiful work! Such a clean build. Thanks! I realize the goal was scaled down physics (nailed it 👍), but have you ever run it with the motor disengaged? I'd be interested in seeing the comparison.
This is so so cool! Is it just me or does it feel slow in the vertical vectors. I wonder if increasing the simulated gravity by a small factor would help.
That's so cool, and really damn impressive! And there's so much more you can explore with this. honestly this is like my favourite thing I've seen someone do with 3d printing and hobbyist kit. Can't wait to see what you do next!
A very cool project. Such a simple idea of making a model roller coaster but the execution and the attention to detail is epic. Respect your work keep it up.
For anyone who just wants to see the roller coaster in action(and have little attention pans like me): 6:30 for the follow camera 20:45 for the overview camera
One suggestion I would have, perhaps print a small tray to hold the I-Pad controlling the system, and attach it to the vertical supports under the brake hill? Or if there isn't enough vertical clearance, on the main A-frames under the lift hill?
You mentioned the pinion on the motor transferring through the larger gear to give you more torque. Just FYI, the larger gear is just being used as an idler here. Without any gears on a common shaft, there is no reduction.
Design with aesthetics too?! That's some incredible project you've got there, congrats on completing it! I hope a manufacturer hires you to build a model for a trade show in the future, fantastic!
You're glossing over the massive amount of time spent coding this project, are you going to make a follow up video about the software you created to make the coaster design or the web app to control the train?
How about using an accelerometer and rotary encoder to calculate the dynamics in real time instead of replaying a pre-generated animation for the "freewheeling" sections of the track?
I've always wondered if there was a mechanical solution to this like if you get get a flywheel ratio perfect to make it accelerate and decelerate slower and match realistic speeds
Now this is wonderful content, i swear dude if you make content like this for us, you would blow up, rn too you are hella under rated, the amount of incredible talent you have is amazing
Can you post a video where it really runs through the course so we can see a comparison between reality based of in physics and how models run definitely
So amazing. Good work. One improvement i can see is : put à way to charge the battery when the train is in the station. This way, it should be fully automated.
This is outstanding work, and I thoroughly enjoyed your explanation of the project. As others have said in the comments, interdisciplinary projects like this are fantastic because they give you the opportunity to solve problems across domains in service of building something impressive.
This is wonderful! Congratulations. You mentioned this was a hobby project but it is really interdisciplinary thesis quality work. Sure it’s fun but it includes physics, engineering, programming, design. This professor gives you an A+!
Thank you very much! I'll probably be doing an individual project like this for the capstone requirement of my undergrad in the fall.
Finally! A model coaster with realistic speeds! looks amazing!
I would have this running all day in the background, very relaxing.
That was my hope too, but because it's battery-powered, I'm not able to do that. Right now, I'm thinking about some ideas for another one that wouldn't have to be battery powered and then could run continuously if someone wanted it to.
@@jonmendenhall5074 I'm thinking you could possibly monitor the battery voltage and when it goes low have a routine where the train pulls into a station that automatically replaces the battery through a drop in/drop out mechanism. The station could use simple servo arms to replace the low battery with a fresh one, and then put the low battery on charge until the cycle completes.
@@jonmendenhall5074 i have a suggestion since you already got the track switcher made up. how about you have multiple trains 2 charging and one running. have your microcomputer monitor battery power and when the levels get too low swap the train with one of the 2 that are charging. you could wirelessly charge them or have the cart indext some sort of port.
@@jonmendenhall5074 what about running ground and voltage wires along both sides of the track so the train gets power from the track rather than an on-board battery?
@@MACHINEBUILDER i was thinking the same thing but as a modal railroader, I've had my fair share of dirty track moments.
This project is amazing! You capture the scale and nature of the coaster experience with a fine sense of abstraction. It doesn't need anything more really, but one tiny add. Please put a small speaker on the car so we can hear a few well timed screams! I think the model might have a Doppler effect that you would appreciate.
Dude. You fixed it! Bravo! Finally a model coaster that looks accurate when in motion. You're awesome, bud. Well done.
I love that the speed is scaled down so you can actually enjoy watching it as it goes through the turns and curves!!!
