Wheelchair personalizing

[llurgy]

Take a look at the case logic bags at Ebags.http://www.ebags.com/case_logic/mobility_backpack/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=60606
These bags are designed for wheelchairs.

This is the bag that DW has on her chair. It fits better then any backpack ever has. Plus the outside pockets are great for holding maps and water bottles. The inside is a nice size and has a few pockets inside too.
Plus I see it's on sale right now.

Thanks for the Linky.

Unfortunately I can see a couple of problems straight away.
The top of the backpack where the handle is is in line with the back of where her neck/head would be. Can it be adjusted so it sits lower?
Where it slips over the handles and actually onto the fabric of the chair back would also be a problem to our DD's comfort as those straps would be where her shoulders are.

Mandy

 

[SueM in MN]

Actually, try the hardware store. Krylon makes a spraypaint that was designed specifically for plastics!

We did try some Krylon paint, but it still may not stick.
It's worth a try if someone really wants to paint the tires, but DD's tires get kind of hard use and we were afraid of scratches.

 

[michelle9343]

I made a really cute seat and back cover for my DD old WC. Have you ever seen the no-sew blankets made out of fleece? They are just cut and tie. I got a really funky lime green and pink fleece and paired it with a solid lime grren. We also covered her push bar. My husband made her a wood tray that looks like a "hidden Mickey" .

 

[llurgy]

I made a really cute seat and back cover for my DD old WC. Have you ever seen the no-sew blankets made out of fleece? They are just cut and tie. I got a really funky lime green and pink fleece and paired it with a solid lime grren. We also covered her push bar. My husband made her a wood tray that looks like a "hidden Mickey" .

I am going to make a cover for the back and the seat of the chair. I was going to do it with a towel (one of those funky velor ones) and try and cobble together the fastener with Velcro. Now I may even do one in fleece too........Becca very much approves of your color choices
Becca doesnt have a cushion on her wheelchair. Up to now there have been very few times that she has been in the chair long enough for it to start being uncomfortable. I may invest in something for the trip because she will be in it for extended amounts of time.

Mandy

 

[dclfun]

I really agree with using creativity and re-purposing things that aren't "medical". I have a Permobil power chair and was told by my vendor that it would be fairly easy to remove the plastic shroud to paint it. I absolutely detest the colors that were available on this chair and wonder what Permobil was thinking. We're not all stodgy people who like dark, dull, boring colors! I have yet to paint mine as now I chipped a piece of the shroud so it would be even more noticeable if it were to be painted, but for my next chair it will definitely happen. I decorate for the holidays, putting those antenna toppers on pieces that stick out. I've used the battery operated Christmas lights which also help people to see my chair in the dark. I turn them off during parades or events where they might distract someone. We just got back from another DCL cruise so now I have to mount the new license plate I got onboard. I can't wait to see the OP's daughter's chair when it's finished getting a makeover. Hey,we should have Extreme Makeover: Wheelchair Edition!---Kathy

 

[llurgy]

I have been looking quite closely at the light-up wheelchair casters in preparation to buy.
I notice that they are all measuring 4".....trouble is my daughters chair has 8" casters on it.
Would I be able to alter the chait height sufficiently to accout for the smaller diameter caster?
She has an invacare 9000XT.....Well that is what it says on the side of it but our medical co. makes their wheelchairs out of parts so it could have other Invacare parts in it also.
I have tried to find a user manual online but have been unable to do so.
If we go to smaller casters the wheelchair is gonna be harder to push isnt it?

 

[mechurchlady]

http://www.invacare.com/doc_files/1056953.pdf
2 MB file on pdf.

http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imh...chType=KeySearch&keywords=9000 XT#SHOWRESULTS

 

[llurgy]

http://www.invacare.com/doc_files/1056953.pdf
2 MB file on pdf.

http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imh...chType=KeySearch&keywords=9000 XT#SHOWRESULTS

Thanks for this.

Wouldnt you know it though, there are not instructions on what I want to do.....just this one -
"""If converting from a six-inch caster to an eight-inch caster or vice versa, there are
seat-to-floor height adjustments that MUST be made. Therefore, this procedure
MUST be performed by a qualified technician."""

