After well over a year of research and negotiation with the powers that be, Rob finally got his custom-fit ultra-lightweight super-duper titanium wheelchair. We’ve been busy all weekend, along with Rob’s Dad Ger, to swap out parts and get it configured really well. Along the way we had a lot of fun. Rob also enjoyed a really nice gift from his sister Anne, of a one-of-a-kind print, which really set a nice tone for the weekend.
It’s unbelievable how a chair that fits perfectly to exact measurements really helps to get around, and is just more comfortable when it needs to be used all of the time. The other one that we got last year will still be put to heavy use (see The travelling wheelchair), but this will be the everyday chair.
We wanted add a bit of jazz to the chair for Rob to make his own statement. The Stones logo was the first quick test we did (and no, I did not ask permission), but we are working on some concept designs, and we hope to make more. As you can imagine, I nixed the idea of a swastika, which was Rob’s humour in taking the piss out of neo-nazi’s, but I’m afraid it might not be understood that way, and they would probably come after the stupid Yank.
Update: After staying up way too late playing with other ideas (Rob nixed the flaming Superman), I can see where we will have a lot of fun with this. I need to get the measurements and resolution right from the beginning, and definitely a better camera to photograph them, but here is another test. We are going to need to invest in a lot more laminator pockets too — luckily you can remove and reattach them:
We also ordered some new tools, so “chair repair woman” is happy too. We got an air compressor that Ger helped me choose after many, many hours of searching on the internet. We need one that is 10 bar/150 psi, 230 V AC, but after this arrived today I realized what a monster it is, and that it was going to be totally unworkable for me — I would definitely be blowing up tires, pets, etc. So I am returning this for a more modest size compressor, even if it’s not exactly what we want. We also needed some SAE (US sized) wrenches and some other stuff and arrived this week too.
Life wheels on… and so does spring with the first Dutch tulips happily in bloom.