Oh wow I thought the footage was simply slowed down. I always love it when people scale the video speed proportionally to the scale of the coaster to simulate real size speeds. This is even cooler.
If you came here to see the thing running, it starts at 6:20
@@XenonSCRB Indeed it was, thanks!
You could use small magnets to help the alignment of the track with the storage track.
It would be really cool if you added a weight distribution function to the animation. So you could see how having a heavy loaded front end for example, might effect the motion of the car!
This is absolutely fantastic. What an ingenious solution to the unrealistic look that model coasters have. And making the controls wireless was ingenious too. I especially love the colors and the use of the LED strip on lift hill. It looks stunning. I’d love to see multiple train operation on this track and if the station had a queue with opening and closing air gates that would just be the icing on the cake!
I have wanted to do this for years, was planning on a continuous chain embedded in the track. Your application of the motor in the train with an ESP32 is genius.
If you decide to do something like this on your own and with local power I would suggest using some kind of capacitor (or sc) and recharge it at the breaks / loading area. This would allow continuous operation, unlike a battery, for some added complexity.
Without a doubt this is about the most clever and deeply intellectual thing that I have yet seen on TH-cam. For you to combine so many disciplines together to achieve your ends is simply superb. Just the thought of attempting to make the speeds to actual scale rather than just “let er rip” is a level of thought that most of us don’t possess and to come up with such simple, deeply well thought out solutions to combine together for such a stunningly successful result is breathtaking. Even the idea of not bothering to get the lights exactly synchronised tho you knew you could easily have done so added just another very, very clever layer of realism that few would have ever considered. How true to life is it that they are close but not just right in timing, it makes it look so real as normal wear and tear brings such a result in a full sized mechanism. Bravo and Bravo, what a remarkable young man you are and I pray and hope that your future is as bright as your intellect shines already. Thank you for sharing your remarkable and wonderful work with us all, you truly are up there with you tubers like Matt Cremona, Woodworking, Chris from Clickspring, Metalworking wizardry, and the dream of the crop of 3d printers. Thank you, what a privilege to share in seeing your incredible work, it truly is wondrous, thank you
Dude, this is literally a dream come true to a lot of different coaster modelers. Thank you good sir for your ingenuity!
If you own something like a GoPro or know a friend, you should try to print a mount for it. Would love to see how it looks in POV.
The way the roller coaster moves is so calmingly realistic
Simply amazing. Just thought of a fun addition, wouldn’t be hard to make one of the storage areas an automatic charging station for the coaster battery:) Just set up some contacts on the base or side “homed” with an additional magnet post. Great Job!
NO WAY. I had this idea for YEARS to build a roller coaster that simulates real physics, and I searched for a LONG time for resources on how to build my own. Jesus man you're a genius, doing what I couldn't, because I'm a potato with no engineering skills. Honestly, I would buy one at a good price, I think there's a market for it...especially if you add the option to control the speed yourself as a "mode". Maybe even partner with theme parks and get famous coasters made. I would cry if I could build Nemesis from Alton Towers with all the scenery 😂
You designed that in NoLimits 2?! Wow. That's impressive.
the speed makes it necessary to simulate real-life, and it’s satisfying
Now this is absolutely beautiful. I hope to see model coasters with systems like this, they look way cooler.
I've been waiting for someone to do scaled physics and you pulled it off. Bravo!
Imagine an API that lets you export coasters from Planet Coaster, RCT, etc. to any size 3D print, and then calculate physical speeds for something like this.
That would be amazing.
Definitely needs Rollercoaster Tycoon sound effects matched to the acceleration. Gorgeous and really cool!
Very impressive! Not just the construction was astounding, but the whole planning, conceptualization, printing, engineering of the motorized car, the Raspberry Pi and your iPad app. Mind blowing!
This real model coaster is dope! And funny how accurate with weight motion and sound it makes! Well done!
Wow, now that is cool!!!! I couldn't stop smiling, Thanks for sharing!
I have a couple questions. My apologies if I missed the answers in your video. And, please don’t feel obligated to answer or divulge your “secret sauce!”
1. Did you print these FDM or SLA?
2. When you said that you printed the track pieces flat and then heated/bent/glued them into shape… did you print the entire track piece flat, or just the gear strip?
