I've always been fascinated with midway rides. As a youngster, it amazed me how such a big structure can be folded away and hauled off, like there was never anything in that spot. Sure is a lot of work setting up these rides, salute to all the folks who set up and take down these rides.
GREAT video and what BACK-BREAKING work to assemble and disassemble this ride. I salute you all! (When I was a kid back in the 1960's, this ride was called "The Octopus.")
Spider, Octopus, Monster, there are many names for this ride. I think everyone from Chance to Zamperla builds them too. I like em. I'll even ride the ones at permanent parks. The one at Cedar Point used to spin like crazy.
Really appreciate you showing us so much detail. I'm in UK, we have lots of enthusiasts making videos but to get the real close view of someone in the business is great.
Glad to See there are Very Professional Companies like BRW Operating around the US. Thanks for doing such a Great Job explaining it. Great Audio/Video. 👍🙏
Darren, I think that Battech did a great job redesigning the Spider. The old way was a lot more difficult to set up, and now running it is so nice. Thanks for sharing.❤
Very cool! To me, this is one of the most interesting rides from a design point. I see many improvements made to it since the 70's versions. You keep your rides in beautiful condition!
Thanks for a very detailed and well done video. I've worked for two different shows and both shows had a Spider which I worked on and moved. This is the first time I have gotten to see and watch the new trailer mounted version get set up. Quite a bit different than what I would be used to. Especially the operating with buttons instead of two handles. I also want to compliment you on having a nice looking show
I worked for an amusement company when I was younger Miller Amusements I was in charge of the Tilt a whirl it was hard work all these rides are steel you bust your ass doing this job I operated the whirl for about 5 seasons then I took over the Zipper which i really loved that ride assembly etc the design is brilliant and its a fun ride the spider above has other names and has been around a long time its another great ride thanks for posting these vids brings back memories and my hats off to you all I know how hard you all work
You guys have the most beautiful rides i have ever seen, very well taken care of and you are very safety oriented, in my years I have seen some shady rides, but yours are top notch, thank you for all your wonderful videos you put out, I enjoy them very much
This is a great ride. They used to have it at all the fairs in Indiana where I lived but now I live in Alabama and have been here for 26 years and never once seen this ride at any fair. My kids have never rode this ride because they don’t have it and this was my favorite ride when I was a kid.
Lol you don’t want a zipper.. the cable, drive motors and track wheels require maintenance as well as the door latches need to be replaced every year unless chance changed the 3 lock design.. plus the cost..
@@welding_guy7524 nah dude, I'd LOVE to have a Zipper in my back yard. I can perform the work, it's just the cost part that I haven't figured out yet😂😂
Always impressed by the engineering need to make a fold up attraction freeway legal!! When I was young and strong looking I was asked if I wanted to come back at closing time to pack up their Top Hat ride. It is a rotating deck with teacups and periodically the whole deck racks up to a 25 or 30° angle with a big swoosh! of air (from an accumulator?). It was fascinating, exhausting and very labor intensive. Their double ferris wheel was taken down and driven away in 1/3 the time with 1/2 the crew. We saw the Sun coming up and we started at 10 the night before...
My first job and ride I operated at my local amusement park, very cool never knew there was a trailer mounted (portable) model , cool colors and lights too!
I have A Question who does all of the ride set plans for a conavel go? How do you know where to set up your ride? Where all the rides are placed so many rides so when there running they don't crash into each other?
Some wonderful rides came from Lee Eyerly and the Eyerly Aircraft Company. Spyder, Octopus, Rock-O-Plane, Roll-O-Plane, Monster, and others. You can see Eyerly's concept designs in some of the newer rides today..
Enjoy your videos! I hope episode 11 is setting up the sidewinder.. I have never seen a super sidewinder before I’ve only heard of them, the Rollo plane was always my favorite ride. Please do a video on that set up. Thanks!
The spider I remember was ground mount. My 2 favorite rides to set up are the scrambler and we had a 30 foot 2 abreast merry go round. When I was with Burback and Bolengers funtastic shows out of Portland OR.
