puma 40 building my chair,boredom project!

[duke1]

hi all well i dont know about you lot but im getting very bored and having finished a rebuild of our volvo 850 and tina having her new chair i decided a project was needed for my sanity so a valid expense.
i recently bought a cheap puma40 for spares and having robbed the bits i needed for another project iy stands me in at a grand cost of £50,i have discovered it is not a 6mph chair but is 4mph 4 pole amt motors so there no good.
but i have a set of 6mph diy rebuilt gearbox and i believe the motors are the same on all speeds of these amt motors? as the motors on the 4mph units are like new condition as are the drive couplings.
so far i have stripped it bare and painted the plastics and frame a nice proper purple and battery box and caster forks are going to be black ash metallic ,i plan on a couple of the nice tubeless tyre wheel combos of our @shirley and have a set of my diy tubeless 3/4 wheels and tyres modded from the puma 40 fronts using rubber gasket and a 90 deg screw on metal tyre valve and continental tyre cement ensuring no loss of tyre pressure and been at 15 psi for 3 months!
i shall be throwing away atleast half the original bits and replacing with lighter and better materials mostly remade/or hand built by me.
i havent a control system yet and may venture into a rnet system if i can source a cheap one or go for another dynamic dx2 as i have the program for that still,anyhow i shall take pics along the way for anyone interested,this is going to be my chair unique to me and quite unlike a puma 40,stay well all and i will be sure to have lots of question for @woody and @burgerman!

[terry2]

Hows the Puma40 you had off me

[duke1]

Hows the Puma40 you had off me

hi terry the puma became tinas favorite after resizing it to fit her better and its used everyday still,i been using the mudmonster i built for her!its bloody great and i can go allmost anywhere and follow the hounds better.
but i am selling 2 of the chairs so down to 3,that gives me room to build a chair just for me and how i want it stops me going madder with boredom.
tis a shame i cant afford a new set of the amt 4 pole 8mph but 6 is ok if its programmed right and gives me a chance to change the design flaws of the puma base lighten and improve range etc and in the end i shall be building a lithium set up for it ,well 2 one for tinas chair as well,then there shall be no stopping us!,stay well.

[terry2]

Hows the Puma40 you had off me

hi terry the puma became tinas favorite after resizing it to fit her better and its used everyday still,i been using the mudmonster i built for her!its bloody great and i can go allmost anywhere and follow the hounds better.
but i am selling 2 of the chairs so down to 3,that gives me room to build a chair just for me and how i want it stops me going madder with boredom.
tis a shame i cant afford a new set of the amt 4 pole 8mph but 6 is ok if its programmed right and gives me a chance to change the design flaws of the puma base lighten and improve range etc and in the end i shall be building a lithium set up for it ,well 2 one for tinas chair as well,then there shall be no stopping us!,stay well.

The 8 mph motors cost me £1,750

That's one of the reasons I went for a meyra optimus 2.
It only has 1 front motor, and that costs £700. So a very big saving.
I could never go back to tank steer again.

[duke1]

Hows the Puma40 you had off me

hi terry the puma became tinas favorite after resizing it to fit her better and its used everyday still,i been using the mudmonster i built for her!its bloody great and i can go allmost anywhere and follow the hounds better.
but i am selling 2 of the chairs so down to 3,that gives me room to build a chair just for me and how i want it stops me going madder with boredom.
tis a shame i cant afford a new set of the amt 4 pole 8mph but 6 is ok if its programmed right and gives me a chance to change the design flaws of the puma base lighten and improve range etc and in the end i shall be building a lithium set up for it ,well 2 one for tinas chair as well,then there shall be no stopping us!,stay well.

The 8 mph motors cost me £1,750

That's one of the reasons I went for a meyra optimus 2.
It only has 1 front motor, and that costs £700. So a very big saving.
I could never go back to tank steer again.

hi thats a lot of dosh,mine have cost a little less but maybe not quite as quiet or smooth as them but good function seems to be quite restored with replaced bearings and relube and if they last a year or two i be happy enough,anyhow i took a couple of pics at the start of this project first are the plastics which ive painted and clear laquered rustoleum primer and high quality laquer.
motors are all mounted to the carrier and been tested on my rig and both sound good and em brakes working .
a friend is doing all the brackets and alloy bits with some sort of powder coating meant to resist chipping,we shall see.
pics

[duke1]

all and stay well.