3. Does your custom software act as a script to “automate” Autodesk Inventor? In other words, does it read the CSV file and then use that data to automate certain actions in Inventor?
I seriously hope this is your resume for Bolliger & Mabillard or Disney Imagineering. Very impressive and entertaining.
What a cool project! Puts a smile on my face.
This is the greatest model I've ever seen, the consistent issue with all the other models is the speed making it look so unrealistic, but you solved it perfectly
So so cool!!! It even kinda makes the right sound. This feels like a whole can of worms, but have you thought about putting sensors onboard and dynamically simulating the physics? It's not like you're snapping these pieces together out of a kit, but it would be kind of cool to be able to run it on any track. Or to change up the conditions of the simulation on the fly.
Accelerometers would probably struggle to find "down" with the noise from vibrations. Also, the accelerations from the actual turns in the track might be enough to throw them off, even though they're scaled down. If there was some magic "orientation knower" sensor you could do it. If you're already gonna go through the effort of modeling and printing the whole track anyway it really wouldn't be any use, but it's a fun idea.
@@Meikulish a 9dof sensor should do the trick. That's a combination of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer.
@@epiphaner hmmm Neat
Great work! Shows what you can do with a 3D printer! No tool more versatile for modeling things like this
Absolutely one of theeeee best things I’ve seen on the net in years!!!!!
This is awesome! It's nice to see people take on ambitious projects.
So cool! Mind blowing. Looks so realistic running!
incredibly satisfying to watch in operation
Holy smokes, this is awesome!!! One of the nearly insurmountable issues with scale models is scaling physics, but here you have done it superbly! This would translate to anyone trying to do motion at a scale, great job!
Well done!
Do you have any on board pov video from it?
Have you any plans to make more? Perhaps Smiler at Alton Towers in England - 10 inversions on that!
I'm sure there's a lot of model railroad builders that would love to have something like this, it's awesome
Freaking cool! On some rollercoasters I remember a distinct slow down right before getting on the large hill chain. Sort of felt like a delay before the chain would catch the car and pull it up
This is SO HECKING COOL!
The design methodology and your explanation is just wonderful. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Amazing work and your use of a parametric design is brilliant!
i wanted to write the same thing!
Would be super cool if it were possible to generate track stl segments and animations from a Rollercoaster Tycoon Rollercoaster
I am sincerely impressed! I am amazed at the skill and knowledge you must have used in making this.
Awesome work! A first person view camera would push it over the top!
When I get near my capstone project I would totally do this for one of my favorite coasters. As a computer science minor and engineering major this would be sick!
Quality work man! I imagine these track prints took a long time with trial and error .
i love such hobby projects, with so much serious work done, that some pro companies would charge 100s of thousands for the same. The level of dedication and time spent is... wow! and i love that you made the bolts on the flanges and all the artsy things it is wonderful. Send a link to the NoLimits creators they'll like it for sure :)
That is so wonderful to watch! Mesmerizing to see it go through the track like that, amazing job!
Great work! Thanks for sharing this!
Incredible... All dressed up I can see this in a nice office or house. How it moves is captivating!
Awesome job. For my own, I decided to play back the last few minutes at different YT playback speeds just to get an idea of what FEELS realistic to me after seeing large scale coasters...I think you're pretty close, I'd say changing the speed to 1.25 to 1.5 was closer but that's being extremely nitpicky on my part and probably way slower than similar "gravity" small scale coaster models
My man, this is so utterly wonderful.
Very cool project!
Btw, If you attach a camera at the front of the cart, you can run the cart without a Pre-Simulated Animation and let it go. And then you can just slow down the footage proportionally to the model (1:40) and you will be able to see how it would be in Real Life if you were sitting on your coaster. I forgot how to do that but I remembered that trick while watching your video. I believe there was a video online that was very well documented on how to do that.
But Im very impressed by your roller coaster and the electronics!
Edit: I didn't watch your video till the end and you did the idea that I gave you ;D
Beautiful work! Such a clean build. Thanks!
I realize the goal was scaled down physics (nailed it 👍), but have you ever run it with the motor disengaged? I'd be interested in seeing the comparison.
He can even simulate the "uncontrolled" behavior for that matter!