When I was a kid, I did not realize how much setup and time was involved in setting up and the people needed to set them up and the safety steps that you do at set up
Also less maneuverable, setting up a fair in a city sure would be difficult... But as far as I'm aware, American fairs are often organised on HUGE strips of land.
When I was young I worked on the carnival that had an octopus that is similar it wasn't the same we had a chain hoist had to move by hand them sweeps are heavy I know what you mean by manual labor great video keep them thank you❤❤❤❤
Always been interested in the technical aspect of these things, really great to have a detailed explanation of how it comes together and how it works. Excellent production, though the music was full 80's p0rn there for a minute lol!
Those were the days for sure. The Spider, Scrambler were a beast. Very heavy and hard to set up. You had to have very strong men to set them up. Today's rides have been made more diverse and much easier to set up. Still this Spider is somewhat complex however it all mostly stays on the trailer which makes it a bit easier. I really like this ride series. This guy definitely cares about safety and keeping his rides in really good working order.
I just found your channel.. I assume you bring your son and it brings back memories.. I grew up just like him traveling show to show with my dad.. it’s why I became a welder.. thank you soo much for the awesome videos .. I just hope you take care of your health.. so many people die young in this business.. lost my dad at 52 cuz he ate like a carny , smoked and he barely slept cuz when we weren’t open his life was driving show to show..I love the paratrooper.. I’ve never seen bonnets without lights and is that a tempest or a hustler with tempest tubs and umbrellas?
Two things about that design... The Battech Black Widow is an Eyerly Spider that sits on a trailer and swaps the countershaft for an electric drive. So other than the changes to the drive, it's fundamentally the old Eyerly Ride. Which is a good thing, because the Spider is a fantastic ride in almost every possible way (well, apart from some issues on the old sweeps...). Anyway, that apparently informs a couple of design decisions on the Black Widow. By floating the center over the trailer instead of using the trailer as part of the support structure like almost every other trailer mounted ride out there, the engineering of the center support is unchanged from the old ground mount ride, so nothing about the center had to be changed structurally. As you point out, it's a kind of a brilliant decision to do it that way, although it means you have to deal with the outriggers instead of just having them as part of the trailer.. But I suspect that also explains that @#$% pin that you can't get into the tension rod near the base. Because the design of the center was unchanged, they didn't move or alter the pin that is now obstructed by the trailer. Given the amount of detail Battech seems to have gone into with trying to make the setup and teardown of the ride "not suck", like the battery operated hydraulics and the self contained cranes, it does seem odd that they didn't somehow address that pin.
Looks like a really tough job. Having to set up and break down very quickly to keep the schedule. I've worked as a vendor at various fairs and it's much easier working in a shaved ice truck. Still a lot of hustle but break down is quick and we are out of there. These videos are very informative. I've wondered how much work it took to assemble these things. Well shot and edited. Take care! -Jon
Hey really enjoy watching your videos 👍 I have a question do u have to go through the scales/inspection stations I noticed on your red Pete u have private not for hire Thanks n great job Mike and family from New Brunswick Canada
Great video! Beautiful machine. A laser tape measure device might allow your crew to set the perimeter gate at the proper distance when first setting it up to avoid having to re-tune it later with measure wheel shaving a bit of time.
Watching your bumper car set up on slightly sloping ground. I wish I had a picture but I swear my local fair as a kid was on such a slope that the bumper cars had the paybox end on ground level and at the other end it was 4 1/2 feet in the air. You would have needed a ladder to get on or off😂.
I'm a ride junkie from Montana, and just found this channel by accident! Absolutely loved this video, and it's crazy how the new Battech Spider cars load so differently from the old Eyerly ones! Have you guys ever had an Eyerly one? If so, which do you prefer? Excellent job keeping your rides nice. They're gorgeous dude! On your Himalaya, I have a question: I think it's a smaller Wisdom model. I've been on the larger Wisdom ones, and felt they had basically zero airtime when compared to Mack, SBF and Bertazzon models. That smaller one you have seems to have more dramatic hills, so does it have good airtime? The big ones from Wisdom are practically a flat disc on an angle, so you get lateral G's but never negative vertical ones 😞
Thanks for producing this video, I really enjoyed it. It’s nice to see the care and concern that goes into setting up the Spider. I definitely will watch more of your videos. PS ……..I’m wondering if your spider might be a distant relative of mine😜🕷️
I'm aware that your clients primarily consist of large companies and their families, and I must say, I would absolutely love the opportunity to experience and enjoy your amazing rides! They look absolutely spotless and incredibly well maintained for a U.S. based company. By the way, I have a side hobby of crafting scale models of carnival rides, and it would be an absolute dream come true if I could have the chance to measure, model, and bring your rides to life in miniature form.
