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video How to build your own PVC Walker
Learn how to make your own walker from PVC pipe and other parts available at any hardware store.
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John should be so proud of his mom!
The end of the video with the "....shake it all about..." was all so very cute and heart warming!!
Well made video and thanks for the great music too!!
Jennifer is the very best!!
(trying to promote my friends)
This is the 4th walker Jenn built. Each one gets minor improvements. but we use it everywhere and its so nice to 'throw' in the car.
Three cheers for the awesome mom.
I am looking to refine a design I came up with when my leg was first amp'ed.. They send you home with NOTHING and expect you to climb stairs etc. We took the bottom part off a quad cane and added a padded "seat" to the top (Clamped on to the area you would adjust) and this worked to allow me to go up and down stairs---with help! Now working on a further refinement for out of house use in a SMALL pull behind trailer for travel night use when I have my leg off. Think I will look into the PVC ideas and wheels you have used!
Hope the little guy is doing well!
You could use 1-1/4" on the lower ends, and then insert 1" pipe into the top halves. The 1" pipe slides in and out of the 1-1/4" pipe and then you can use pull pins with holes between the 1" and 1-1/4" and make it adjustable as the little one grows!
They also have 4-way Tees to help incorporate a seat!
Great project, and inspirational. Glad the little guy could help building it too!
the wheels that i showed are made of lightweight aluminum and probably lighter than the plastic ones your using. i'm sure that your local medical supply store, where they sell walkers, would have some you could check out.
your right thought that they don't work if you want to keep cost minimal.
looking at the video, i'm wondering if the walker would work better if you simply turned it around so the cross bar was the front? the cross bar could be used as another handle and you could even hang a basket off it. your child would have plenty of room for his stride without bumping his back on the cross bar like i see him do in the video. For your design you would use T connectors instead of the straight connector where the condensate pipe joins to the vertical rod and do the cross rod there. this would eliminate the need for the specialty 3 way connectors that your using now. would my seat idea work if it were at the front?
the cross bar concept across the front would prob work for older folks or children with different conditions.
However we've been encouraged by therapists to keep it in the back.
Our child has CMD and having an open front helps encourage him to stand up straighter when he walks vs leaning forward over a front bar--and this helps them in a variety of development ways (bone/muscle development). Also for young kids, the open front also promotes more self confidence to walk on their own-vs always wanting that support structure of a cross bar.
We've noticed that he for some reason likes the back cross bar bumping him. He seems to purposely place his body towards the back of the walker regardless of the length.
but i do like the idea of avoiding the 3 way connectors.
I saw in the comments that you'd like to add a seat.
I had an idea on how to add a seat. add a cross piece halfway on each side and then add a cross tube on the back. the seat can be a simple stretched fabric seat.
I did a quick sketch that hopefully shows what i'm describing
as for the construction, it would probably be a good idea to sand the pvc joints before gluing and use pvc primer. the primer softens the pvc and makes the joint a lot stronger.
make sure with your wheels that you use washers with the bolt so the wheel rolls free. use the washers between the wheel and the pvc as spacers and add as many as you need to keep the wheel from rubbing against the tubing.
use locktite on the nuts so they don't come loose.
using walker wheels may work a little better or maybe you could scavenge the wheels off an old stroller?
something like these: http://www.dmesupplygroup.com/fixed-wheels-603650a.html
they'll slide into the end of the pvc and there are holes on the sides so you can adjust the height.
Great Job!!
We'll have to try the primer and sanding concept on the next one.
we are trying to get some bushings for the wheels to help keep them from being so floppy, and have learned over time to use locktite nuts.
our first wheels were from toys we had. Then we bought about 75 of what is in the video for cost.
the wheels you mentioned look nice and easier to use, i'd be concerned about the weight though. John can currently hold his walker in his hands and we lift him up stairs. It its just a couple oz too heavy he can't hold it or pick it up to turn. those look like good inside wheels.
the seat idea would work but we'd have to make the walker longer to accommodate his stride, which makes it harder to maneuver and fit. If that seat were to flip up or down into position then it would probably work,
our other criteria is making it cheap, we want to make kits that can be sent on medical mission trips to developing countries, and all they do is snap it together, and they could easily fix or replace pieces that break. I think our current cost is around $13 of parts.
I do like the cross stabilization bar, and for heavier children that would probably be critical.