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Came down after first lap and saw a gondy carriage completely fell off in the loading area. Everyone was ok from what I know but still scary. Not a good look for KH or RCR
and just a disclaimer i only did a bit over a year of lift maintenance work so i don't know nearly as much as a manager or higher level tech. would be interesting to hear from one of them but i'm not holding my breath. i remember my boss being very interested in finding out who shared the photo of one of the incidents we had with 9news lol.
deadhead420The failure point makes no sense to me. It's not like a wear item failed. When I first heard this I thought the grip would have failed. That steel tube hanger should never fail even after a 100 years of operation. Especially with zero rust at the failure point
doing some napkin engineering. Assuming that is 3" diameter tube, 1/4" wall, made of the weakest grade of mild steel with a tensile yeild stress of 30,000psi gives a max tensile load on that hanger of 65,000Lb! which is a factor of safety of like 20x the expected load from the gondola+passengers. And the real hanger is using a much stronger grade of steel than my calculations.
I don't even think this should have been caught in the resort's lift maintenance inspection because that item is assumed so strong it never fails. This was a failure of the manufacture. And realistically it's the fault of Poma's steel supplier
Ok two corrections on my last few posts. First the KH gondola was built in 2000 not 2008. Still not super old but getting up there, oldest gondola I worked on was installed in the mid 90s and it was starting to have some senior moments by the time I left.
Second I found out that hangers do get NDTed but it’s usually a field process with magnetic particles and not the indoor UV system that i had used. Vid below
Not to bring in even more materials science...
but the bend in the tube is where the highest internal stresses in the metal will be, before the tube ever even turned into a hanger for a gondola. That shit has been waiting to explode since day 1
skietedavidsonNot to bring in even more materials science...
but the bend in the tube is where the highest internal stresses in the metal will be, before the tube ever even turned into a hanger for a gondola. That shit has been waiting to explode since day 1
you mean the exact same shape that just about every other gondola and chairlift uses across the entire globe?? seems to be tried and true for the vast majority of instances lol
partyandBSyou mean the exact same shape that just about every other gondola and chairlift uses across the entire globe?? seems to be tried and true for the vast majority of instances lol
I do mean the exact same shape that they bend almost every gondola and chairlift mount across the world to
my point is more so that if the material is going to fail, and not at a weldment, it would be in that spot
skietedavidsonNot to bring in even more materials science...
but the bend in the tube is where the highest internal stresses in the metal will be, before the tube ever even turned into a hanger for a gondola. That shit has been waiting to explode since day 1
It looks like it broke right before the bend on the inside. The bend will be stronger than the straight section. If the bend is more rigid than the section right before, it'll pull there.
officechairIt looks like it broke right before the bend on the inside. The bend will be stronger than the straight section. If the bend is more rigid than the section right before, it'll pull there.
From my office chair I thought it was at the middle of the bend, but now I kinda see what you’re saying. Even more fucked!
