I'm building a chair on casters for my handicapped daughter to dance in at her weddin

[drivesitfar]

ALL: i'm destined to build this chair on casters for my daughter out of wood cause steel would be too heavy and i don't have the welding skills (yet). i have some aluminum i might be able to cut and bolt a frame together so keep that in mind.

my daughter has SPINA BIFIDA and is 26 and been in a wheelchair going 100 MPH for the last 25 years now. I think she has maybe gone through maybe 10 or more pairs of wheels and a few chairs because she doen't have the words CAN'T DO in her mind.

so here's my challenges. she is getting married next month to a great young man that is in the ARMY and is plenty strong enough to carry her, but she would like to dance at their wedding in her cool dress and not have any wheels from either her wheelchair or her basketball wheelchair ruining it or causing problems.

so the plan i think is to build a base with maybe 6 or 8 casters cause i definitely don't want it to tip or fall over. then i need to build up a platform with a seat to fit her wheelchair padded seat and maybe a short back on the chair for support.

anybody built or have an idea how to build one? i was just given this project which of course needs to be done yesterday so her wedding dress can be altered so she can be married on this elevated chair on wheels and dance and visit all night long. and maybe use the chair in the future so would be nice if it could be broken down to fit in a trunk.

thanks in advance and i'll post up pictures of what i'm making if nobody has any ideas.

EDIT: it's sort of a bar stool on a platform with casters and a seat with a short back on it. here's a few pictures of a sort of mock up if you will and just figuring how to make it with 5 casters, foot rest and not top heavy.

my daughter is 5'8 and about 135 for all you engineers and designers.

 

[Youngguns]

Are you talking about a stool (wih wheels)? Or kinda like a computer chair? Is there anything wrong with these? Could they be modified to work? Does it need to be pretty?

 

[1/2 Cup]

drives, let me put in some thought on that one..

I for one will follow up with your progress..

Regards

 

[cvairwerks]

Dress question first...Tailored for a close fit around her legs or flowing and billowing skirt with train? It makes a big difference in how you do some things..

 

[drivesitfar]

Young: we actually found a sort of office or shop chair at Costco that i might attach to a base, but thinking i could make it more solid if i made the entire chair. PRETTY ISN'T necessary and function and safety is everything. her dress and her smile will amaze anybody that sees her and the stand will be covered cause the wedding dress will be altered to fit to barely be above the floor so even the wheels might not show. thanks for stopping in to help.

1/2: you've got a lot on your plate, but if you need a break from the engine and rodents i'd love to hear what you might have to say.

ALL: i'll try to get some pictures if i can find any to post, but honestly we are creating something that these poor handicapped kids have never had available. i'm not looking to patent it, but i'd sure like to make my daughter and wife smile and maybe help other dad's or kids (or adults) out when they need something like this.

cheers and HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

[drivesitfar]

CV: wedding dress would be covering the stand so yes billowing and more like the old school ones that maybe were held out with wires. (no train). the dress will be covering the entire chair and altered to maybe a half inch or inch from the floor. sort of worried about dress getting hung up in casters so probably will have base out a few inches beyond casters. didn't want the base too big so my daughter's new hubby can get in there close.

ALL: if you have questions ask and if you have ideas or pictures please post. when my wife first proposed this to me i was hoping there would be some sort of example to maybe copy from or get an idea.

would 4 casters be enough not to tip? that's why i'm thinking 6 and i have 8 inch casters and 2, 4 and 6 inch ones probably too. one of my furniture dollies has 3 inch casters that doesn't move real well so i'll try to get all of my casters in a pile and take a few pictures. or i can buy some if there is maybe some new ones out there that are better than the old ones i have laying around.

 

[Slednut]

How large of a base? If you want 8 casters are you thinking an octagon with a caster at each point?

Sorry drives, I was on the phone mid post and didn't see your last two replies.

