This is the 100 ft high giant cable swing we built in my backyard. It was constructed in the summer and through the fall of 2012. After months of planning, researching and building, our swing was completed. We dubbed it, "Project Superman". The supplies for the entire swing were payed solely by the two of us. The construction of the swing was also done by us.
We have an extensive background in rock climbing, as well as other technical ropes and construction skills. Though it was built by the two of us we did have a team of friends and experts who provided us with a lot of useful knowledge and advice that helped us throughout the duration of the build.
As for the ride, riders are strapped into the swing with a harness at the base of the swing. A vehicle then pulls a rope which they hold onto with either a munter hitch or grigri. The rope runs through a series of pulleys so that when the truck drives forward the rider is pulled up about 80 ft to the top of the launch tree.The launch tree is on top of a 30 ft hill. We used vehicles in the making of the movie. However, a winch has been designed and built to be used in place of the vehicle. The winch method is safer and allows for more control when hoisting someone to the top. When the rider is ready, they release themselves by letting go of the munter hitch or releasing the grigri. The rider then free falls quite a bit and reaches speeds between 50 - 60 mph as they pass over the platform. Riders also experience roughly 4 G's on their body. They then swing to their maximum height which is at the base of the hill. So at this point the rider is now around 100 ft above the ground from the base of the hill. After the first swing riders still enjoy many swings and slowly come to a stop. All riders get on and off safely from the ground by use of a removable ladder. The swing is also easy to reset because the hoisting rope can be pulled back down with the P cord which is tied to it. The swing can be ridden in two ways. Normal sitting or lying down with a full body chest harness aka. Superman style. This allows the first timer to enjoy a fun swing but the thrill seeker to soar through the sky.
As for safety, the swing is constructed with 3/8 in. galvanized steel aircraft cable with a working load limit of 14,400 lbs. All other gear such as swages, wire clamps, and rapid links are also designed for ropes course use. There are two guide wires attached to the main swing cable. One on the left and the other on the right of the main line. These guide wires keep the rider centered throughout the ride so that they never crash into any trees. Finally there is back up equipment and redundancies for extra precautions in case something was to suddenly fail. All equipment as well as the trees are inspected by us regularly.
The physics calculations seen in the video were determined by Brendan Battey, Warren Palmeira (my physics teacher) and my self. The information on the movie as well as lots of additional calculations were found using a Pasco Explorer GLX accelerometer. We then analyzed the information to find our results. We also did calculations by hand and calculator with the measurements we took from the swing and found similar results. With this information we were able to come up with relatively accurate swing data. However it vastly depends upon the rider and height they launch from.
As you can see in the video, we filmed from a lot of different places including a 45 ft high tree platform we built the year before, as well as a 180 ft zip-line installed a few years back.
The music in the video is titled "Ride for My City" and it was created by Kprimbeatz
You can check out the music at
www.kprimbeatz.com
or
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=979262
Thanks for reading through!
