project ATC(all terrain chair)

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it should be noted that the slide out from narrow to wide was VERY easy....untill it bound up on the left side, but a jack under the batterybox post and it was free .....so im going to call that a win..it has no "feel" of slop when shaking the rig
i still need to track down some smallish d-rings for pulling and tiedowning and weld them in...weld some caps to some tubes and weld a few nuts in place..but thats really all thats left of welding....except maybe a switch panel for lights n such

ive got a good bit of cleanup in front of me, if all goes well i may atleast make some bodywork covering for the front battery box and some of the seat subframe...will see

 

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gut it!

the last fabrication weld has been laid, the final cuts have been made.

whipped up the tail battery box..nothing special but will do the job
bobbed 10 or so inches off the frame rails

the ONLY welding remaining is a few bits that were not reachable(insides of shock mounts), some rail caps and some misc cleanup n finishing...but otherwise the fab works done...time to inspect and do cleanup, which means taking it to the bones

 

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not much to see...or so i thought

so i plugged the rails, and also added D-rings...took me a while to actualy track down small ones...d rings added at both rear rail caps as well as both front rail ends prior to the 90 out for the caster..IE the highest strength points should it need to be "pulled" or towed....but also for tieing down

ALL welding is completed, short of possibly adding "tabs" for tail lights or headlights or bodywork, but i think ill just drill n tap for that stuff

 

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every lil thing

spent the last few days grinding smoothing rounding etc, wire wheeling to start on the welds, 36 grit for anything rough, all corners smoothed and rounded IE no sharp edges, 80grit chaser, follower by die grinder blending disc (tan) ...everythings smooth and clean
fully dissasembled the power seat unit as its getting a coat of ppg dar9k
...so...anything small enough to fit in the blasting cab has been cycling thru...ive got 1 more batch to do...my should everything go as planned plan is to prime EVERYTHING mid day tommaro if that fails i WILL prime wensday, i want to be laying paint before the weekend

 

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prep, prep....more prep...oh hey you forgot the foot rest, more blasting, more prep, hey you forgot the control stick rod...damnit stop finding misc crap you forgot

so yeah 6 hours of prep...between the blasting of misc forgotten bits, to the full inspect, full wipe down of EVERYTHING in laqure thinner, setting up cardboard wiping it down, laying everything out, hanging the rest.....followed by digging out a vintage unopened can of epoxy primer from 04, and a quick first coat over everything

 

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no sense shooting pics of another coat of primer and a coat on the flip side of everything.....

EVERYTHING is epoxy primed and ready for a scuff n shoot tommaro.....tho im having issues figuring out what needs to be what color....im shooting for "vintage" 80s honda
ive got some vinateg 90s viper red ppg, dar9k black, and mack truck silver...ive got other colors but nothing aplicable

the plan right now is all "small" brackets and such will be black, main frame red, swing arms silver, hubs red, battery trays black, then you get down to things like do you go silver, red, or black on the "fork" casters....my gut says silver to mimic actual forks tho red seems just as plausable , then youve got seat pan...black for some contrast with red arm rest sides to be cappe with black/blue vynle with black plastic side panels


the general color scheeme is a cross between late 70s when honda went red, 80s xr/xls and z-50's

if theres any wonder about the colors..the EXACT color and paint i used on this lil 90's z50 that ive spent years slowly gathering bits to finish turning it into a "what if" honda had made an 80s XR50 to actualy look like a big boys bike....heres a shot of it hours after id rebuilt it, rezinc'ed all the hardware, i took some libertys on tweaking the layout of paint to taste on it...