[Burgerman]

Are you high?

Puke purple?

[ex-Gooserider]

No worse than Monkey-puke Green....



ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

True...

[duke1]

Are you high?

Puke purple?

yes always! and purple is my favorite colour after black and im bored with that,its for me and my taste and unique,like me!
anyhow i have got the rolling chassis together and have tested using the vsi i have as spare for now and my rebuilt motors sound an awful lot quieter now and have zero backlash they both have new cush drives using burgermans fix with stainless steel 26mm tubing for longevity.
fitted all new stainless bearings in casters and wheel bearings all fasteners are replaced again stainless steel.
i decided i did not want to wait several weeks to get the bracket work powder coated and have painted them using black gloss from lidls at £2.50 a tin so a fiver cheaper than our car shop,robbers!
heres a couple pics,

[duke1]

decided on a set of these from our shirley. all and stay well

[rover220]

It's a bit purple.

[Burgerman]

Its been mentioned.

Should have gone with 3.5 wide rims as they are much easier to fit and look good. Unless they are? And the 120/70-8 tyres.

[duke1]

Its been mentioned.

Should have gone with 3.5 wide rims as they are much easier to fit and look good. Unless they are? And the 120/70-8 tyres.

hi bm and all,yes there 3.5x8 and tubeless which is what i wanted but for now its got the horrid beat up original wheels and solid grey tyres so i could test drive it today and make moving it about easier,it drove ok considering but the fake shock absorber have to go! there absolute crap on all the pumas just shock shaped lumps of solid rubber,i kid you not i took them apart to see and there made of 4 sections of solid rubber no dampers or spring.
a set of koni airshocks will sort that out and cheap if you buy non mobility stuff,anyhow yes its still purple but has black bits as well heres a few more pics,ignore the chips my lousy hand dropped a tool a few dozen times and done some damage through the wrapping but i think one good working hand better than none!

[duke1]

still got to find new armrest tops and source a decent control system im torn between the dynamic dx again as i have the program stuff for them still or maybe if i can find a cheap rnet and dongle deal i may be brave!
once its finished and tested a while i shall be making a lithium set but for now it has a set of the 85ah leochs i find they last very well and do not fade fast,

mickey mouse fake shocks!

swing arm pivot replaced

centre swingarm pivot point bush replaced

i need to find a cover for the rear or make one out of metal,plastic sucks.

purple rocks

[ex-Gooserider]

Looks Good!!!

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Spray rims matt black. And use black tyres... Try to avoid the looking at the puke purple.

[duke1]

Spray rims matt black. And use black tyres... Try to avoid the looking at the puke purple.

hi bm if yor puke is purple you should seek medical advice!
anyhow i been busy building the chair and after a lot of weight loss (seat weighs less than half of when i started) replacing all the over the top heavy stuff all the centre of gravity has shifted perfect so far its a little lower than the normal puma 40 design that was on purpose so as to fit easy in my car (volvo 850 estate) along side either of tinas chairs and still fit my 2 dogs in the car as well,the estate bit is huge and has a very strong floor but the height of the entryway from the ramp means they need to be low or take loads of bits of to fit in the car and thats a pain.
as it is it should just mean unhooking the joystick and folding the armrests then it should fit easy.
i did have one ballache though and all my own doing!
after getting the motors i rebuilt fitted and programmed to turn the right way at the right time i took it for a test drive,well going right went very well! going left was about half the power of right.
back home and do a diagnostic on the wizard 5 prog to no avail,so i pulled out all my diy heavy duty loom and double triple checked every connection,nothing wrong there.
so i went back to basics and tested all the outputs using the fluke multimeter and found low readings on the left hand motor but high amp draw fine when the wheel was allowed to spin freely there was no funny noises and the motor and gearbox spun over by hand smoothly,so puzzled i went and had a think and medicate (i work best well medicated,its less painful)
then went back and studied both labels on the rebuilt motors,then the obvious hit me one motor says 2000 odd rpm,other says 4000 odd! i had fitted a 4 mph one side and 6 the other!
but after fitting the right one its sweet and drives ok and both my rebuilt motors are very quiet,(new brushes where bedded in by running on axle stands for an hour) i used good quality volvo gearbox oil and all new neoprene seals,new cush drives retro fitted using burgermans method reinforcing using 26mm stainless steel tube . both em brakes are new and bought cheap as new old stock and both work perfect.
so for a cost of around £200 i have 2 pairs of motors and gearboxes that fit 3 of our chairs,sorted.
tomorrow i shall be refitting the seat and hope to get my decent shocks for the rear.koni adjustable air shocks but they are a bit expensive esp when ive got the rear wheels and tyres to pay for yet,all in all its stopped me being bored and given me my own uniquely me chair cheaply but reliably and all my own single handed work,quite literally ,pics later when shes all together,peace all
ps if anyone has a puma 20/40/60 sedeo pro seat cushion the 3 inch deep one cheap please shout out!

