First project chair

[playafly187]

I'd hoped to do more this weekend but what I assume is food poising has been kicking my butt for the past few days. Nevertheless, I was able to get a friend to weld a bolt on the bottom of the chair so I can lock into the EZ Lock in my van.



It's not very pretty (he's not a welder by trade lol) but it'll be plenty strong. He even happened to have a can of spray paint that sorta kinda matches lol.

We also drilled some new holes in the seat pan and moved it back an inch but in use, it didn't work so back to the original position it went. The chair handled completely different but more importantly, sitting an inch back made transfers nearly impossible by myself.

[Burgerman]

As long as you can be sure the weld will not fail if you hit something it will be safe. Belt an old bolt with a hammer hard to see what happens. Other thing, it looks pretty low. You can raise the vehicle tie down on a 30mm spacer and shorten the bolt to gain more ground clearance? I put mine on two 35mm metal spacer bars.

[rustyjames]

Sorry, but that is in no way an acceptable EZ lock mount point. And being aluminum welded by someone that's not even a certified weldor? The proper EZ lock mount for that chair consists of a flat steel plate that fits in the bottom of the battery box with a simple nut welded to it in the center. It would be really simple to make and install with 4 nuts and bolts. And I agree with BM, that bolt sticking down will catch everything.

[Burgerman]

Its steel isnt it? Alloy certainly wont be adequate in an accident and will be ripped off the chair. Use a 2lb lump hammer and if the M16 bolt bends first it will be OK.

Heres my DIY one:



Steel, long threads as the nuts and plate ate all M16 threaded. Welded by TIG and an expert to the bottom of:



So I have 3 positions. And over 1 inch of thread. And its going nowhere. My life depends on it.

[playafly187]

It's the same setup I've used on my other chair. A piece of bent metal was welded to the bracket already on the chair, a large nut goes inside that and the bolt screws into and locks in with another locking nut. Height-wise, it works fine (it probably just looks low from the angle I took the picture). It clears door thresholds, all but the tallest of speed bumps (when I clip tall speed bumps, the bolt never budged), ramp inclines and so on without issue. The EZ Lock base in the van is already sitting on an inch-thick piece of steel as yes, it was too low the way it came so we modified (raised) it. The only thing I ever get caught on is wires on the rear wheelie bars lol (plan to fix that soon).

[playafly187]

I was trying to come up with a solution to plug the hole as I was doing laundry and it was right in front of me. The towel rack has several black hole plugs and waddaya know, they fit (almost) perfectly (I had to sand down the lip on the backside to get it to fit). I kinda screwed up the super glue job though. Any advice on how to remove that hazy white residue it leaves on black plastic? I've tried Goo Gone and WD-40 but it's still sorta there.

[Burgerman]

You cant. Black marker pen and a cloth...

[playafly187]

I had a bit of spare time earlier and flipped the power / mode toggle switch around on the joystick. As it sat, pressing down on the switch would turn the chair on and off while pressing up would allow me to toggle profiles. Even after relocating the switch to the left port (it was originally on the right side), I would still occasionally bump it with my wrist, turning the chair off mid-drive and activating the soft brake. By flipping it, I would need to somehow accidentally press up on the switch to turn the chair off while driving, an action that seems rather unlikely. Simple but practical

[Burgerman]

I don't know how much hand control you have but by the sound of things you need a better technique. Your arm needs to rest on the armrest top. Including your wrist to give a stable position. Your hand needs to cradle the side of the joystick. As a firm accurate reference position for your thumb and finger to accurately control the joystick. IF the joystick isn't in the correct position as most are not, move it.

Watch the hand! http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/gopro/control.mp4 Its the only way to have sensible control. There shouldn't be any way to knock switches or buttons in error..

[playafly187]

It's funny that you mention the grip as I've always thought people who drove with just two fingers like that simply didn't know how to drive it correctly (that's how all of my walking friends grip it when they need to move the chair with me out of it). Maybe after all these years, I'm the one that's wrong heh



I've always gripped the joystick like this, controlling it more with wrist movement than individual finger movement. To me, this feels much more stable and in control. Also, you can see how my wrist drapes down over the switch area. If i pull back and to the left, it can still sometimes hit the toggle switch. There 's a gap between the joystick and the armrest but midway up my forearm to my elbow rests on the arm pad at nearly the same height as the joystick.

[Burgerman]

You really cant drive like that. At least not properly. Especially if your chair is programmed to actually respond.

