Vulkoprin

Reliable partner for amusement parks and ride manufacturers!

The company Vulkoprin is located in Tielt,
Belgium. 
Since they are specialised in the production and testing of amusement ride wheels, we (6LWE and MWE) visited the factory to learn all about the manufacturing of wheels.

 

We were able to see the complete production process. Here you find a brief explanation of all the steps and some pictures.

 

• The cutting of a bar or a pipeThe cutting of a bar or a pipe
  The aluminum is measured, depending on how big the wheel will be. After that, it is cut with a circular saw and a hole is made in de middle. It is important to be precise to ensure the safety of the wheels.
  
• Machining to get a wheelcentre
   After production, the rims are brought to a lathe, using electromagnets. They are loaded onto a conveyer belt and the lathe drills all the holes and cleans up the rough edges. Now they are ready for the next step. 
  
• The finishing of the wheelcentre
  The wheels went into a machine and came finished out. In the wheel centre were holes made to draw bolts in it. These holes were made very precisily, the deviation of the diameter is a several times smaller than a human hair. This is to assure the security off the wheels. For some customers like Toyota they have to do something extra, this company wants black wheels. So the wheels for Toyota are painted after this process, for Toyota it is important to have a good-looking wheel.

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• Surface treatment
  First they make the wheel rough, so that there is more surface. Then they lime the wheel with a red substance. By choosing the right parameters, they can make the lime just thick enough and never too thick. The lime may not dry too fast.
  

• Apply polyurethane by moulding
  First of all the moulds are being filled by a fluent synthetic material. After a special treatment, the fluent synthetic material is like a gel. 
  
• Polymerisation
  When they apply the polyurethane by moulding, they place the wheels in a hot cabin, where it was 35 degrees Celcius and the cabin had a humidity of 50%. You can compare it with the climate in Asia. The wheels dry faster because of the hot air. At the moment they’re building a second cabin, so they can complete more orders.
  
• Simulation on the test bench of a roller-coaster
  One of the last steps in the process is the testing of the wheels. They do diffrent simmulations to test if the wheels can take high pressure, extreme heats and so on. Vulkoprin has to do this because they have clients that only want the best, a wheel with the smallest mistake can not pass. That’s why they test everything so well.
  
• Final inspection and packaging
  They test the wheel on a test bench of a roller-coaster, it's a sort of simmulation to look if it will work on the rollercoaster the wheels are made for. To deliver the wheels to the customer, they have a big packaging room. Vulcoprin wants to make a difference with other companies with their delivery. They make sure that all your wheels are neatly classified in a box that has the perfect fitting.