making tracks for wheel chair dolly

November 19, 2005

Hey I've decided on using a wheel chair for a dolly, but I'd like to make some kind of portable tracks that i can use for unstable ground. I'm thinking plywood boards would be good, but they'd be heavy and how would you attach them together smoothly? then i was thinking take large pvc piping and saw them in half length wise so you have long gutters, and the wheels would fit snugly inside. but again not sure how to connect those together smoothly. Any suggestions or anything more realistic?

Luke O

Matt Irwin · November 19, 2005

How about making an adapter for the wheels that will enable the chair to run on round track?

You could get some triangular aluminum stock, and mount 4 skateboard wheels to 2 sides of the stock. So if you look at a cross section of the stock, it will look like an inverted triangle with the wheels on the bottom two sides. (does that make sense?) You would need 4 of those wheel units.

You could then make 2 square, shallow, U-shaped trays that that the front and rear wheels sit in and attach the wheel units to the bottom of the trays.

You should get something kind of close to this:

These are meant to adapt a heavy hydraulic dolly to track for high-speed moves, but a smaller version should well for a wheelchair.

Of course it would make more sense to make a western dolly and adapt that to track because then you can put a tripod on it. Using an actual wheelchair as a dolly can somewhat limit your movement as far as operating goes.

Edited November 19, 2005 by Matt Irwin

Brad Grimmett · November 20, 2005

Plywood would work fine. It wouldn't be great for really long moves, but most dolly moves are relatively short anyway. 4 or 5 8x12 pieces should work.

November 21, 2005

Hey,

how should the plywood be put together? just side by side, also how thick should they be 1/2 an inch. Any other suggestions?

Matt Irwin · November 21, 2005

Just make sure that the plywood pieces aren't warped and carry a box pf cribbing and wedges. And a level.

The plywood will absolutely work fine, I just suggested the track if you really want to control the dolly movement.

Chris Cooke · November 22, 2005

Of course it would make more sense to make a western dolly and adapt that to track because then you can put a tripod on it. Using an actual wheelchair as a dolly can somewhat limit your movement as far as operating goes.

I've mounted a platform on the seat of a wheelchair and then mounted a tripod onto that. It actually worked out quite nice. You'll need a dolly grip to push and an operator walking beside.

November 22, 2005

I've been doing some research and I'm thinking this might be a good choice from Home depot:

Milwaukee

600 Lb. Capacity Convertible Hand Truck

Model CHT600P

Heavy-duty convertible hand truck converts from a 2-wheel hand truck to a 4-wheel platform cart in seconds. Popular flowback handle allows for a 1 or 2-hand operation. The 10 in. pneumatic air-inflated tires provide for a cushioning of the load over rough terrain. Added feature: wheel guards. Load rating: 600 lb. vertical and horizontal. Wheels: 10 in. pneumatic wheels, 4 in. blended poly swivel casters. Height: 46 in. vertical, adjusts to 61 in. Width: 17 in. Weight: 32 lb.

Store SKU # 168701

Internet # 162682

Catalog # 100071520

the only problem I can forsee is the caster wheels are small and hard, not like the air inflatable pneumatic tires, I'd have to maybe try to put on some other pneumatic tires. and also I'd have to rig some kind of piece of plywood and the tripod onto that. any suggestions? Would it be wise to make tracks for this, what do you think i could do with this thing?

Luke

Edited November 22, 2005 by Lukeo

Luke Prendergast · November 22, 2005

If you're going to that much trouble, make a skateboard dolly instead.

Brad Grimmett · November 22, 2005

Hey,

how should the plywood be put together? just side by side, also how thick should they be 1/2 an inch. Any other suggestions?

1/2 or 3/4 inch should be fine. Just make sure the edges are level to each other and tape them together with 2 inch paper tape. This method works everyday on episodics and movies using a real dolly. With the big soft wheels of a wheelchair it should work fine.