 

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SHIT HAPPENS

ya know...i know better than to use bungie cords for anything...they fail at the worst times.....zipties are safer...yeah i knew better but i rushed to find something to hang it with..i fucked up

so the sub frame fell and bent the front slide tube, and i spent a good hour fixing it, then spot priming..it took a good bit of rash just hitting the floor

scuffed EVERYTHING in prep for color, then laid up what was going to be red, and sorted and set aside the rest

 

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RED DOWN

this 20+ year old viper red may as well be made of the blood of your enemys...get some on you and youll WEAR IT off...layed out 2 coats then came back for a 3rd coat on the frames as i didnt like the way it laid up

to be clear this is the red of red's, and any deviation is the camera, your eyes, screen etc, its actualy hard to capture correct color of it in direct light

 

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1 togo

silvers laid mostly cured, not much to see, but i figured id toss some insight out there, so, on an 80s honda...whats silver?...or..whats polished aluminum?.....handlebars, some bracketry, forks, swingarms, etc

with that in mind i got looking at the parts pile, and thought about what would constitute "handle bars", "forks" and swingarms, after that i thought about what kind of brackets "should" be silver......on teh subject of handle bars, adjustable arm rest frames seemed like "handlebars" as well as the rear grab bars, seat pan since most cases they are white plastic, forks obviously the caster, swingarms..check, leg rest extensions....technicaly would be foot controls so aluminum and black..well the bases are black plastic, so the adjustable rods went silver as well

a lil hope and the colors wont look "out of place"...i did some accent color work with some of the misc bracketry...will see how it plays out

couple shots of the silver while curing...also spent some time cleaning and polishing the tires n wheels as well as "white lettering" the tires

 

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olderigetfasteriam said: ↑

My wife uses a power chair, just got a new one recently. We are watching this thread intently and appreciate your updates. Also, it is not easy being a sole caregiver. You have gone above and beyond. Well done.

for 32 years......its NOT easy

i will admit theres a few "tweaks" i would have done on this build if i were to do it again, but im kinda going for the overkill as i dont want it to be "hard pack" dependent..or anything like that, the adjustable length and width is kinda moot point but i wanted it to "kinda" fit ok on sidewalks, and into "wide" door frames, its not intended to go "indoors" but i felt the need to make it semi possible, the adjustable length now just seems silly, but i figure for trailer space and storeing it it might be usefull

all said i think for stability sake i basicly nailed it, with all that battery weight slung low, the big tires, the wide track and length this thing should be more stable than a quad, and smoother than a sport one at the very least....the only down side is a lack of front suspension...which....if i would have maybe swing armed the Z section of the frame it could have had suspension..its just impossible to know how the casters would take that kind of angle changes

had it not been built as an xmas present i would have taken direct measurements off of her so i could have tweaked seat position and angle to the points where she feels "neutral" and then built around that as it would have likely allowed for a lower seating position and possibly further forward...i potentialy could have done alot of minor tweaks on the fly, but at the same time.....its built to suit ANYONE at this point, even with her right leg gone from the cancer i still blasted cleaned and painted the entire right leg rest as well

if "sand" wasnt high up on the menu of things i want it to do...since shes not been on the beach since the summer of 88 the quad fronts were basicly a requirement in my head..tho i do belive one could get away with honda z-50 tires n wheels, heck swap the tires out for snow blower tires(same wheel size) and youve have some gnarly fronts that arent as wide/tall on a more common axle size which cuts down a load of issues in itself, everything from frame angle a lack of needing to z the frame the forks shrink a ton...it takes soo many issues out of the build it puts it more inline of being "easy"

"if" you want to build one..or want someone to buiild one let me know...luke did a full cad for me of a bunch of stuff for 2d cnc...and the one thing anyone wanting to do this would need would be the adaptor plate to come off the wheelchair hub drive to a quad wheel which i have saved at sendcutsend....heck with that alone you could toss quad rears on the back of pretty much any chair out there.......and it wouldnt take much to throw z50's on the front..just some new caster frames and slide the seat forward to clear em...cant vouch for stability tho


all of the "small parts" have been cleaned, the blacks been multi coated, the remaining parts too clean are the motors and gear boxes and electronitcs...otherwise its just a wait for more cure time and then onto assembly

so..tommaro or monday ill finish up the cleaning..looking to assemble tuesday..i need to hit the honda shop and see if they have any honda decals

