A man has gone viral after revealing he built his very own rollercoaster to travel through his home and garden.
DIY-buff Drew Dirksen’s inspiration came from his favourite childhood ride, a rollercoaster called The Serpent, which he tried to rebuild with toys at home as a child after it closed down.
Determined to build his very own in his home, the 27-year-old, from Ohio, US, started researching them – but found that full-scale theme park rides could cost up to $1 million.
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Instead, he decided to build it as cheaply as possible using materials he already had around the house – including wood, desk chair wheels, and an old skateboard.
He completed the ride himself with no professional help, and for “very little money”, trying to be creatively resourceful.
A TikTok showing the fruits of his labour garnered five million views on TikTok, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Researched building methods on YouTube, he discovered he’d simply need PVC pipe and 2×4 timber for a basic coaster track.
He started by building a miniature test track, working out the best width to make the track to sit comfortably.
He cut the timber to size and drilled them into the ‘track’ – the PVC tubes.
To be able to place it above ground, he drilled pieces of scrap wood together to create higher supports for the track to lay on.
The test track proved slightly wobbly, so Drew added further support pieces to hold it.
Next, he turned his attention to building a seat on wheels so he can ride across the track.
To keep costs low, he took wheels from a swivel desk chair and old skateboards.
He cut up a piece of old metal and bolted the wheels to it, before fastening it to the track.
He added a platform on top of it – a slab of wood cut to size – and tested it out.
Unfortunately, the first attempt didn’t work, with the track collapsing underneath him.
He added further pieces of wood underneath to stabilise the structure and, this time, it held up well – if a little slow.
To speed it up, he added his electric skateboard, which goes 28mph, and an old fishing boat on top to act as a seat.
Operating it using a button linked to his electric skateboard, to Drew’s delight, the test track worked perfectly – meaning a larger scale version should hold up just as well.
He said: “Even though this thing is made from random junk I found around the house, this is one of the coolest things I think I’ve ever built.”
He then repeated his efforts on a larger scale, with the track running from his house and the woods surrounding it on his land.
Starting from a window in his living room, it travels out and around his house, back through a door and into the ground floor hallway, back into the garden and through the surrounding land.
TikTokkers loved the results, with the post garnering 300,000 likes.
One person commented: “Awesome.”
“Is that real?” another stunned viewer wrote.
Someone else said: “Genius.”
“Your neighbours are good people,” another user joked.
Another viewer added: “What I thought I would do with adult money when I was a kid.”
“How does it feel to be living my dream?” someone else wondered.
Another person wrote: “Pretty cool home invention dude.”
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