OT disableds garden kart

holescreek
[QUOTEI would like to come up with a design to make a yard/gardening "cart" for my wife. She's confined to a wheelchair but able to drive with hand controls. The ideal system would be electric, low to the ground, and have a swivel seat and plenty of leg clearance so she could swing around when she pulled up to the garden (no steering column). ] [/QUOTE]
I've been thinking about this. How about making some little caterpillar treads? A gear reduction from the wheelchair motors to the treads so it would go really slow and have a lot of power. you'd probably have to use chains, belts would slip. YOU could make it as lo as you want, no steering column.

How about an old "zero" radius lawn mower as a base.
Shortened, narrowed, etc.
Convert to elect. drive. The have steering levers.

OR for a home brew, I would stick with wheels,makes life much simpler.
Maybe a Go-Cart basic frame.
EIther use a diff. or drive one wheel

Greyhawk,

I guess you noticed that I figured out that I started to take the Go Cart thread a little off topic by switching to wheelchairs!

I really liked Matt's idea using mountain bike tires with a lowered frame. It just shouts stability. I've always wanted to make somthing with tank-type treads but it isn't very practicle considering the toughest thing she'll have to negotiate are tree roots.

One major issue to consider is transfer height from the chair into the cart. If it isn't close to even within say 6-8", she'd need help. After giving it some thought, electric wheelchair motors and controlers on the rear wheels would provide steering and braking control, and the front wheel could swivel. It might be best to use a 20" bike tire in the front and wide lawn tires in the rear just for traction and ability to cross the roots (not that there are a lot of roots, just the worse case scenario I can think of).

Another addition would be a power swivel seat that could run off of the WC battery. We have one on her driver' seat in her van.

As I said in the other thread, it is the electronic part I know little about. Thoughts? -Mike

Here's a tracked off-road wheelchair: http://www.tankchair.com/about.htm .

If you're concerned about the electronics, why not start with a electric wheelchair or an electric golfcart. Both will have the proper motor controller, batteries, controls, etc... already engineered and installed. You can take the drivelines out of either and mount on your own chassis.

I'm involved in an electric vehicle project right now, building a transplanter for use in a greenhouse and can attest to the fact that if you're not up to speed on DC motors and controllers DIY electric vehicles can be a real pain in the you know what.

If you want her to be able to transfer from the chair to the "Garden Buggy", how about a scissor lift on the buggy? It could match the chairs height and then drop down so she could be at a better working level. And a lower c.g. would be more stable.

Holescreek, I've been sketching out a cart like that for several years now. Just never made it happen. In short here's my plan, standard electric chair, cut and extend frame to allow go-kart seating position, swivel front wheels wide tires, rears would be 12 x4 turf tires.
My current chair is electric with 12 x 2.5 rear and 5.5 x 1.5 in front. It goes in the grass fine as is, sometimes I will get stuck when the front wheels sink in soft soil. I would never take this chair into anything softer than a lawn. An electric chair weights just over 225 lbs empty. In my chair I can replace sprinkler heads. There is nothing to be concerned about in tipping over, at least on relativitly flat ground. To transfer I would built a ramp and platform, park the low rider on the platform and transfer straight across, That is what I do to ride an ATV. Please email me direct with any questions you might have.

my wheels don't slow me down

I`m in a chair most of the time.If you are in a suburban situation it may be an option to create raised gardens. My vegetablegardens are 1m wide by .6m high and one other is .8m x .25m high. The taller ones are more accessible. I`m lucky in that I have a concrete path that runs the length of the taller garden.The lower one is accessed via the lawn.They are easy to reach from a standard wheelchair.
If your wife has good use of her arms perhaps a manual chair to keep her fitness level as high as possible. If not, and to keep things as simple as possible,how about fitting large (21") drive wheels to an electric chair with larger steer wheels. Using a gear reduction box for better speed control?
Perhaps creating hard packed pathways for access to the gardens.
You are probably well aware of gardening utensils designed for the disabled?
My 2c.

Ken

The tankchair was really cool. My wife watched all of the video clips with me and thought so too. She wanted to know how someone with a disability could get up into it and back out without furthering their injury!?

The scissor lift is also a great idea. If I could find an electric wheelchair at a reasonable cost (my wife says "yeah right") I believe I could start working up some layouts. She spends 95 percent of her time in a manual chair because it is easier to maneuver inside the house. She has a power chair for longer "trips" outdoors but it is very large and sits up too high to reach anything in the garden. It even stays parked in the garage.

She has been in a chair for about 13 years and just retired last June in her mid 40's. I have been trying to make her as independant as possible with regards to daily activities since I'll be working nights for the next 20 years or more.

I think I may have found my "summer project"! -Mike