Thread: r.c. wheel chair

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hey gals and ghouls.
while searching for things i couldn't afford on kijiji (fav. past time)
i came across this old wheel chair.


with a few back and forth emails i think i've sealed the deal at $60 (canadian)
not the best deal for a ratty old wheel chair, but i do have a 1/2 assed plan of attack. (i'm hoping thats where you fit in)

i'm thinking, one old wheelchair, one fake skeleton, 2 electric motors,2 batteries, 2 speed controls and transmitter, radio, leds,ipod and speakers,would make for one killa r.c. halloween prop.

one motor/friction wheel for each of the larger wheels and i'll be able to control it like a tank. (speed control for each motor)

thats about as far as my limited r.c. skills will take me.lol
was hoping you guys could shed some light on large enough,cheap (forward/reverse) motors,batteries, speed control /transmitters that will control them.

the chair will be lighter than a battle bot or car (on mythbusters) so i know its not impossible.
any help would be greatly apprciated.

Nice score that wheel chair is awesome! Looks do be in great shape 2.

I don't really have any input on your questions but I can say....

I'M SO JEALOUS!!! OMG I want it bad!! LOL

Keep us posted on what you do with it.

First lets consider how fast you want it to go. So lets say you want it to go at a slow walking pace. 2 MPH. That is a rate of 10560 ft per hour. Or just under 3 ft per second. So that is 36 inches per second. If you use a friction wheel on a motor that is 1" in diameter, then each revolution will give you 3.18 inches of travel. Lets just round up to 3.2 inches. So 3.2 into 36 is about 11. So your motor needs to have an rpm of around 700 rpm. If you drop down on the size of the drive wheel you can use a higher rpm motor. As far as speed controls. I think you can find what you need here. http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/777

If you can live with just controlling like a tank, then you could use two small servos and some switches. But you may be able to use the smaller speed control that pololu offers which is only 60 bucks. Need to keep the amp load under 2.5 amps though. Which could be a challenge. Especially with the weight of the wheelchair and the bucky. Better to spend the extra 40 bucks and have plenty of amps available. Polulo has motors too. But you may be able to find something on ebay. If you cut your drive wheel to 1/2 inch you can use a motor that has around 1500 RPM. This motor would work well with a 1 1/2 inch drive roller.
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1102

So Motors and controller is about $150 bucks. Plus the RC. Oh and the controller has a third unidirectional channel for a third motor. Maybe have the bucky do something like lean back and forth in the chair. You could do that with just a cam on the motor. Oh and I have another idea for you. Make his hands look like they are grasping the wheels, you could put a metal plate in his palm and mount magnets on the wheel near the rim. That way his hands would follow the magnet and then drop back until the next magnet comes by. This would work in forward and reverse. Now that would look very cool. You could use some piano wire to support his hands from down below. But the wire would still let his hand move. In fact you could put the metal plate on the wire and mount the magnets a bit further down.

icyuod2- absolutely BEAUTIFUL chair!!!!! Love it!!! Saw a similiar wheelchair here at a thrift store... for $95. You got a great deal on an awesome chair!!!!

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/store.html


this is a good site that has everything that you should need, including not to bad of pricing on batteries, speed controllers, and motors, plus other options for connecting motors to it, suck as sprockets or belts.

I dont see a ratty old wheelchair at all... That is golden with the right prop in it. Id do a full on corpsed out skelly in a old rotted outfit. Cover the whole thing in good looking cobwebs... maybe place a nasty old vintage blanket and a book in the lap, you'd have a new family member. (That chrome bar i'd wrap with something grungy though)

I think the chrome bar is aftermarket. Looks like it is screwed onto the back of the chair. I say lose it. It is totally not right for the period theme of that chair. Your idea of the corpse bucky is cool. Like an old granny.

personally after you finish this project i would drive it up to the nearest nursing home im sure everyone would get a kick out of that....

Originally Posted by chop shop

I dont see a ratty old wheelchair at all... That is golden with the right prop in it. Id do a full on corpsed out skelly in a old rotted outfit. Cover the whole thing in good looking cobwebs... maybe place a nasty old vintage blanket and a book in the lap, you'd have a new family member. (That chrome bar i'd wrap with something grungy though)

that is exactly the plan!

thx for all the great idea's andlinks guys.

i picked up the chair, it rocks!
i haven't corpsed bucky yet but i did have an old rotted out suit on hand
(ripped,tattered and covered in shelac and wood stain for juicey skelly stains)

i'm pretty sure i can mount all the electronic's/ motor etc in a box under the seat.
this should allow me to maintain the chairs integrety.
well here it is, pre corpsed pre r.c.





the tires are a little rough, but it rolls around super easy.
we had a late xmas family gathering this weekend and my little nephew(18 months) wheeled that sucker around for 2 days.

he'd point to the basement door and in the cutest little voice he'd say........
"monsta?", (like it was a question) then off he'd go, sliding on his butt, down the stairs into the dark.

yup he must be related to me.