Archive for the ‘Pimp My Rolli’ Category

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXXII (Competitor)

星期三, 十一月 21st, 2012

At the Rehacare fair I had the world’s lightest wheelchair on my knees, the

Panthera-X carbon fiber wheelchair

of the Swedish company

www.Panthera.se

weighs only 2,1 kilo (4,61 lb) (without wheels).

As light as the wheelchair, as heavy is the price for this wheeler Ferrari . ;-)

Further information e.g. www.aktiv-rollstuhl.de

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks IXL

星期四, 十一月 15th, 2012

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Addendum Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XLVIII

星期四, 十一月 8th, 2012

The wheelchair Segway is not only available from

Gennymobility

(see older blogpost).

Also the German company

www.mobilitycube.de

is constructing one of those models. I think they are affordable, but apart from that I could not report more than what you can see on the website.
 

A wheeler mate has found out some things, I consider his investigations most interesting. However I can’t guarantee for the correctness of the information.
I will call him Informant Segway:

The scooter by Genny shown in the film clip costs laid-back 15950 Euro (net). I have got this information from the Italian headquarter.

A possible alternative is the MobilityCube reconstruction kit based on a Segway. Costs 3.800,00 €!

The customer either brings his own Segway, or we provide a Segway.
The aquisition of a Segway costs new 7.900,00 € and used from Segway 6.600,00 €.

We arrange the individual approval of the technical control association for costs of 385,00 €. Illumination according to road traffic regulations 50,00 €.

Optionally the customers can exchange the original tyres with tyres of the company Axperts. http://www.axperts.de
Usually an extra charge of ca. 420,00 € bis 450,00 € arises…

Thanks to informant Segway for the investigation!!!

Now we only have to convince Santa Claus as sponsor, and the fun can begin. ;-)

Translator BL

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks XLVIII

星期四, 十月 11th, 2012

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXXI

星期一, 六月 4th, 2012

When I was discharged from the hospital in 2008 I got the same wheelchair type which I used already in the hospital, but I had to realize that I could move significantly worse.

I have to mention that even today each 3-year-old leaves me easily behind with his wooden training bike (see older blogpost).

During the last years I have engaged myself intensively with the optimization of my wheelchair and have noticed in doing so that the exact calibration of the steering fork of the front tyres is extremely important. The axes must not be distorted either. This saves a lot of power of which I don’t have much anyway.

The steering forks are adjustable so that one can individually choose the size of the front tyres.

Although this makes sense it has the negative effect though that they could be shifted involuntarily. This happens e.g. when the taxi service fixes the hooks of the tie-down restraints at the forks of the front tyres instead of the wheelchair frame.

Sometimes even a curb is enough, or “qualified“ personnel at the airport to shift the forks.
No matter why, no wheelchair moves straight with crooked steering forks!!!

It can be referred to in each operating manual of the respective wheelchair how to adjust the steering forks.
Have a look at it, extremely interesting…

Such adjustments may only be executed due to insurance reasons by qualified personnel from the medical supply store.

You may have a look, only screw with your eyes…!!!

I have worked out a method, I call it Lucky Wheel, with which anybody can check the steering forks easily with an even wooden board and a stop angle, or a set square from school times. I cannot recommend a supposed even floor.

You put the wheelchair on the wooden board and twist a front tyre in a 90° angle to the wheelchair frame to the outside.
Now you hold the stop angle or the set square right and left to the tyre respectively the board.

If there is between tyre and angle, like my supervisor in my apprenticeship kindly used to say:

There is more light coming through than through a window…, a slot (see below in the picture), the steering fork is shifted, or something else is defective.

This slot could now be closed by rotating the steering fork which has an eccentric on my wheelchair model.

Of course we leave such adjustment tasks to the qualified personnel of the medical supply store…

When this is done after a couple of days you turn the tyre again by 90° for check-up, this time to the inside of the wheelchair, and hold your angle again to it.

 

In this case the aluminium has caved in, two big washers can work miracles (see pictures above).

I would like to point out again that I assume no liability for these check-up possibilities of the steering forks and all related consequences!!!

For any questions please contact: rollinator@eigude.de

Translator BL

 

Happy Easter!