 

[drivesitfar]

Sled: i hadn't thought of 8 casters, but if better than 6 and a lot better than 4 i'm open to the idea. here's a dolly i own and my wife likes the insets so the groom can step in closer.

thanks for stopping in and helping and if you have any ideas how to make a chair attached to the base either with wood or aluminum tubing let me know. remember i'm bolting and not welding cause i don't have the skills yet to weld.

All: as mentioned above Mrs. Drives likes this sort of dolly (or base's design). of course with more casters I'll have to make something a bit different.

 

[Slednut]

How smooth is the floor going to be, I put my shop stool (which would be way too high) on top of a dolly I made a while back and it's a lot more stable than I thought.

 

[drivesitfar]

Sled: great picture and sort of what i have in mind. there is carpet all around a 20x20 foot dance floor so a little bit more of a challenge.

thanks again

ALL: i have plenty of wood laying around here cause I am about to build a fence and it's not all cedar. also i have 3/4 and 1.125 inch plywood so thinking a 1.125 inch plywood base would be plenty enough to hold the casters or should i put maybe a 1x4 under the 1.125 where the casters mount? bolt through?

how about sort of interior dovetail joints or should i just screw or bolt to the edge of the base?

thanks everybody and here's a picture of the bride to be maybe 6 years ago with her brother (twin) and her older sister.

 

[cvairwerks]

Good on the taloring. You will want to form a ring a couple of inches high that surrounds the casters on the outside to help keep the hem out of them....
Something built in this style would probably work well. It has a low back and provides some side support and you could close form it to fit her.
www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/prod...KXBV9yX6gyOE7A3mo210yVQE8ES5XGZvyRhoCjGDw_wcB

 

[1/2 Cup]

Sled: i hadn't thought of 8 casters, but if better than 6 and a lot better than 4 i'm open to the idea. here's a dolly i own and my wife likes the insets so the groom can step in closer.

thanks for stopping in and helping and if you have any ideas how to make a chair attached to the base either with wood or aluminum tubing let me know. remember i'm bolting and not welding cause i don't have the skills yet to weld.

All: as mentioned above Mrs. Drives likes this sort of dolly (or base's design). of course with more casters I'll have to make something a bit different.

drives, you could get some threaded tube inserts for the chair legs then bolt them through your dolly.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...+inserts&qpvt=threaded+tube+inserts&FORM=IGRE

 

[drivesitfar]

CV: i showed my wife a barber chair that i could buy for $75 and she said the back was too high so she picked the one i posted a picture of that we bought from Costco. since my daughter has a special seat in her wheel chair we'll probably take the Costco chair back and i'll need to build a seat with a back support. i posted a picture of the chair you found at Bed Bath and Beyond (my wife's favorite store BTW).

thanks for taking the time to find and post the link and for your thoughts.

 

[drivesitfar]

1/2: thanks and great idea

 

[rlitman]

...would 4 casters be enough not to tip?...

I would think not. There's a reason that all office chairs now have 5, instead of 4. As for 6 vs 8, there is a diminishing return in adding casters, and 6 will probably be just fine. More than that may be worse in some ways. One problem with casters is that they need to pivot as you change direction, which can make them act fussy (there's also the phenomenon of "caster flutter", though I doubt that will come into play in the low speeds here)..

How big a caster diameter you need, will depend on the floor you plan to dance on. If it's wood parquet, regular chair casters (usually between 2" and 2.5") will be fine. If it's VCT or something smoother, I think you could get away with these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-roller-ball-bearing-67060.html

Though you'd probably want something like 10 of those if you went that route. But those rollers will certainly get stuck on grout lines if you tried them on a tile floor. Then again, since they don't need to pivot, they just roll in any direction, so they have a big advantage that way.

If you're looking at a more difficult dance surface, I'd think you may have problems with any caster that small (and bigger casters cause new issues).

As for the dress: If I were designing this, I'd have the dressmaker provide some matching materials to "upholster" the chair into something that appears sort of seamless with the dress. It doesn't have to be tailored, and can be stapled into place, but that takes care of the possibilities of getting fabric caught in a wheel.

