dukes fun powerchair builds

duke · Post by **duke** » Wed Sep 29, 2021 8:59 pm

hi all well i had a little bit of good luck yesterday and managed to find a nice pair of tyres for my tinas winter use powerchair i built for her,less than £25 quid the pair

nice tread pattern and 4 ply instead of 2 ply as they tougher,still low pressure just 4psi for comfort,next trick is getting the old ones off the rim as they held tight with continental tyre cement!

looking forward to a play in the mud tbh

Rassensi · Post by **Rassensi** » Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:22 pm

This is brilliant @duke hats off to you I might just need one soon enough myself if I’m honest don’t think this back will last much longer

duke · Post by **duke** » Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:37 pm

Rassensi wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:22 pm
This is brilliant @duke hats off to you I might just need one soon enough myself if I’m honest don’t think this back will last much longer

hi rass iwe both use the chairs daily tina has spinal stenosis and dodgy hips and could not get a correct chair via nhs wcs so after 3 useless prescribed chairs got sent back one after the other i decided the only route to a usable safe chair was to build it myself,lucky as my very first proper fulltime job was building wheelchairs though they have changed a little so had to learn to hack the crappy nanny state program and rewrite it to remove all the delays and give quick precise steering 0-8mph is faster than an average small car!
im working on a 48volt using a robotech control system which will make a 8 mph chair into a 16 mph chair but having trouble with the program

being new to this stuff it is hard going and gives me a headache but worth it in the end,who wants a nhs 4 mph deathtrap with stupid delays and oil tanker steering

not for me or my tina,ever tried crossing a busy road in one?

if you ever need a chair pm me and i sort you,cheers

Rassensi · Post by **Rassensi** » Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:47 pm

duke wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:37 pm

Rassensi wrote: ↑
Wed Sep 29, 2021 9:22 pm
This is brilliant @duke hats off to you I might just need one soon enough myself if I’m honest don’t think this back will last much longer
hi rass iwe both use the chairs daily tina has spinal stenosis and dodgy hips and could not get a correct chair via nhs wcs so after 3 useless prescribed chairs got sent back one after the other i decided the only route to a usable safe chair was to build it myself,lucky as my very first proper fulltime job was building wheelchairs though they have changed a little so had to learn to hack the crappy nanny state program and rewrite it to remove all the delays and give quick precise steering 0-8mph is faster than an average small car!
im working on a 48volt using a robotech control system which will make a 8 mph chair into a 16 mph chair but having trouble with the program being new to this stuff it is hard going and gives me a headache but worth it in the end,who wants a nhs 4 mph deathtrap with stupid delays and oil tanker steering not for me or my tina,ever tried crossing a busy road in one?
if you ever need a chair pm me and i sort you,cheers

That’s a very kind offer and one I might very well take you up on one day duke I’ve never used them my self but it’s getting to a point where I’m not leaving the house for days on end sometimes weeks and the wife wonders why I’ve retreated into my self

one moment sticks with every time I cross the road tho I was of to meet my oldest from school few years back and as I’ve gone to cross sound looked round and nothing coming soon as I hit the middle of the road some dickhead came over the brow of the hill doing about 70mph I tried to run out the way and collapsed nearly falling in the road safe to say my life flashed that day and he worst think is if I had been hit my kid would of walked right into the mess of it all I don’t try running anywhere now

Edit forgot to add I’m only 39

Finchmad_79 · Post by **Finchmad_79** » Thu Sep 30, 2021 12:53 am

Hats off to you @duke.

Some brilliant designs and ideas you have incorporated.

I know what you mean about wheelchair services, they're as much use as a wet paper bag. My wheelchair is the most uncomfortable thing I have plonked my ass on. I applied for a powered chair but they refused me because my driving licence had been revoked because of my condition.

Keep up the good work. Is there not a market for custom chairs?

duke · Post by **duke** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:06 pm

hi all just thought id post some pics of the ^mudmonster" powerchair i built for my tina its taken me 2 days hardwork but i managed eventually to remove the bald rear tyres being tubeless there very hard for a one handed person to do so i thought id be smart and take them to a local tyre fitters,well it seems for some reason they are not allowed to fit tyres to a quad wheel even when i told them its for 65 year old lady and her only mobility they refused!
so annoyed as hell i have struggled ,hurt my thumb the nail is now a pretty purple colour and hurts like hell

also have nice cut/bruised knuckle but i bloody did it!getting the buggers to reinflate was fun with only a smallish electric pump as because of all the morons panic buying fuel the chances of getting to the air pump in there was zero!
anyhow there done and tested this evening and grip is good and still comfy as there low pressure tyres just 4 psi so act like balloons and cushion better than shocks on a chair.
so shes all set for the winter,next job is antifreeze the volvo.

MrNice · Post by **MrNice** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:00 pm

lol great sticker .............on an adventure before dementia

love it

MrNice · Post by **MrNice** » Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:01 pm

nice fat tyres

Finchmad_79 · Post by **Finchmad_79** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:27 am

These remind me of the Top Gear episode where Jeremy and Co build powered off-road chairs and go up against some military vets.

duke · Post by **duke** » Thu Feb 03, 2022 5:01 pm

HI ALL,well my diy built from used parts powerchair is sounding very ill from the right motor and im unable to buy new due to the mad cost so for first time for me im asking the nhs wheelchair service for help.
i have done so for my tina and after a long battle where i had to teach them the rules they are meant to use when a person deemed entitled to help with an nhs prescribed powerchair asks for what is called a personal wheelchair budget.
something the local wcs denied even existed when i first asked for my tina,well after much emailing and sending of there own documents outlining the process for them we got what would be the cost of nhs prescription 4mph basic powerchair to choose her own powerchair from a list of approved vendors,
meaning now instead of a horrid 4mph chair with solid tyres zero suspension and a huge list of horridness i shall not bore you with she got to buy a 6mph chair with all the bits for comfort like proper air filled tyres and dead comfy seat with tilt and recline etc and ideal size for her (all 3 nhs chairs was sent back for being too tall for her) so better but not a true personal wheelchair budget if your told where you have to buy from?
so this time im applying for me and will be demanding a personal wheelchair budget by direct payment not via one of there listed vendors and by building my own casefile self assessment proving i can build better and more suitable chair for the same money whilst showing all the reasons there nhs chair is unsuitable for me and my lifestyle and how being limited to pavement and 4mph is dangerous here as pavements like the lunar landscape and the 4mph is not roadworthy,you get the picture ?
theres a chap on another forum has such a pwb every 3 years and builds his own chairs real life range of 80+ miles using lithium phosphate batteries he builds and they last 10 years,i could do that

so im going to be the first person in my area to get a direct payment personal wheelchair budget,see if i dont!!!!
i can be very persistent and reckon the poor dude from wcs will have a nervous breakdown seeing my name on the form!