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Issue link: https://ct.epubxp.com/i/178128
INSIDE MANUFACTURING Maximum thrills MINIMAL TOOLS Water slide manufacturer's disastrous fre loss opens door to a closed molding process that reduces the number — and cost — of production molds, promising future gain. M tooling costs can be greatly reduced by producing parts of multiple sizes from a resizable mold and a single, reusable vacuum bag. Built according to design parameters specifed in ASTM F237608, "Standard Practices for Classifcation, Design, Manufacturing and Operation of Water Slide Systems," SplashTacular's 360Rush slide consists of a 58-f/17.7m high tower and two curved, enclosed tubes or fumes, approximately 120 f/36.6m in length, that feed into a "bowl" at the bottom. Two riders enter the slide through trap doors, descend at speeds up to 40 mph/64 kmh, and then emerge into the bowl where they spin around its walls before they splash into about 8 inches/203 mm of water at the bottom. Te ground-level footprint of the slide is SplashTacular's 360Rush, approximately 80 f by 80 f (24.4m by 24.4m). installed at the Spring Valley SplashTacular had developed the 360Rush Beach amusement park at design and received a contract to build the slide Blountsville, Ala. Its tower and two enclosed composite fumes before a fre destroyed its facility in Garnett, Kan., feed riders into a "bowl" at the where the company's fberglass water slide combottom, where they spin around ponents had been produced. SplashTacular had the rim of the bowl (lower already contracted with JRL to build the molds right) before splashing for the slide. Facing a tight deadline, SplashTacuinto about 20 inches of lar hired JRL to make the parts, too, rather than standing water at going through the time and expense of shipping the bottom. tooling to a third-party fberglass manufacturer. Not unfamiliar with part production, JRL ofers prototype and frst-article production as part of its package of standard toolmaking services. akers of amusement park equipment and composites manufacturers have had a long association, the beginnings of which go back at least 50 years to the days when fberglass began to replace metal and wood in cars and seating for thrill rides, as well as park benches, decorative accessories and other park features. Based on one-of and limited-run parts, amusement park jobs have high per-part tooling costs. But on a water slide project recently completed by SplashTacular (La Quinta, Calif.), Cape Coral, Fla.-based tooling supplier JRL Ventures demonstrated that 36 Source (both photos) | SplashTacular