 

[Outlander]

drivesitfar - I have nothing for you except my support. What you are doing for your daughter and new new husband is great. Thank your son-in-law for his service on behalf of us all. Your picture is worth a million words - nice looking group of young adults you have there.

Best wishes and on the off chance I have a brainwave I'll contribute more than a 'high five'.

 

[Youngguns]

Sled: great picture and sort of what i have in mind. there is carpet all around a 20x20 foot dance floor so a little bit more of a challenge.

thanks again

ALL: i have plenty of wood laying around here cause I am about to build a fence and it's not all cedar. also i have 3/4 and 1.125 inch plywood so thinking a 1.125 inch plywood base would be plenty enough to hold the casters or should i put maybe a 1x4 under the 1.125 where the casters mount? bolt through?

how about sort of interior dovetail joints or should i just screw or bolt to the edge of the base?

thanks everybody and here's a picture of the bride to be maybe 6 years ago with her brother (twin) and her older sister.

What do you mean about the carpet making it more challenging? Does it need to roll over carpet too? I believe the plywood would be significant enough, but when safety is key, you can never go wrong with more material. Sled's picture pretty much captures what I'm envisioning from reading this thread. I think you have all the elements, you just need to put them together, with your biggest concerns being the stability of the base. Sorry my response is all over the place, I was touching on key aspects as I went along.

 

[rsanter]

I have made some performance or sport chairs for wheelchair athletes before.
This is what I would recomend.
6 wheels are better than 4 to reduce the chance or tipping in any given direction. 8 might be better but there will be a weight penalty.

Get the best quality casters you can find and bigger wheels are better. I would use a 4" min wheel size. Reduce drag and weight by going to thin wheels. 3/4 wide is plenty

Weight at the base is ok but keep the upper parts as light weight as possible. Using 1/4 plywood or even 3/16 moulon will be just fine. Create a box structure with the centers cut out to reduce weight. Kind of like that portable workbench that one guy invented.

On the casters you use, think about washing out the grease they come with and reliable them with a light weight oil or even a teflon lube. Something that will further reduce the rolling friction.

Place Velcro on the perimeter of this rolling base and on the inside of the dress. Velcro the bottom of the dress to the rolling stool to provide the look you want, and be sure that the dress cannot interfere with the stool. Will also assure that the stool will not show.

Concider providing some leg or lap restraints to connect your daughter to the stool. This will assure that when she is getting moved around that she does not shift on the stool. Same for the seating pad, Velcro to the stool. (Don't want to mess up the magic moment).

Feel free to contact me for any further discussion or whatnot.
Congrats to your daughter and applause to you for doing what you can to make thatnthe best day she can have

Bob

 

[TXOMFS]

I knew a surgeon that had weakness in his legs due to a spine injury. He operated standing up in a "chariot" contraption someone made for him out of plywood. He could shuffle into it and the nurse would close the door. It held his legs and lower torso snuggly while allowing movement of upper body and arms. Maybe something like that? Basically a tight fitting padded plywood box.

Can your daughter wear leg braces to hold her legs straight?

 

[drivesitfar]

RL: thanks for your thoughts and i'll be posting my thoughts as i read more and see what materials i have.

Outlander: GREAT POST and had me almost in tears. thanks for the support and i'll pass on the word to my future son in law who BTW is planning on putting in 20-30 years in the Army (GOD WILLING) and i think he's on his 7th currently.

Young: yes commercial carpet, wood dance floor and probably a few bumps and humps. bear in mind her new hubby and friends should or probably will be hanging on to here and i swear she is made of rubber cause of all the falls she's taken and bounced back up without a tear or a lost step. I DO IT DADDY has been her motto since i pushed the wheelchair to the van and let her climb into her baby seat when she was 1 or 2.

ALL: thanks and keep those thoughts and pictures coming cause i'm still not certain how this is going to keep her safe and hold up for 6 or 8 or more hours.

cheers

 

[drivesitfar]

RS: Thanks first of all for your support and for all the information. i might PM you about a few things as i get closer to knowing which direction i'm headed. thanks for velcro tips and any chance you can find a link or a few pictures of that workbench you are talking about?

since my daughter plays wheelchair BBall any chance you want to post up a few pictures of some of your sports chairs please do if you have the time.

