Spin Ball Fairground Ride Maintenance – 38 Years of Engineering & Hydraulic Repairs
Owning and operating older fairground rides sometimes means you can’t simply pick up the phone and order a replacement part.
Sometimes you have to understand what you’ve got, repair it properly and keep the original engineering working.
Our Spin Ball has been in service for around 38 years, and recently its speed-control cylinder needed some attention.
The cylinder was stripped down after we found that corrosion inside the chamber had caused the seals to twist and deteriorate.
Rather than simply replacing the complete assembly, we decided to rebuild what we had.
Rebuilding the Spin Ball Speed-Control Cylinder
The cylinder was completely dismantled so we could inspect the internal components properly.
The bore was cleaned, carefully sanded and then finished using wet-and-dry paper until we were satisfied that the internal surface was as smooth as we could get it.
The next challenge was finding the correct replacement seals.
There were no part numbers, markings or easy identification on the originals.
Several hydraulic suppliers gave us the same answer — the seals would need to be sent away to be identified.
That’s when experience came into play.
We remembered Mick at M J Hoses & Hydraulic in Mildenhall, somebody with decades of hydraulic knowledge.
One look at the seal and Mick knew exactly what we needed.
“Two days, they’ll be in.”
Two days later, there they were.
New seals fitted, cylinder rebuilt, repainted and ready to go back onto Spin Ball.
When Old-School Knowledge Still Matters
Modern equipment has its advantages, but there’s still something incredibly valuable about people who have spent a lifetime working with machinery.
That kind of practical knowledge is becoming harder to find.
A computer database may not recognise a 38-year-old hydraulic seal, but somebody who has spent decades working with hydraulic equipment often will.
A big thank you to Mick at M J Hoses & Hydraulic for helping us keep another original component in service.
Sometimes 38 years of engineering needs another 60-plus years of experience to keep it moving.
Keeping Heritage Fairground Rides Operating
This kind of workshop work is a regular part of owning and maintaining fairground attractions.
Parts are stripped, inspected, cleaned, repaired and rebuilt where appropriate rather than simply waiting for something to fail.
For us, maintaining rides such as Spin Ball is about more than keeping an attraction running.
Spin Ball has been part of our family for generations, so keeping the ride properly maintained also means preserving a piece of our own fairground history.
The ride may be approaching four decades in service, but with proper maintenance, inspections and engineering work, it continues to form an important part of The Fun Firm fleet.
From Heritage Rides to Modern Attractions
Today, Spin Ball operates alongside a growing range of attractions including dodgems, Ferris wheels, children’s rides, inflatables and modern extreme rides such as EnteR 6.0.
The technology may have changed dramatically over the years, but the principle hasn’t:
Look after the equipment and do the job properly.
Old-school engineering. Modern maintenance. Still spinning.
THE FUN FIRM
WE BRING THE FUN
🌐 www.thefunfirm.co.uk
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