A few have been asking where I’ve been, and while I’m still around pretty much every day, I don’t post or comment near as much. Been busy busy lol. Some already know I have been making 3D printed wheel chairs. Here are a few pics of the 26 or so we have built so far…
Beyond just building chairs, I also lead the admin team for the 3d-mobility.org website which eats up a TON of time, but I love it.
NOW for the main reason of posting here today!
Together with a few people from MakeGood, and a MASSIVE help from our very own @vicious1, we are very close to releasing the redesigned CNC Plywood TMT!!!
This chair is designed to be a mix of CNC Plywood and 3D printing. But MUCH less printing than with the current 3DTMT. And goes together much faster! Ryan is still making some tweaks in the CAD, so what you see in my prototype pics are slightly different. But still very close.
Close enough now that we are looking to see if anyone is interested in being a beta tester?? Still working out the details of how exactly it will go. Will be limited slots, but please post up if you are interested and have a little time & 3D printer that you can devote to the project.
Please post up any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them!
This is a project that you should be able to give away to a fairly local family when you are done, and help to make this as easy as possible for all future builders.
This is a huge project and well thought out sytem for connecting makers and families. The CNC side is not set up yet until we prove it out a little more. This is very global.
The current printed chairs take more than a hundred of hours of printing(~145+ hours)…the CNC version takes less than an hour to cut and a whole lot less printed parts. On top of that they are lighter. Families need chairs, we can help to get them in more hands, faster, easier, and cheaper.
I am beyond excited to help Jonathan and Makegood on this project. I dropped what I was doing (zenxy, and LR5 R&D) to work on this. We just need to make sure this goes together smooth, the files work, and possible refinements before MakeGood releases the files globally.
(Personally interested. Was pushing my aunt’s wheelchair yesterday, no suspension (rough af ride), no leds, no spinners, no ppf/vinyl wrap, no retroreflective, really sucked).
Yeah these are a little hard to wrap my head around at first. Super basic, as low cost as possible. The idea is just to get the toddlers their own set of wheels to learn on while they are growing fast. The fun part is adding 3D-printed accessories. (Right now I am working on add-on attachment points).
Oh and these things are tiny!!!
I can’t wait to see some of these with custom paint jobs and covered in stickers.
I’d definitely like to help out, though there is not much (or nearly none) demand in Germany. Seems our healthcare is doing okay, but the British Isles need some help.
That should be more than enough, Might encounter a little more waste but not terrible. One of the guys on the admin team also has a 2x4 CNC and is planning to cut one out early this week possibly
@azab2c these she just showed are v1 parts. v2 is looking a little different but still great! Ryan’s design for that front adjustable footrest still amazes me!!!
I looked at the printer files from one of your earlier posts and saw that there are parts that are too large for my 3D printer. Does the new CNC - 3D printed version have smaller parts that will fit on a 220mm X 220mm printer?
This looks like a great way to use the LR4 to help out kids with mobility needs.
You would be able to print the wheel in 1/4 sections. I don’t think you would be able to do the push handle but that’s not a have to part. The mount for it you could and there are ways for the families to purchase the handle from MakeGood.
Another thing that can be done with our system is you can team up with another local maker and they print the parts you aren’t able to print, or even all of them and you get the parts from them, or give them the CNC cut parts and work together as co-builders. We have groups that do that now for just the printed parts and it works well.
My plan is for everyone that does the beta, sign up to be a maker, and we will upload the beta builds as what we call independant builds. Then when all done and we are approved to release these to the wild, I can help everyone find families to donate these to. From there its a simple click to link the independant build to a requested family in the system.
