Cable Lift compared to Chainlift

[Hixee]

My guess (highlight 'guess') is that maintenance and repair is easier on a chain for two reasons.

1) A chain is a lot faster/easier to fix if it does break. All you have to do it take out the link (or two links) that have failed, and replace them. Relatively speaking, this is a quick/simple process, especially when compared to a cable. If a cable breaks, the whole cable has to be removed and a whole new cable installed.

2) To inspect a chain you just run the drive slowly and get someone to look over every link (not counting full-scale off season inspections now, in that case they're both basically the same). With a cable you need at least two inspection points (you can't ever be in a position to see the whole cable run past you).

I would guess that cables and chains are relatively equal with regards to reliability (provided they're running at the same speeds/loads/etc - which they're often not as they're different systems [see my previous post]), so it's more a case of 'which-is-worse-to-fix-when-it-does-go-wrong' and in my opinion that would be a cable lift.

 

[D1993]

That depends entirely on the manufacturer as well as the ride system. I have worked B&M's (specifically floorless models but have seen it on an invert and a standard looper) that have a good delay (3-5 seconds?).

Also, the verbal clear is so regional park, do you Cedar Point Ops still have to say check at every restraint?

Well I should say mostly that is the case with chain lifts then, not always.
Yes, with a ride like raptor, you have to wait for the floor to go down and front gate to lower before the train leaves. Takes about 3-4 seconds. This isn't the case with all inverts though, as I noticed when I rode great bear that when the train would return to the station, the floor would come up and gate rise even before the train stopped, so that as soon as it did, restraints would release and guests could get off immediately. I actually really liked that!

The sort of delay I mean with cable lifts is where you have enough time to say "riders on the blue train, for your safety, keep arms hands legs and feet down and inside the train at all times. Hold on tight, sit upright and enjoy your ride on millennium force" and then sit there for an extra couple seconds and wait for it to take off. That sort of delay. Gahhhh.

And thank goodness we do not have to say check anymore. That lasted one year and was so stupid haha.

Also, Hixee, you pretty much summed up everything perfectly.
The only other thing I would like to further add by what I meant as a mechanical nightmare is that the cable lifts provide ALOT of very small, yet frequent and annoying delays and mechanical downtime. We ride ops hate downtime as much as the guests do. At least the good ones haha.
The cable would mess up in a lot of small ways and it would get very frustrating, because it kills the flow of keeping that line moving. We would get 30 minute delays (sometimes longer) 4 to 5 times a day at worst, for months on end. Its just maddening.
As opposed to gatekeeper, raptor and magnum where we would be pumping out trains constantly just over and over again. Having capacity hours anywhere from 1600-1800 riders per hour. Never at any of those rides did we have extensive problems. Sure, things happens and the motor usually blows at least once a year, but in comparison with how much they run all season long, they're actually quite remarkably reliable.

In comparison with the cable lift. Catch car would overshoot. Catch car e stops itself. Catch car not properly engaged. Cable motor fail. Catch car stuck.
ALL SUMMER LONG.

I also have some pretty good friends who work at Skyrush and I305, and they told me those rides have alot of the same problems too.