Some BioMed engineering students class project?
Or over the top Earn/Gift a bike? Bored unemployed NASA engineers looking for a summer fun?
HackerSpaces?
I've welding in class but this is ironically closer to why I went to those certifications earning class series.
Welding is not Brazing And other things learned. (Like I'm not AWS certifiable and frankly suck at 5G 6" pipe)
On Thu, Jul 4, 2024, 17:53 cyclista--- via TheThinkTank < thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
To support 700lbs, you're going to need solid, not pneumatic tires. The wheels would also need to be small, 16" max, with thicker spokes, or instead, solid cast; shorter spokes, if thick enough, will have less flex but greater strength. It would have to be four wheeled, and the frame would need to be made of industrial tubing, not bicycle tubing, similar to Workman's industrial bikes. It would be a low-speed, heavy machine.
It's also of note that at 700lbs, the rider will not have the ability to fit through a standard doorway.
The gearing would need large cogs front and rear for maximum tooth/chain engagement. If geared correctly, it could still meet or surpass avarage walking speed.
A clever and commited bike hacker could craft something for this person, but in order not to be merely a whimsical attempt and actually be useful long term, it would have be a massive undertaking with multiple iterations. That's a great deal of committment.
There are mobility equipment businesses out there who already manufacture walkers and bicycle-like scooters. It really seems like the first major engineering task should be researching the players in that market and securing the interest of one of them who could actually build it.
If we were a league of CAD engineers we maybe could crowdsource this project among our geographically-dispersed group and share iterations of CAD files amongst ourselves over the internet until we had something we felt strongly enough about that we could hand it off to a fabricator. But unfortunately, we don't really work like that. This person's need sounds rather immediate and dire, so the question should be whether something safe to use and at least approximately useful can be built within the next six months. I feel that getting the design team of a mobility company interested in prototyping this is the better track. _______________________________________________ TheThinkTank mailing list -- thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe send an email to thethinktank-leave@lists.bikecollectives.org To view this discussion on the web visit https://lists.bikecollectives.org/hyperkitty/list/thethinktank@lists.bikecol...