Aw well, we will have to have a look at the chair in detail to see if it looks as though we can do it ourselves.

Mandy

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for this.

Wouldnt you know it though, there are not instructions on what I want to do.....just this one -
"""If converting from a six-inch caster to an eight-inch caster or vice versa, there are
seat-to-floor height adjustments that MUST be made. Therefore, this procedure
MUST be performed by a qualified technician."""

Aw well, we will have to have a look at the chair in detail to see if it looks as though we can do it ourselves.

Mandy

Changing the casters to a different size also changes the angle of the seat.
Rather than trying to cobble things together that may change something you don't intend to change, I would use something other than new casters.
She won't really be able to see the front casters anyway. Look in hardware store (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) for things like small stick up lights, booklights or lights you put on your head for walking in the dark. Some of those have straps that could be used to attach them to wheelchair tubing.
It would not light up, but you could get reflective striping or sheets of reflective material that can be cut in any shape you want. You could then add that to the wheelchair where ever you want, in whatever shape you want.

Also, the fleece idea someone mentioned made me think of an easy way to cover the wheelchair back that might work. There are no sew blankets that you make by cutting sort of a fringe on 2 pieces of fleece. For a blanket, you make the fringe around all sides, then lay one piece of fleece over the other. When you tie the fringe from the top fleece to the bottom fleece, you end up with a nice, double thickness blanket. I don't know if this would work, but you try doing something similar with 2 pieces of fleece cut to fit over the wheelchair back. Just fringe 3 sides, so you have an open side. If there are things like straps or protruding supports that stick out, just cut enough fringe off to make an opening for them. The cover could even be tied onto the chair, rather than made and then put on. The only problem I can think of is whether the knots from tying the fringe together would be too bulky and rub on anything. Also, check the knots occassionally; I know the ones on DD's blanket get loose sometimes and need to be retied.

 

[llurgy]

Changing the casters to a different size also changes the angle of the seat.
Rather than trying to cobble things together that may change something you don't intend to change, I would use something other than new casters.
She won't really be able to see the front casters anyway. Look in hardware store (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) for things like small stick up lights, booklights or lights you put on your head for walking in the dark. Some of those have straps that could be used to attach them to wheelchair tubing.
It would not light up, but you could get reflective striping or sheets of reflective material that can be cut in any shape you want. You could then add that to the wheelchair where ever you want, in whatever shape you want.

Also, the fleece idea someone mentioned made me think of an easy way to cover the wheelchair back that might work. There are no sew blankets that you make by cutting sort of a fringe on 2 pieces of fleece. For a blanket, you make the fringe around all sides, then lay one piece of fleece over the other. When you tie the fringe from the top fleece to the bottom fleece, you end up with a nice, double thickness blanket. I don't know if this would work, but you try doing something similar with 2 pieces of fleece cut to fit over the wheelchair back. Just fringe 3 sides, so you have an open side. If there are things like straps or protruding supports that stick out, just cut enough fringe off to make an opening for them. The cover could even be tied onto the chair, rather than made and then put on. The only problem I can think of is whether the knots from tying the fringe together would be too bulky and rub on anything. Also, check the knots occassionally; I know the ones on DD's blanket get loose sometimes and need to be retied.

Thanks Sue
I do realize that the front casters would have changed the angle of the seat which is why I needed to know how to change the seat positioning to compensate, but as you say, she wont see the lights any way.
You did however give me a really good idea..........
Those crack tubes that you use on 4th of July and other events.....you know the ones that you have to crack to activate?
We have a lot of those and we can try and put them around her big wheels where the hand rail is!!

I now have lots of ideas about the seat and back covering. I think I may do envelopes for both. Kinda like a tube of double thickness fabric with velcro on each end to wrap around the seat and another one the same for the back. That way if the chair gets rained on I can very easily take it off. I also have to make sure that it doesnt impede the folding of the chair.
We have started collecting stickers

 

[llurgy]

We finally did something with Becca's wheelchair!

