A new life - irving reborn after near fatal accident

[Web Goblin]

Just got round to reading this, not really been on the forum here for a while. Sorry to hear about this and I hope you make the best recovery possible.
I do some woodturning now and again and once went to demo by a guy in a wheelchair, cant remember his name now unfortunately, but he turned out some beautiful work. He had his lathe height altered to suit him and also some of his tools to allow him to work comfortably.

[irving2008]

Just got round to reading this, not really been on the forum here for a while. Sorry to hear about this and I hope you make the best recovery possible.
I do some woodturning now and again and once went to demo by a guy in a wheelchair, cant remember his name now unfortunately, but he turned out some beautiful work. He had his lathe height altered to suit him and also some of his tools to allow him to work comfortably.

Think i've seen his website. he's a T12 so has full hand function.. I have no fingers/grip so need more radical solutions...

[D.C.]

Did you do any hand wood turning before the accident? I imagine CNC expertise/hobbying is a big plus for someone needing to adapt to life in your situation, even in the worst case scenario if you don't recover the use of your hands with practice you will still be able to control a computer well enough to program/design/CAD/CAM things, you would just need assitance loading and unloading things on to the machine. Your skillset also means you can design and manufacture your own personal adaptions to a chair/house far more cheaply than most people could ever imagine, after you recover you might even find the new life you have is an asset for starting a business designing and producing disability adaptions for others?

CNC mill/lathe/pick and place, slave to do the carrying and fetching and you are good to go. :)

[irving2008]

Did you do any hand wood turning before the accident? I imagine CNC expertise/hobbying is a big plus for someone needing to adapt to life in your situation, even in the worst case scenario if you don't recover the use of your hands with practice you will still be able to control a computer well enough to program/design/CAD/CAM things, you would just need assitance loading and unloading things on to the machine. Your skillset also means you can design and manufacture your own personal adaptions to a chair/house far more cheaply than most people could ever imagine, after you recover you might even find the new life you have is an asset for starting a business designing and producing disability adaptions for others?

CNC mill/lathe/pick and place, slave to do the carrying and fetching and you are good to go. :)

hey DC, way ahead of you there, was already thinking that on day 3 or 4. auto-tool changer, jig-based work-holder with hydraulic lock-down and auto-align using camera... all i need to do is manhandle stock into place and press 'go'. already lookingat building own wheelchair based on ideas from wheelchairdriver.com!

[Chas]

already lookingat building own wheelchair based on ideas from wheelchairdriver.com!

I see that you've introduced yourself & already jumped straight in the deep end :-)

Follow some of the links in his pages & you'll see that almost everything he touches somehow becomes 'interesting'.

This bloke builds pulse jet engines in his bedroom, & I've absolutely no doubt he fires them up in there too.

[D.C.]

lookingat building own wheelchair based on ideas from wheelchairdriver.com!

Meh, those things look wussy and I'm sure Jazz could build it for half the price out of a few twigs and a shopping trolley. You should challenge the guy to a jet powered wheelchair showdown at santa pod. :)

These guys may be of an interest to you aswell if you are not already aware of them.

http://www.remap.org.uk/

They are an engineering charity that custom builds adaptions for people with difficult or unusual needs that can't be satisfied by the omnipotent free-market.

[irving2008]

Meh, those things look wussy and I'm sure Jazz could build it for half the price out of a few twigs and a shopping trolley. You should challenge the guy to a jet powered wheelchair showdown at santa pod. :)

These guys may be of an interest to you aswell if you are not already aware of them.

Welcome to Remap. Remap Custom Made Equipment For People With Disabilities

They are an engineering charity that custom builds adaptions for people with difficult or unusual needs that can't be satisfied by the omnipotent free-market.

I'm hoping, when the time comes, the MYCNCUK collective will help me source and build my own version. thanks for that link, hadnt seen that one.

[HiltonSteve]

Irving,

Well i thought my life was pretty bad at the moment going through a divorce and sorting all crap out that goes with it but you have just made me realise that actually what I am going through is nothing compared to where you are right now.... After reading through your posts all i can say is that I can not even comprehend what you must be going through and how your life has been turned upside down over the last few months. Never give up though, anything is possible if you put your mind to it and have the right attitude which from what I have read it looks like you have.

Now... There is something i may be able to help you with... I design and build battery powered electric vehicles which means I have a very good understanding of drive and motor control systems. I have a very good range of Curtis motor controllers, motors, gearbox's etc. If you need to go own the road (hopefully not) of building your own wheelchair or some device to help you get a round then I am more than happy to let you have any parts that I have that will be of use to you free of charge. Also if you need any help with the design I would be more than willing to help you and I have a very good friend who does all of our fabrication work who has a very good range of equipment and will be able to manufacture anything that you/we come up with, again this would also be free of charge..

Send me a pm if I can be of help so we can exchange contact details.

Like I said, anything is possible so stay positive and keep your chin up...

[D.C.]

I'm hoping, when the time comes, the MYCNCUK collective will help me source and build my own version. thanks for that link, hadnt seen that one.

I have bugger all qualifications or engineering experience and I'm broke. But on the plus side I'm unemployed and my fingers still work so if you need a couple of weeks of unpaid loading machines etc I would be happy to donate time and elbow grease.

[Chas]

Welcome to Remap. Remap Custom Made Equipment For People With Disabilities

They are an engineering charity that custom builds adaptions for people with difficult or unusual needs that can't be satisfied by the omnipotent free-market.

I often auction the prototypes & first off's of the things I make on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going to NABD. Having had a brief looksy at the Remap site I reckon I'll start splitting the proceeds 2 ways.