[duke1]

a few more progress pics,still a way to go but getting there!

[duke1]

[duke1]

hi all a few progress pics of my diy chair build this time its for me and entirely built from used/repurposed or self fabricated bits from my scrap pile,today i made and fitted front and rear covers from an old mobility scooter plastics which are very thick and strong unlike the weak thin fragile plastics used originally on the puma,and yes its all purple though has more black bits as well! as the rear wheels and tyres are on order from hk and take some time to come for now i sanded down the horrid silver grey scratched wheels and having smoothed them out a bit i painted them matt black and shall do the fronts later as well,even sprayed the horrid grey solid tyres black just so they not so annoying. but they are butt ugly.
also sorted the joystick mounting and binned the lot of the swing away (should be called swing about wildly!) mount and built a simple solid mount with quick release to allow it to fit the car easy,still need to locate another sedeo seat cushion as that thing on it has the most honest name ever for a cushion,even the logo says what will happen to it very shortly ie your bottom feeling the steel underneath!funny
still need to sort the drive program a bit but its too damn cold outside atm,pics all

diy mechanism for footplate

rear cover made

[duke1]

some more

[duke1]

the last,cheers

[rover220]

might aswell not have a front cover.

[shirley_hkg]

duke , here are your wheels.

Look very nice . Well polished. Bright & shiny .

[Burgerman]

They are actually electro plated. Because polishing with metal polish sees no, or almost no "black" on the cloth. And they dont go dull over time like bare aluminium.

[shirley_hkg]

They are actually electro plated. … . And they don't go dull over time like bare aluminium.

I didn't know that .

[duke1]

duke , here are your wheels.

Look very nice . Well polished. Bright & shiny .

hi shirley they look very nice and i will sure be glad to remove the original horrid solid tyres and throw them where they belong,in the bin!tbh there the only thing stopping me using it regular now as its just so uncomfortable on our lumpy pavements and roads,now all i need to find is some tubeless for front end,cheers

[shirley_hkg]

… … , now all i need to find is some tubeless for front end,cheers

Hi duke , just in case you've missed .
Worth a look here ↣ https://www.wheelchairdriver.com/board/ ... 1&start=30

[duke1]

duke , here are your wheels.

Look very nice . Well polished. Bright & shiny .

hi shirley they look very nice and i will sure be glad to remove the original horrid solid tyres and throw them where they belong,in the bin!tbh there the only thing stopping me using it regular now as its just so uncomfortable on our lumpy pavements and roads,now all i need to find is some tubeless for front end,cheers

hi shirley and all well my new wheels came this morning they look great and im now awaiting the metal for the adapter plates and have to buy a new vice as my old one broke then i got new from screwfix and it broke the first time i used it and they had no replacement!how hard can it be to make a decent vice?idk
anyhow once there fitted i shall get some pics,just a shame we cannot buy these in the uk so god bless our @shirley whom i shall soon be ordering tubeless for the front if there not ugly ones of course!but need to fit 280/250/4 tyre size .then chair be sorted and next trick is lithium build if i can talk tina into it,peace