星期六, 四月 7th, 2012

Have fun with your easter-egg hunt…!!!

Technical Aids Tips and Tricks Part XLX

星期四, 三月 22nd, 2012

As a man you have already evolutionary determined a technical gene. What was in Stone Age the then high tech marble stone axe with polished oak wood grip, is today the 60 inch 3D television with Dolby 16:1. The new shooter console is probably more modern than everything what the German army owns, and of course not to forget the refrigerator with WiFi and integrated ice cube dispenser where you can pre-select the shape of the ice cubes directly with the tablet PC from the couch from an individual CAD file.
In the end it is very simple, if the man is not capable to do he calls for technology…!!!
I am not alluding to the bedroom.

Subject today: Golf!!!

Except that I drove a VW Golf for 12 years I didn’t have much to do with the lawn sport of the same name, I was once playing hockey.

If you are not able to stand any more as wheeler the shot at the club house on the golf court can get a bit difficult. The variant that 2 strong caddies lift you up for each shot seems possible, but I think that the guys will slightly flag after the 12th hole. So technology is called again. For this case there is the

Powergolfer!

The Powergolfer is a well motorised, very flexible electric scooter with a stand-up fuction, similar to my standing chair (see older blogpost).

You are buckled up with legs and belly, beamed up until standing, and hits on the innocent golf ball like all the others.

Here the constructor explains in person how this is working.
Unfortunately I could not undergo a self test due to my broken leg not healed yet. I was nevertheless convinced. It is a great technical aid for golfing wheelchair users.

The Powergolfer is also available with small modifications as I call it Powerfisher. However successful draughts of fish cannot be guaranteed.

In the integrated trunk there is enough space for a tool kit, with which the Powergolfer also turns into a wheelchair service vehicle. The hand bar on the side, pimped with a golf ball, is also usable as mounting and repair hammer.

Because of the standing function of the Powergolfer I had to finally surrender after a hard fight in the direct battle with my Minitrac.

On my inquiry if the Powergolfer would also be available with sickle bar I got the answer if I would like to have it… nothing seems impossible!!!

More information and video under www.powergolfer.de

I doubt that the health insurance will cover the acquisition costs of the golf wheelchair, but for next birthday present, why not… ;-)

Translator BL

 

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXX (Competitor)

星期日, 二月 12th, 2012

That standard wheelchairs, snow and sand are not the best friends is not really the insight of the day.

The low budget mountainbike wheelchair tyres
(see older blog post),

constructed by myself are indeed a big relief for me on bad ground conditions, but the small front tyres are for sand and snow by far the worst solution.

Well, with some special skating wheels as front tyres you might be able to illuminate the snow, but you are not moving any faster anyhow.

Actually I don’t understand it, but the engineers at the wheelchair companies don’t seem to know neither snow nor sand. Even after longer consideration I couldn’t think of any country which would not have at least one of it. Probably they live on trees, otherwise there would be adequate summer and winter equipment for each wheelchair as a standard.
Some day I will build in old MacGyver manner out of an inflatable physiotherapy ball and a hand fan a mobile mounting set with which my rolling vehicle turns into a ground-independent hovercraft wheelchair ;-)

Until I get there I continue combing through the technical aids scene to see what the colleagues are developing.

I am living in the city, but last year even my hometown Frankfurt was full of snow.

As formerly alpine skiing obsessed who was skiing with 2 meter skis in the Alps still in 2007 (no carving ski in children’s length) I already thought several times to cut my 2 cellar decoration skis in homeopathic pieces and screw them to my wheelchair instead of the front tyres to be able to leave my flat in last year’s snow chaos.

A seating test in a monoski on a fair was quite nice, and I was extremely surprised how stable I was sitting in it, until I asked my friend behind me if he was standing on the ski?

He said yes, took off his foot, I fell over, and the project monoski was postponed for the time being…!!!

Who was it, a Swiss man…!!!