I was going to say my whole childhood was a lie when I saw this ride was called the Spider. We always called it the Octopus. But then I saw this ride only has 6 arms....spiders have 8 legs. Octopuses have 6 "arms" and 2 "legs".
How tall is this ride and how fast does this ride go I remember writing a black spider at the State Fair Indiana it was awesome one thing I like about it is two girls was sitting in the other part of the ride and I said they forgot to clean off the puke on that side and they looked over and they want it off but it was too late to ride took off I died laughing I couldn't I couldn't even enjoy the ride when I was laughing so hard at that they wanted off of the Restless they're getting sick I just had to die laughing but the right I couldn't tell if it was scary or fun but I just couldn't hold myself that was funny
Well, I dont think it's one size fits all kinda deal! Big Round Wheel books private events only. If they were competing against other traveling carnival companies, their product wouldn't hold a candle to what local fairs bring in nowadays.
I've always been fascinated with midway rides. As a youngster, it amazed me how such a big structure can be folded away and hauled off, like there was never anything in that spot. Sure is a lot of work setting up these rides, salute to all the folks who set up and take down these rides.
GREAT video and what BACK-BREAKING work to assemble and disassemble this ride. I salute you all! (When I was a kid back in the 1960's, this ride was called "The Octopus.")
It was still called the octopus into the late 90s!
@@stephenbate933 they have two one is the octopus has six arms like the spider, but with four cars, rather than two
Spider, Octopus, Monster, there are many names for this ride. I think everyone from Chance to Zamperla builds them too. I like em. I'll even ride the ones at permanent parks. The one at Cedar Point used to spin like crazy.
Really appreciate you showing us so much detail. I'm in UK, we have lots of enthusiasts making videos but to get the real close view of someone in the business is great.
Hola el video es es muy bueno pero que difícil es tra er un juego montarlo los.muchos cables y y lo pesado que es
Me párese lo complicado que es poner un juego mecanico
Que este bien armado que no tenga faya
Glad to See there are Very Professional Companies like BRW Operating around the US. Thanks for doing such a Great Job explaining it. Great Audio/Video. 👍🙏
The Spider and the support equipment is in beautiful shape. Nice to see that great care goes into the setup and take down of the ride.
LOVE TO SEE ROLLER 0 PLANE SET UP ABSOLUTELY ENJOY EACH VIDEO. THANK YOU.
I love the way you all work together as a team. Even your youngest son knows what he's doing.
Well Interesting, well done for all the Hard Work, Stephen.
i love the care you take in assembly, and pride in looking after what you have ! you obviously know exactly what you're doing. Great work there!
I like these set-up videos! Subscribed!
Your equipment looks outstanding! It's great to see so much pride & care invested into your show!!
Darren, I think that Battech did a great job redesigning the Spider. The old way was a lot more difficult to set up, and now running it is so nice. Thanks for sharing.❤
I LOVE the Spider rides!!! They are my favorite on any midway, next to the Enterprise!!
Very cool! To me, this is one of the most interesting rides from a design point. I see many improvements made to it since the 70's versions.
You keep your rides in beautiful condition!
I also love that you guys bought Wisdom's reboot of the Spider and are showing us how to setup it up! I love the details!
Thanks for a very detailed and well done video. I've worked for two different shows and both shows had a Spider which I worked on and moved. This is the first time I have gotten to see and watch the new trailer mounted version get set up. Quite a bit different than what I would be used to. Especially the operating with buttons instead of two handles. I also want to compliment you on having a nice looking show
Darren, Excellent set up and demonstration! Can't wait for the Himalaya next! Great video series on ride set ups! Great job!!
Totally agree!!!
i miss traveling with funtastic didnt care much for set up and tear down but the smiles on the peoples faces well worth it
When connecting the cam locks always connect the ground first. When disconnecting unhook the ground last
I worked for an amusement company when I was younger Miller Amusements I was in charge of the Tilt a whirl it was hard work all these rides are steel you bust your ass doing this job I operated the whirl for about 5 seasons then I took over the Zipper which i really loved that ride assembly etc the design is brilliant and its a fun ride the spider above has other names and has been around a long time its another great ride thanks for posting these vids brings back memories and my hats off to you all I know how hard you all work
Well maintained equipment. Very nice👌
You guys have the most beautiful rides i have ever seen, very well taken care of and you are very safety oriented, in my years I have seen some shady rides, but yours are top notch, thank you for all your wonderful videos you put out, I enjoy them very much
Fascinating ride, As an engineer it is a simple but ingenious mechanism!
This is a great ride. They used to have it at all the fairs in Indiana where I lived but now I live in Alabama and have been here for 26 years and never once seen this ride at any fair. My kids have never rode this ride because they don’t have it and this was my favorite ride when I was a kid.
That Paratrooper is BEAUTIFUL! 😃
I have never seen rides and equipment that clean in my life. Nice to see this professional traveling carnival 🎡 I want to buy a Zipper for home use.
Lol you don’t want a zipper.. the cable, drive motors and track wheels require maintenance as well as the door latches need to be replaced every year unless chance changed the 3 lock design.. plus the cost..
Good point probably be lots of maintenance time and money required to keep the zipper safe and running!@@welding_guy7524
@@welding_guy7524 nah dude, I'd LOVE to have a Zipper in my back yard. I can perform the work, it's just the cost part that I haven't figured out yet😂😂
Always impressed by the engineering need to make a fold up attraction freeway legal!! When I was young and strong looking I was asked if I wanted to come back at closing time to pack up their Top Hat ride. It is a rotating deck with teacups and periodically the whole deck racks up to a 25 or 30° angle with a big swoosh! of air (from an accumulator?). It was fascinating, exhausting and very labor intensive. Their double ferris wheel was taken down and driven away in 1/3 the time with 1/2 the crew. We saw the Sun coming up and we started at 10 the night before...
Sure like the music..and all your dedication..great presentation!
Absolutely genius design!!! I remember cranking the center up on the back of a trailer many times!!
Thank you sharing. Your rides look exceptional.
Another excellent video. Really shows the ins and out. Takes a lot of work
My first job and ride I operated at my local amusement park, very cool never knew there was a trailer mounted (portable) model , cool colors and lights too!
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Amazing how that all fits on one trailer. Brilliant engineering there for sure. Thanks for posting this.
I have A Question who does all of the ride set plans for a conavel go?
How do you know where to set up your ride? Where all the rides are placed so many rides so when there running they don't crash into each other?
The spider was my favorite ride as a kid. Wish someone near SC had one
There has to be a spider, octopus, monster, black widdow, at a county fair around you. If not, I can tell you that Carowinds has one.
Awesome video!
Thanks for sharing!
Some wonderful rides came from Lee Eyerly and the Eyerly Aircraft Company. Spyder, Octopus, Rock-O-Plane, Roll-O-Plane, Monster, and others. You can see Eyerly's concept designs in some of the newer rides today..
Assuming your a skilled showman...wow, all I can say and a nice collection...jealous.
Wisdom's Sizzler rides also have a hydraulic jack (and pivot stands) as the means of lowering it to the ground during setup.
Love the professionalism and how great all the rides look! Please come to the Louisville Ky area! ❤
I find it crazy how all your ride look new and hardly ever used
Enjoy your videos! I hope episode 11 is setting up the sidewinder.. I have never seen a super sidewinder before I’ve only heard of them, the Rollo plane was always my favorite ride. Please do a video on that set up. Thanks!
Love watching these Videos even though I can’t Be there watching these videos do it justice.👍
The spider I remember was ground mount. My 2 favorite rides to set up are the scrambler and we had a 30 foot 2 abreast merry go round. When I was with Burback and Bolengers funtastic shows out of Portland OR.
This one is still ground mounted. When it’s setup it isn’t attached to the trailer.
Nice trucks pulling nice equipment.
When I was a kid, I did not realize how much setup and time was involved in setting up and the people needed to set them up and the safety steps that you do at set up
All the rides are extreme difficult to european rides... But the trucks are lots cooler than ours... :-) Great Job and thanks.
Also less maneuverable, setting up a fair in a city sure would be difficult... But as far as I'm aware, American fairs are often organised on HUGE strips of land.
Excelent demo. Greetings from Cartagena Colombia
When I was young I worked on the carnival that had an octopus that is similar it wasn't the same we had a chain hoist had to move by hand them sweeps are heavy I know what you mean by manual labor great video keep them thank you❤❤❤❤
Over across the pond here in the uk, we call this ride the octopus its basically the same ride.
Thank you so much for the video, amazing...
Always been interested in the technical aspect of these things, really great to have a detailed explanation of how it comes together and how it works. Excellent production, though the music was full 80's p0rn there for a minute lol!
That looks alot easier than the older ground mounts i used to setup and pulled over the road for 20 years 😂
Those were the days for sure. The Spider, Scrambler were a beast. Very heavy and hard to set up. You had to have very strong men to set them up. Today's rides have been made more diverse and much easier to set up. Still this Spider is somewhat complex however it all mostly stays on the trailer which makes it a bit easier. I really like this ride series. This guy definitely cares about safety and keeping his rides in really good working order.
I just found your channel.. I assume you bring your son and it brings back memories.. I grew up just like him traveling show to show with my dad.. it’s why I became a welder.. thank you soo much for the awesome videos .. I just hope you take care of your health.. so many people die young in this business.. lost my dad at 52 cuz he ate like a carny , smoked and he barely slept cuz when we weren’t open his life was driving show to show..I love the paratrooper.. I’ve never seen bonnets without lights and is that a tempest or a hustler with tempest tubs and umbrellas?
Two things about that design...
The Battech Black Widow is an Eyerly Spider that sits on a trailer and swaps the countershaft for an electric drive. So other than the changes to the drive, it's fundamentally the old Eyerly Ride. Which is a good thing, because the Spider is a fantastic ride in almost every possible way (well, apart from some issues on the old sweeps...). Anyway, that apparently informs a couple of design decisions on the Black Widow. By floating the center over the trailer instead of using the trailer as part of the support structure like almost every other trailer mounted ride out there, the engineering of the center support is unchanged from the old ground mount ride, so nothing about the center had to be changed structurally. As you point out, it's a kind of a brilliant decision to do it that way, although it means you have to deal with the outriggers instead of just having them as part of the trailer..
But I suspect that also explains that @#$% pin that you can't get into the tension rod near the base. Because the design of the center was unchanged, they didn't move or alter the pin that is now obstructed by the trailer.
Given the amount of detail Battech seems to have gone into with trying to make the setup and teardown of the ride "not suck", like the battery operated hydraulics and the self contained cranes, it does seem odd that they didn't somehow address that pin.
One of my favorite rides..
Looks like a really tough job. Having to set up and break down very quickly to keep the schedule. I've worked as a vendor at various fairs and it's much easier working in a shaved ice truck. Still a lot of hustle but break down is quick and we are out of there. These videos are very informative. I've wondered how much work it took to assemble these things. Well shot and edited.
Take care!
-Jon
Hey really enjoy watching your videos 👍
I have a question do u have to go through the scales/inspection stations
I noticed on your red Pete u have private not for hire
Thanks n great job
Mike and family from New Brunswick Canada
Great video! Beautiful machine. A laser tape measure device might allow your crew to set the perimeter gate at the proper distance when first setting it up to avoid having to re-tune it later with measure wheel shaving a bit of time.
Thanks for taking us along, super informative. One question: I didn't see any torque wrenches, does this ride need those for setup?
Don't you guys play any music on carnivals?
Great video mate
Fascinating ride setup.. will you ever add the zipper to your carnival??
