Wheelchair Mods

Simple wheelchair modifications to add some personality to your chair.

Step 1: Footplate Planning

My wheelchairs footplate was just a plate of plastic attached with 4 rivets. So I decided to drill the rivets out and add my own plate.

I chose to use wood with a MC Escher drawing etched in. In the future I'd like to replace it with his relativity staircase one but modified with ramps instead.

I took some measurements and drew it up quick in inkscape.

Step 2: Laser, Stain, Poly and Rivet

I used the laser cutter to etch and cut the design. Stained it with some dark coloring first and wiped/sanded away to highlight the etchings. After I used a lighter stain to finish. Since footplates take a lot of abuse I topped it off with poly.

I recommend getting some good rivets, the normal ones can be sharp. The ones I chose were expensive but are fantastic.

Step 3: Wooden Side Guards

These are pretty straight forward. I reused the mounting hardware from the stock side guards. It took a few designs to get the right shape, but the end result came out nice. I can add the design if anyone would like to skip the trial and error part. I also added some hard plastic black edge trim to protect myself from splinters, I do not have a picture of that.

Step 4: Easy Freewheel Spoke Coloring

I have red spokes on my wheelchair, so I wanted to make my freewheel match. For that I cut cocktail straws to length and sliced them all the way down to allow them to wrap onto the spokes. The end result was better than I expected. From a distance no one can tell they're not real spoke covers. They're also very durable and stay on. I've been putting them through the ringer with not one falling off.

Thanks and enjoy.