You NEED the stability of your hand on the side, so that the joystick can be moved and controlled to mm perfect positioning regardless of bumps or vibration.

If you program your chair with my settings and drive like that you will end up in a door frame or off a curb...

I am used to flying these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FqYiZb_5s
And these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X6HEkyHNsQ

I need mm perfect accuracy.

[expresso]

how is the chair coming along ? looks nice -

[Burgerman]

Its the same as yours?

I dont think we have those here.

[expresso]

yes i believe its the same model

S646se - sunrisemedical.com

[ex-Gooserider]

Agreed, great way to have the girlfriend (or boyfriend if you tilt that way) grab other 'Joysticks', but lousy technique on a chair.... Assuming normal hand function, the finger tip on the tip of the stick or two fingers gives much better control.... Also it helps to get rid of the big knob and use something smaller, or even just the metal shaft of the joystick....

It's funny that you mention the grip as I've always thought people who drove with just two fingers like that simply didn't know how to drive it correctly (that's how all of my walking friends grip it when they need to move the chair with me out of it). Maybe after all these years, I'm the one that's wrong heh



I've always gripped the joystick like this, controlling it more with wrist movement than individual finger movement. To me, this feels much more stable and in control. Also, you can see how my wrist drapes down over the switch area. If i pull back and to the left, it can still sometimes hit the toggle switch. There 's a gap between the joystick and the armrest but midway up my forearm to my elbow rests on the arm pad at nearly the same height as the joystick.

ex-Gooserider

[playafly187]

Here are a couple of pictures of the chair thus far, mainly showing the lift on the anti-tippers.





I plan to hack off the long end of the bolt and paint all the hardware black to match. Having the tippers constantly drag the ground was pretty annoying.

I'm still searching for color-matching seat frame rails. I talked to Sunrise and they said a new set would run a couple hundred bucks. I'm hoping a set will crop up on eBay sometime for a bit less but no luck thus far.

[Burgerman]

The danger of that tie down bolt position is grounding over top of ramps, curbs as you leave or climb. Thats why mine is between the drive wheels. Be careful as you go off a curb!

Very old chair but same position of tie down: http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/gopro/curb.mp4

Imagine what yours will do.

Anti tips are just over 3 inches high, bolt is 2 inches, tyres are 3.5 tall sidewall rear, 3 inch sidewall front, so do this small curb with ease.

[expresso]

Very nice - Chair looking great - funny how i have the same chair - and always when i see it from others looks cool - glad you got them off the ground - that would drive me crazy - mines had to be fixed for that also when i got mines new -
but its off the ground enough so left it alone - i think yours are a big higher off the ground - good for wheelies -

if you cant find the part you want in black etc, - maybe you can paint it ?

[expresso]

this is what i had motion concepts do to make my tippers stay off the ground - i just dont remember if they added the STAR part or the RED ARROW part - and it worked to my surprise - i can change out the wheels to the 3 inch model to make mines even further off the ground - but i found this solution to work fine enough - so i left it alone -

what happened is - when they added my seating - theres a little motor in the front of the chair on the bottom with wires that control those wheels in the rear when you tilt back etc, - they removed that - etc, - which is fine with me - but by doing so - my tippers hung low touching the ground just enough all the time -

i refused the chair based on that - they needed to fix it - the chair comes from sunrise with the wheels off the ground - i had a picture of the demo i was on with the Sunrise Tech in the picture - so they cant say its not true -

they made that little part to add and problem solved - i should have asked for extra at the time - too late now - i wonder if any washer would have done the same thing - if put in the same spot ?

[playafly187]

As luck would have it, I found the exact frame rails I need to match the main frame. I'm not super crazy about the color but at least it will match. Hoping to have them here within a week!

[rustyjames]

Playa,

Are you going to use those bars between the rails? If not, id be interested in buying them from you. I'm looking for a set to make up an 18" wide seat frame.

[playafly187]

I guess I should clarify, I only needed the actual painted frame rails so that's all I bought otherwise I'd send them your way. I can get you the information for the eBay user I bought them from if you're interested.

[rustyjames]

Yes, if you don't mind, that would be helpful. Thanks

[playafly187]

Yay, it finally matches now. I was worried that the new rails would be too long but they just barely have enough clearance when tilting.

[expresso]

Looking good - i always liked blue - but afraid to change all the time - i get black - i was also liking the copper color - but maybe next chair - silver - i like how that looked

keep us posted as you go -