 

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black got done lastnight, cured mostly so brought in the house for overnight temp maintinance

all of the "washable" plastics got scrubbed as well second to last pic

what you see on the lift is what remains to be cleaned IE last pic..and yes the brake rotors are getting clear coated and going back on simply for "detail" in an otherwise empty hub

 

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its...ASSEMBLY DAY

pics tonight or tommaro morning..unsure, will see how deep i get as EVERYTHING is getting waxed prior to assembly, should mean it will basicly be a rinse and walk away after its done


the layup

pile of cleaned stuffs, followed by spacers a fellow inmate made for me lastnight for both caster/hubs and a spacer to replace the one i was missing for one of the shocks
lots of cleanup and layup, prep for waxing, followed by a ton of wax time

 

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i hate how some shots get "pinked" out...no clue to the why

so i had got some door protector film, seemed like a great idea for the slide tubes, however........it failed almost instantly and was bunching up tearing and just..yeah no...off it came, the glue on it was garbage and the thickness a lil too thick to keep a smooth slide...so...scratches be damned

FULL parts layup...thats EVERYTHING in those shots

 

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slow, methodical assembly, and yes..its HEAVY, each bare side rail is 30-40lbs(i dont fullly trust the scale)

swingarms in, shocks in casters and bearings in....im short some washersfor the swingarm end of the shocks..so added em to the short list of pickup tommaro

 

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seat risers, seat hinge plate, brain, front seat lift mount, caster caps in

being carefull is slow going....... but this fresh of paint requires extra care

 

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more layup prep work mostly of the plastic bits, paint removal and reassembly of the hub drives, lots of misc sub assembly work, bearings seals n spacers in the hubs, seat base frame assembled, arm rest bases, found 8 more missing bolts for the seat hinge assy so called it a night and added them to the list,

for color clarification, in the last pic, the hub on the left is of unknown year honda quad, dirty and abused, right is the fresh painted one, the color shows more off in the pic than it does in person...the biggest differance is the "depth" of color on the new paint

 

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sorry about the lack of update guys

however.....

as i write this, aside from some "light" wiring its as done as its going to get for xmas.....and i do mean LIGHTS

on with the show

wheel and motor assy going together....alot more chasing down more stainless hardware..every time i felt like i had everything i either had the wrong length or something wonky......

 

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front end all bolted down, spins as it should move nice, deflection testing was done and..yeah...ZERO deflection beyond the rubber itself, the spacers pulled it all together tight and square...THANKS LUKE!

lemmy state..this sumbitch is HEAVY....and quickly was becomeing akward to move and assemble with care

could that honda decal i picked up at the local honda shop be a more perfect fit?!?!?!?!

 

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seat assy begins....and this is super akward as you kinda need 2 ppl to do it, i made do

i had to move the whole rig on the lift as things were getting off center, which showed me one of the rear hubs was "stuck"..it seems i didnt relief the hub lock for paint and adapter center bore...off they both came, and i added 2 small holes into both locks so a simple pick tool can get in there and unlock them....rolls stupid easy with the locks off AND the motor locks off

see wheelchairs have a lock on the motor assy that engages clutches, older units had hub locks, haveing both means if anything drags on freewheel the other one will take up the slack...so...i have super smooth action, the biggest issue tho is that the motor clutches even off is like pushing a bike while in gear, holding the clutch open...that heavy drag fealing you get on some bikes..yeah you get the idea

 

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rear wheels going on

unlike the front i had to drag the jack back out and lift lift lift, all buttoned down...still dissapointed i couldnt use the enclosed lug nuts on the rear like i did the front...studs are too long and for some reason i dont want to cut them down

1 honda decal in place.....looks at home there almost radio flyer feel to its position too