We took it all apart, prepared and painted all the black painted bits on the chair (couldn't spray the chrome)and re-assembled 10 days later after it had all dried for the prescribed amount of time.

It was quite hard work actually, we had to mask everything on every piece we wanted to spray to make sure that bearings and rubber end caps, nuts and bolts didnt get any fall-out. We painted the wheels and the front castors so all of the tire bit had to be masked and those took 2 days just to mask!
We didnt spray the large wheels until the very last and we decided that they were going to get sprayed thoroughly on the rims but just get a very light spraying on the spoke parts as covering them completely was going to mean you could see us coming 100 miles away, the paint was quite bright

Becca picked the red color, she did want flourescent pink but we vetoed it as it was only sold in matt and wouldnt have ever looked 'finished'.

We bought a gloss metal look spray paint for the frame and a 'paint for plastics' on the wheels and seat sides.
We have no idea how it is going to stand the tests of time but we like the result that we got.
Becca is just happy that she has a custom chair and that it is going to Disney with us

Before

After

 

[mechurchlady]

wow that is awesome and so unique. I do not remember ever seeing a red chair like that and boy did you do a great job.

 

[llurgy]

wow that is awesome and so unique. I do not remember ever seeing a red chair like that and boy did you do a great job.

Thank you, we like it and consider it was worth all of the hassle doing it.
Our basement floor is tinged red now though, plus the cats have pink paws....Whoops!!

 

[KPeveler]

i painted my wheelchair from pink to blue, and it has lasted fairly well - i think the chair looks great!!

 

[mechurchlady]

Thank you, we like it and consider it was worth all of the hassle doing it.
Our basement floor is tinged red now though, plus the cats have pink paws....Whoops!!

The important thing is that your daughter's self esteem has gone through the roof and she will stand out in crowds. The floor can be covered over and the cat will eventually lose its pinkish colour. Now to see about some racing stripes, lol.

 

[mykidsintow]

I just wanted to throw in that we have never had to remove a bag for security from a wheelchair. Not even in airports. They have swabed it at the airports.... at Disney I unzip and the security person checks in it and plays with my daughter then I zip and off we go. Its way way too much trouble to try to take it off.

 

[SueM in MN]

That's quite a wheelchair now. Love the color.

I just wanted to throw in that we have never had to remove a bag for security from a wheelchair. Not even in airports. They have swabed it at the airports.... at Disney I unzip and the security person checks in it and plays with my daughter then I zip and off we go. Its way way too much trouble to try to take it off.

Our experience has been different at the airport.
We travel at least once per year and we have always had to remove DD's bags from her wheelchair and put them thru the xray machine. She has a backpack and a little bag that is under her seat and mostly hidden by her legs when she is sitting in the wheelchair.
The WDW security people miss that little bag about 75% of the time, but the airport people have never missed making us take it off.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great custom job!! I love it!!

We always have to take Bill's backpack off his chair at the airport. Some WDW security guys don't mind it staying on the chair, some want it on the table to inspect.

 

[Mason7AK]

Would any of the Skip Hop bags work on the the back? They might be a little lower profile that a regular backpack. Amazon had some good prices on them, so you could watch there....

YES YES YES! The Skip Hop Duo bags are wonderful for wheelchairs!!! My daughter has a Quickie IRIS Tilt In Space chair. It is hot fuschia pink with gray upholstery. We have the Skip Hop Duo in Fuschia pink Camoflage pattern. So cute hanging from the handlebars and works like a dream! You can take the longer strap (for carrying them over the shoulder) off and it has smaller attachments on each end of the bag that fit PERFECTLY on each handlebar. And this bag holds EVERYTHING a girl needs for a day in the parks!
We also have the cute little Disney mini license plates with her name on it and around the edges it says "Walt Disney World Been there, done that, goin back!" It hangs from the back of her chair at the bottom along with a generic license plate that says "Texas Princess"

Our son's wheelchair has the light up castors (he is 6) and he loves all the attention he gets at night from them!
Angela

 

[DisneyWheeler]

Here's one of my joystick controller on my power chair. I haven't personalized my manual wheelchair yet. Still working on it though: