Drainage Luge

Step 7 Other designs?

There are most certainly other designs for a drainage luge board. The purpose of this instructable is to show you how to create one variety of these boards. You will find, as I have, that there are numerous other designs you can create.

Design #2: Imagine a board with a 'V' under the board with trucks riding along it, so eight wheels are always touching.

Design #3: Imagine a board with larger wheels that are spring loaded and steer automatically.

There are always interesting designs, which is why the drainage luge is a sport that has numerous possibilities.

Comments

[Kelticpaddler]

Mate, I love your sense of adventure. Good 'Ible. :O)

I wish we had similar drainage ditches where I live.

[Horny Toad]

Awesome instructable! How long did it take you to make the board? What was your top speed flying down that hill?!

[pbshoe]

It took us about two hours to make the board. It was seriously simple. Top speed? With the skateboard wheels we only got going around 10-15mph, but once we finish the new board (larger, go-kart/lawn mower wheels), we'll be getting serious speed. Plus, adding a brake for safety concerns! :) I'm hoping that others will contribute additional designs to this new sport. Then we can get a real race going!!! :)

[Rishnai]

How do you plan on braking it? The alpine slides around here are pretty torn up from steel brakes rubbing against them, and while that is okay for an alpine slide, putting big scrapes all over the city's drainages might be a little unpopular. I personally would use chunks of large-diameter PVC pipe (since the large radius means sections will be nearly flat, having maximum contact patch), which will be forced down against the pavement using a lever system. I've used a very similar method to brake my downhill kart for years. It can stop a person on a kart going 30mph in about the same distance as car could stop.

[stimps]

Yeah, the alpine slides that popped up all over BC in the 70s were all shut down by the mid-to-late seventies because they hadn't really thought of how different a child or an adult were in terms of shooting them down the side of a mountain. A plethora of a) massive injuries b) massive lawsuits sprung up, and alas, no one has thought to try it again. I'd suggest if you really want to get interested in it, find out some deep knowledge about it from years past.

[Rishnai]

We've got a few commercial alpine slides in the foothills around here, and you can get going at a pretty good rip. What they've done, though, is banked the turns a lot, so it's really tough to spill it. I did it once (they wondered why I was going up the lift with a motorcycle helmet...) and it took huge effort, and what tossed me was hitting an expansion joint and flipping forward/sideways. Hurt, but then I knew just how far I could push it before bad things happened.

[stimps]

Aha! That makes sense. I wish they'd have done something like that around here instead of shut them down.

[pbshoe]

re: no one has thought to try it again.

I guess that isn't true, as others on this list have pointed out. There are a bunch of these, including Mt. Hood, Big Bear, and Park City.

But I should point out that rather than running down in the pipe, these ride near the top, which is necessary for this type of pipe, so there's not a lot to leverage from those other types of slides, unfortunately.

[stimps]

It actually is true, in at least 2 provinces that I know of. It's just not true where you are. =)

[pbshoe]

Hmm. not sure what you mean. I don't live anywhere near a place that has these alpine slides, just pointed out that they abound; just do a simple google search.

[mrmath]

I'd use a breaking system that applied friction directly to a set of wheels. For example, lever against both back wheels at the same time. Friction there won't cause damage to the drainage ditch, and it won't leave PVC filings behind.

[Rishnai]

Good idea, but when pointing it downhill, the caliper brakes from a bicycle won't hold a mountainboard in place. Not enough leverage, since the wheels are too small. I can see the allure in not leaving a sreak of white all down the road or ditch anymore. I'll have to look into braking systems.

[mrmath]

No, I meant something like a length of copper pipe used as a lever against one of the wheels.

[Rishnai]

Might work. I'm still worried about the clamping force, but it sounds reasonable enough to build a simple prototype of.