TX: i'd love to see pictures of that stand just because, but sadly no my daughter won't ever be able to stand. we didn't submit her to all the hundreds of 1% success operations (just because insurance covered them) that so many of these kids endure and she's only had 3 operations her entire life so her spinal column is not straight enough to stand. thanks for dropping in and feel free to tag along and think and post up more of your thoughts.

 

[Brian_WK]

5 - 3 inch roller blade casters are what are on my office chair. I can make it 55 feet down the hallway while sitting in it and giving my self a push. Carpet is pretty easy as well as long as it's the low pile commercial style. Small part don't seem to interfere but have had some catch just right and scratch the floor but chair was still stable. Are you trying for a height of a standing height or more of a height she is at when in her chair?
Brian

 

[Thumper68]

Drives I'm sure there were lots of good ideas suggested already.

I have a old base from a piece of medical equipment with 5 arms with castors, it rolls great and would allow the groom (and the proud father) to get close enough to dance. It is out at the shop so I can't post pics until tomorrow or Sunday.

Another thought I had was a Dentist stool, almost like a saddle so safe to sit and move on.

 

[Brian_WK]

You might not be able to weld but if you can cut aluminum check out 8020 for fabrication. Wouldn't be cheap but it could be light and strong and would be able to take apart and reassemble.

Brian

 

[drivesitfar]

Thumper: great post and would love to see those chairs in a few pictures or get a link of where to buy them if you think they would hold my daughter (i'll give her specs below). any chance you might have a link or store where i could find that chair you posted?

Brian: yes more of a sitting height and just didn't want her nice dress involved with her wheelchair. if you know of source for those roller blade casters please post them up. thanks

ALL: my daughter is about 5'8" if she were standing up and about 125 pounds ( a little lighter than the picture posted). the idea is to maybe have her feet resting on the base of the platform to keep blood in her legs circulating. she doesn't have any feeling below the waist because of her spina bifida birth defect.

thanks all for chiming in and i really need to get building something or gathering materials, but then Thumper posts up something that i can almost buy that is already designed for some safety.

 

[TXOMFS]

I don't have pictures of "the chariot" as we used to call it. It was a plywood box that was taller than his belly button, went to about his diaphragm, and was padded inside and around the top so he could lean against any side.

Does your daughter have a TLSO style brace that could be incorporated into the design? What about a rock climbing harness or a parachute harness?

Braces and/or harnesses would be more secure than a chair. A harness would require a frame to suspend it and the frame would likely be visible as it would probably have to be shoulder height.

 

[DaveIRL]

just because a place is wheelchair friendly dont mean its caster wheel friendly meaning door saddles and other issues, like sliding door slots, a wheel chair can go easily though but smaller ones could get stuck

 

[larry_g]

Dental assistant chairs https://www.google.com/search?q=Den...60&bih=450#tbm=isch&q=Dental+assistant+chairs

dental saddle chairs https://www.google.com/search?q=Den...w=960&bih=450#tbm=isch&q=dental+saddle+chairs

I also had the dental chair come to mine. The assistant has a bar that comes around the front if that would help.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[cdeer001]

This maybe too much but it is what popped into my mind while reading this thread. Granted this would need some tweaking to apply to your needs for dancing but maybe you could copy the design aspects? The base could be covered by the long dress

Good luck.

 

[TXOMFS]

Saddle chair is a great idea. I forgot about those. Check this out:

http://www.haginc.com/products/hag-capisco/

 

[TXOMFS]

This maybe too much but it is what popped into my mind while reading this thread. Granted this would need some tweaking to apply to your needs for dancing but maybe you could copy the design aspects? The base could be covered by the long dress

Good luck.

Something like that combined with a harness is what I was thinking of.