This is awesome. I want to see some different simulations based on gravity, e.g. maybe this coaster is on the Moon or Mars.
This is so so cool! Is it just me or does it feel slow in the vertical vectors. I wonder if increasing the simulated gravity by a small factor would help.
Wow wow WOW! This thing is beyond cool!
this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen
This is amazing! Also love the coasters sounds as it goes around the track
That's so cool, and really damn impressive!
And there's so much more you can explore with this. honestly this is like my favourite thing I've seen someone do with 3d printing and hobbyist kit. Can't wait to see what you do next!
I would love to see this done in 1/160 scale.
A very cool project. Such a simple idea of making a model roller coaster but the execution and the attention to detail is epic. Respect your work keep it up.
For anyone who just wants to see the roller coaster in action(and have little attention pans like me): 6:30 for the follow camera 20:45 for the overview camera
Outstanding! Well done sir. Well done!
This is really cool! One thing I would really love to see is it being battery-less, so like powering the train through the rails somehow.
or you could make it charge itself automatically between runs
Just amazing!! Very impressive work!
Dude this is awesome! I dont think ive seen someone make a fully 3D printed rollercoaster. But its beautifully done, sir! Bouta sub right now
The amount of work that went into this was epic. Great work Jon!
This is a fantastic idea, I can't believe I never thought of doing it myself.
The algorithm chose a good video for once. Awesome work dude!
One suggestion I would have, perhaps print a small tray to hold the I-Pad controlling the system, and attach it to the vertical supports under the brake hill? Or if there isn't enough vertical clearance, on the main A-frames under the lift hill?
This is absolutely beautiful! I'm blown away by how well it all works together. Making it app controlled is just showing off hahaha
Well done!
You mentioned the pinion on the motor transferring through the larger gear to give you more torque. Just FYI, the larger gear is just being used as an idler here. Without any gears on a common shaft, there is no reduction.
Yep that’s correct I was trying to say it was more torque than if if the larger gear was driven directly by the motor
@@jonmendenhall5074 Ah, that rings true. Just misunderstood you.
I love this it's so cool to see 3d printing being used for this. Are the files public?
This has been so cool to see built!
Brilliant bit of engineering! Beautifully done!
Great job! This is an amazing personal project with high-quality results.
really awesome. i didn't see the battery and motor on the train first so i thought it had a flywheel to even out the speed
This is an absolutely fantastic project! Very well built, super clean! Love the wireless controller setup! 😍💪👊
You're a genius ! Congratulations from Paris !
Awesome!
Design with aesthetics too?! That's some incredible project you've got there, congrats on completing it! I hope a manufacturer hires you to build a model for a trade show in the future, fantastic!
This is awesome! Great work
This is probably the coolest thing I've ever seen! As a maker myself, I wish I had the time and skills to do something like this!
You're glossing over the massive amount of time spent coding this project, are you going to make a follow up video about the software you created to make the coaster design or the web app to control the train?
AWESOME! I've thought of ways of doing this but never had time to try anything. In your testing did you find the motor had to be that big?
Dude, this Is Amazing! Very good job
This is actually amazing!!
Very cool project. Nicely done.
New sub bro! That's dedication I love watching people do things they love! Great coaster
Would a cork-screw be possible with this gearing system ?
Wow that is pretty realistic
How about using an accelerometer and rotary encoder to calculate the dynamics in real time instead of replaying a pre-generated animation for the "freewheeling" sections of the track?
Wonderful Project! Well done!
I've always wondered if there was a mechanical solution to this like if you get get a flywheel ratio perfect to make it accelerate and decelerate slower and match realistic speeds
Now this is wonderful content, i swear dude if you make content like this for us, you would blow up, rn too you are hella under rated, the amount of incredible talent you have is amazing
Your drive gear size doesn't affect the speed of the system. It's just an idler.
Can you post a video where it really runs through the course so we can see a comparison between reality based of in physics and how models run definitely
So amazing. Good work. One improvement i can see is : put à way to charge the battery when the train is in the station. This way, it should be fully automated.
This is outstanding work, and I thoroughly enjoyed your explanation of the project. As others have said in the comments, interdisciplinary projects like this are fantastic because they give you the opportunity to solve problems across domains in service of building something impressive.