a fairground life

The ride has been NDT tested. I'm pleased to report that it passed "A" ok as it has done for the last thirty years. 30 years! surely the ride is not that old? No, it's OLDER, but as Trigger said in Only Fools & Horses-"I've had the same broom for 15 years, Its had ten handles and fifteen heads." The point I'm making is that 99% of the ride has been replaced over the years. Maintenance never stops. As for testing, I knew the welds were ok, I would have to be blind to miss a crack (the ride is inspected daily when it is in service). The real part of testing the ride for me is the ultrasound testing of the shafts & pins, I don't have xray vision to see inside them. A probe is placed on the end of the shaft and sound waves are passed through the metal. An oscilloscope shows the length of the shaft with a high peak at the start and end. Any flaw in the shaft is shown by a peak between these points (brief explanation as the device also has to be accompanied by a trained technician who can interpret the results) . So testing done we re assembled the bobin. The radial arms were painted and attached again. I used a grinder with sanding pads to remove rust and flatten the old paint. When I was finished the floor of the ride was under a couple of mill of red paint flecks. Trig, give us a lend of your broom.

the picts show the bobin being removed, the top of the ride in kit form and the old floor frame as a pile of scrap (no jokes Blakey)