When I read the post of a wheelchair hotel in Oberstdorf known to me I was immediately impressed.
Patrick Mayer, what a coincidence, a wheeler himself from Switzerland, who certainly has much more test snow than me each year, developed the Wheel Blades.
The

www.wheelblades.ch


are small blades which can be clamped with an iron clip anytime easily (even for quadriplegics) to the front tyres of the wheelchair.
The front tyres remain on the wheelchair!!! The binding is individually adjustable.

There was a real expert at work. Look at the Video,
he rolls down a flat ski-slope with these things on his wheelchair. The envy factor increases, ok I grant it to him.
He has even added slide rails to the blades so that they keep the track on the slope. Excellent, chapeau!!!

The Wheel Blades can be ordered in advance from October 2012, I will do it.
To anticipate anything, they might get paid by the employer’s accident insurance at best, or you have a good lawyer at the social court!!!

I haven’t heard anything yet about test rides in the snow board half pipe, and the snow and waterski suitability still has to be proved ;-)

Translator BL

 

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXVIII Minitrac

星期二, 二月 7th, 2012

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXVII

星期六, 十月 29th, 2011

The instruction of my chief physician to rest my injured leg in an elevated position meanwhile causes sleepless nights for me.

Because the special

rented tank wheelchair

with foldaway footrests is innavigable for me and far too big I am already thinking since the time in hospital how I could realize to mount something on my wheelchair so that I can permanently rest my leg elevated, but also bend it.

I got the tip several times to put a wooden board below my cushion. Everybody who was ever sitting on a rocker knows where that ends.

Yesterday morning I woke up after a leg-elevation nightmare and miraculously I had a foldaway, removable footrest from my tank wheelchair on my everyday wheelchair. Strange things happen…???
I was very much delighted, a miracle, it must have something to do with Halloween.

First active wheelchair oft he world with fixed and foldaway foot rests

 

I would never dare to drill holes into my medical supply store wheelchair. ;-)

Translator BL

 

Technical Aids construction corner :-)

星期二, 十月 25th, 2011

I already mentioned several times that I should rest my broken leg despite orthosis in an elevated position as much as possible.

To rest the leg elevated sitting in my own wheelchair under my desk on a small flower stool turns out to be a little inconvenient, especially when you permanently need something, or the arm is not long enough again…
I refuse the tank wheelchair in my flat (see blogpost below).

The latest “technical aids construct” appears a little clumsy at first sight, but is well thought on and almost ready for series production.

With a Swedish drawer box, the book “Our Wonderful Planet” and a blue pillow of a German coffee roaster a rolling board for flower pots from my stairwell which I coaxed as permanent loan from my neighbour was pimped to the exact positioning height of my leg.

Rolling board

I now put my leg coolly on my rolling board-drawer box and drive comfortably with my wheelchair under the desk.

With a special adaption on the wheelchair my rolling board should also be outdoor suitable. A medical device number has been applied for, and a motorization is currently in the planning phase!

Translator BL

 

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXVI

星期一, 九月 5th, 2011

Especially with the current rainy weather conditions the maintenance of the wheelchair shouldn’t be neglected. The driving wheels get wet, and the axes could rust. According to my opinion the driving wheels should be removed from the wheelchair latest every 4 weeks. Clean the axes with a piece of cloth and lubricate with grease or machine oil. If this is not done regularly the axes can run dry. When these are free of grease

surface rust

could be generated on the axes, which could be stuck to such an extent that the wheels might not be separated from the wheelchair any more.

If this dark brown film is already on the axes it shouldbe removed from the axes, otherwise it could bring the greatest difficulties the next time when the wheels should be put on or pulled off the wheelchair.

The dark brown film can be removed with a knife, steel brush or best with emery paper.

When the axes are blank again, oil or grease them anew, and the wheelchair is fit again.

As you can see from the picture this happened to me as well!

Translator BL

 

Testbericht neuartiges Rolli-Lenksystem

星期三, 八月 24th, 2011

对不起,此内容只适用于Deutsch

Chock Part IIX

星期一, 七月 25th, 2011

对不起,此内容只适用于EnglishDeutsch

Wheelchair Tuning Part XXV (Competitor)

星期四, 六月 9th, 2011

I don’t want to keep the beach wheelchairs back from you 8-)

I think the Sopur wheelchair for children is awesome. A good pusher is a must.