Do you actually have a tractor for every trailer? Or do the tractor make multiple trips from each place your going
Subscribed to your channel hope to see you in Columbus Ohio one day 😊
This is very impressive
Watching your bumper car set up on slightly sloping ground. I wish I had a picture but I swear my local fair as a kid was on such a slope that the bumper cars had the paybox end on ground level and at the other end it was 4 1/2 feet in the air. You would have needed a ladder to get on or off😂.
Is there a video showing the setup of the Enterprise and the Trabant?
I'm a ride junkie from Montana, and just found this channel by accident! Absolutely loved this video, and it's crazy how the new Battech Spider cars load so differently from the old Eyerly ones! Have you guys ever had an Eyerly one? If so, which do you prefer?
Excellent job keeping your rides nice. They're gorgeous dude!
On your Himalaya, I have a question: I think it's a smaller Wisdom model. I've been on the larger Wisdom ones, and felt they had basically zero airtime when compared to Mack, SBF and Bertazzon models. That smaller one you have seems to have more dramatic hills, so does it have good airtime? The big ones from Wisdom are practically a flat disc on an angle, so you get lateral G's but never negative vertical ones 😞
Hi just asking when will there be some new videos i do enjoy then find it interesting hope you all are going well 😊.
Great Video..Can you not get a short pin made up as a temp measure - Until the ride is lowered then swap it out !!
How much is a contraption like this if you buy it new from the manufacturer?
19:45 can you put the pin in the red arm before you slide it in?
Thanks for producing this video, I really enjoyed it. It’s nice to see the care and concern that goes into setting up the Spider. I definitely will watch more of your videos.
PS ……..I’m wondering if your spider might be a distant relative of mine😜🕷️
Wonderful Spider Ride Video!!!! F+L, Corey
Try to put the pin in the brace first, slide the brace in line with the hole, raise the pin to clear the hole.
How to you avoid burring the threads when having to pound the bolts into position?
Interesting to see! Looks like quite a dangerous job to assemble...
I’m a product of the 60’s I know that ride as the octopus !
Why do you need 2 trucks ? Wish you had a video of your new 72 ft ferris wheel.
I'm aware that your clients primarily consist of large companies and their families, and I must say, I would absolutely love the opportunity to experience and enjoy your amazing rides! They look absolutely spotless and incredibly well maintained for a U.S. based company. By the way, I have a side hobby of crafting scale models of carnival rides, and it would be an absolute dream come true if I could have the chance to measure, model, and bring your rides to life in miniature form.
Scale models of carnival rides? Wooow share your vids buddy. I love scale models.
How many rides does the company own?
Nice Spider...... But the European Spiders looks way better. Do you have in the usa or Canada also the same European Spiders attractions?
we never had troubles with the mud sills
We had a Spider that had stainless steel seat frames.
Older ride with updated seats
Must be nice. Everything i had to put was ground mounts. Back in the day 😂
I was going to say my whole childhood was a lie when I saw this ride was called the Spider. We always called it the Octopus. But then I saw this ride only has 6 arms....spiders have 8 legs. Octopuses have 6 "arms" and 2 "legs".
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.
VERY INTERESTING. 😊
Hurry up I want to see the ride finished
How tall is this ride and how fast does this ride go I remember writing a black spider at the State Fair Indiana it was awesome one thing I like about it is two girls was sitting in the other part of the ride and I said they forgot to clean off the puke on that side and they looked over and they want it off but it was too late to ride took off I died laughing I couldn't I couldn't even enjoy the ride when I was laughing so hard at that they wanted off of the Restless they're getting sick I just had to die laughing but the right I couldn't tell if it was scary or fun but I just couldn't hold myself that was funny
Cool video
can't wait for the fix.
I never had that problem with a mudsill pin
Why wouldn't you shorten the pin half an inch...looks like it could easily be shorter
I ran the roll low plane all week
How profitable can this be? The insurance alone has to be crazy
Well, I dont think it's one size fits all kinda deal! Big Round Wheel books private events only. If they were competing against other traveling carnival companies, their product wouldn't hold a candle to what local fairs bring in nowadays.
Here in the UK that spider is called an octopus
Ron Thomas/Thomas and Powers built the first Spider trailer similar to this.
we had t bars on the end of the sweeps
Now you have to do a pull down video please please thanks