 

[TXOMFS]

One last thought. I Google standing wheelchair and came up with stuff like this:

 

[MissileBear]

I second the recommendation for high quality castors if you decided to go that route. I managed a warehouse for years; we had a plethora of carts/dollies with castors. The cheap, non-ball bearing castors were the bane of our existence. All it takes it one flakey castor to make the entire thing very difficult to roll/turn. Several of those carts went into the dumpster once the frustration got me to that point.

Castors can be really unforgiving; the larger the diameter the less likely they will be to get stuck on small stones, carpet to wood transition pieces, folds & other carpet irregularities, etc.

Best of luck, and many congratulations

 

[fivespdcat]

This sounds like a really great project! Just thinking about it, i may consider more of a suspended seat to give a semi standing look. This would likely require an inset as your wife liked and 8 casters for stability. Almost like an oversized walker.

 

[drivesitfar]

Tx: thanks for all the posts. unfortunately a harness won't work for her this time cause she wants to look NORMAL IN HER WEDDING DRESS. she also can't stand. keep thinking and i'm sure if you are not helping me you might be helping others if it won't work for my daughter.

Dave: SO SO TRUE about accessibility.

Larry: thanks for the links.

ALL: i think i'm still going to have to build the stool on wheels cause i need it to have a platform for the feet even though i have seen some you can buy with foot rests we could attach her feet to. the think about her using her own wheelchair's seat is a bit more complicated and just know that she had some issues with a bed sore after one of the three operations and she needs extra padding that is more like air filled and not solid.

thank you all for posting. i'm just grabbing a bite to eat (yes breakfast at 2:30 and up at 6:30am) so not the healthiest, but need to get something in there before i start grabbing materials.

keep posting cause i don't have it clear in my mind yet on how to attach the stool to the platform, but 1/2's idea of threaded bolts has merit.

 

[drivesitfar]

MB: if you have links to your favorite casters please post them up cause i can order them and install them later if not available for pick up.

thanks

Fives: great idea, but sorry it won't work for my daughter.

 

[Zeeman]

Just a thought, but you might contact the Make a Wish Foundation. It's likely that somewhere down the line someone has asked for that as a wish. My daughter needed a wheel chair in the last year or so of her life, but I never needed to build a dancing chair. I wish you and your whole family the very best, and wish I could help more.

 

[drivesitfar]

ZEE: definitely a possibility to ask and see if they have made or had requests or at least email them the link to this thread with all the positive posts it should be a good one. i just wish i was half as handy as most of you.

ALL: my daughter's cushion is 16 x 18, but she hangs over the sides a bit so 18x18 would be the seat's size i need to build.

to highlight some of the specific needs for my daughter so some of you that don't have time to read all the posts here they are:

1) casters most likely need 6 and still looking for type, brand and size
2) sitting chair with seat 18x18 to fit her wheelchair's cushion
3) platform to rest her feet on
4) mounting the stool/seat to the platform is still not decided
5) no standing posibility
6) dress has been bought and we have a nice talented lady we know to alter it to fit my daughter and to cover the chair (Edit: yes wedding dress has a train that will be bussled or brought up out of the way after ceremony).

my daughter is planning on getting married in this chair and the reception is in the same spot so she might be sitting on it for 6-8 hours while dancing, eating, drinking (yes she partakes some), and what not in her wedding dress.

cheers and thanks again to everybody who has posted so far and looking forward to more posts and actually getting more excited about making this.

thanks

 

[jd_1138]

Are you talking about a stool (wih wheels)? Or kinda like a computer chair? Is there anything wrong with these? Could they be modified to work? Does it need to be pretty?

I don't think 4 casters would work (especially the cheap kind that stools have); the weight needs to be distributed more evenly over probably at least 6 casters in order for her to dance. If you've ever tried pushing an office chair with a person in it, it's kinda hard to control.

 

[Thumper68]

Just a thought, Go with a odd number of castors there is a reason you see most newer chairs like that they are more stable than an even number.

Drives just google Dentist rolling stool and there are many to choose from, I think that this might be your best bet as a starting platform.