RC Riding Lawnmower

This is my first attempt at an instructable . I have virtually no experience in electronics but at 80 years old I figure you are never too old to learn. Mowing the lawn was getting to be quite a chore so I decided to build an easy to use mower that I could either ride on or sit on my back porch and mow from there. I bought a used electric wheel chair on Craigs list for $100 to start the project off. After stripping wheels, motors, and battery box I mocked up the chassis with 2x2" lumber  This also allowed me to fit the donor mower to  the frame. I used the deck from an old Briggs  22" walk behind push mower. Once that was done I welded up the steel frame from 1 x 1/2" steel tubing. I tried building the electronics from a previous project in Make but I just didn't have the talent or experience. I decided to go with a Sabertooth 2x25. I already had the motor wiring and was set up for 24 volts. The folks at Dimension Engineering were a great help in advising me how to set up the DIP switch. I got a used 54 MHz. RC set up from a friend who fly's model airplanes. The Sabertooth is a no brainer to hook up. It even supplies the 5 volt power for the receiver. A switch, and fuse were all I needed to complete the job.

Step 1 Materials

STEP 1

Materials                                                                                     

Used Electric wheelchair                                                        $100.00
Steel Tubing                                                                              $25.00
Donor 22" mower                                                                      $ 25.00
Sabertooth 2x25                                                                       $125.00
Lawn mower batteries  (2)                                                          $68.00
Misc. Nuts, Bolts, Switch , and fuse                                           $15.00
Used RC TMX, AND RCVR                                                        $35.00

TOTAL                                                                                       $393.00

Comments

[joedog86]

Perfect Instructable and an amazing project!! You just made my day! I'm envisioning all sorts of projects using an electric wheelchair as the platform now! I think a miniature electric powered tank with a fiberglass body is in my nieces' and nephew's future!

[mickydee]

Thank You
Sounds like your little ones are in for a fun time. The wheelchair motors are powerful enough for just about anything you want to build, and the range with U-1 batteries is very good. I have mowed my lawn 4 or 5 time between charges and still had power to spare. Check out my Sitway instructable for another use of these motors. I been playing around for at least a month and I haven't had to re-charge it yet. Have fun and let me know how you are doing.
mickydee

[derek_eide]

You've inspired me to make one. My brother is in a wheelchair and I know he'll love it. Thanks.

[mickydee]

Thanks a lot
If I had it to do again, I think I would have spent a little more and used an electric start motor. If you make one for your brother, this would really give him a feeling of independence . My motor starts easily but I am not bound to a wheelchair.
I wish you all the success in the world. It is not a difficult project
mickydee

[TinRobot]

This is awesome work. Thank you for posting this ible. Soooo invious! I would love to make this for my son.

[Robotic_mage]

Awesome work MickeyDee! Keep them coming!

Paul

[mrcurlywhirly]

Great instructable!

This one is a real improvement on the RC lawnmower concept i saw recently by johndavid400.

I hope that should i make it to your age, if i can be half as productive and show as much ingenuity as you then i will have lived a happy and contented life. BTW - can you adopt me Mickydee?

[mickydee]

I have tried everything I know to download a video into this ible. I uploaded to you tube and tried to down load. to this program. No luck, it keeps telling me that the file is too big (over 10 meg).
I would appreciate any help to solve this. I know it can be done ,because I watch other peoples video's
Thanks
mickydee

[lakewinston]

If you still need help uploading a video, let me know and I will walk you through it.

[tigerbomb8]

sorry to say mate but it was done 1 year ago
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-RC-Lawnmower/

[lakewinston]

Even so, it is still really cool.

[benstead]

oh booo....

[tchang2010]

very nice project micky, the instruction is very clear. I might do something similar to your project this summer. Thanks for the information....
-thai

[mguima]

That´s how I would like to be at 80.

[dubdryver]

SPECTACULAR PROJECT & WRITE UP! Very well thought through and executed!

I couple questions about how well it works?
Does the unit drift often, and do you find yourself correcting the steering often?
I am sure you adjusted the trim on the transmitter to compensate.

I am very impressed with the runtime, and your setup would blow a kid's motor powered car out of the water! It seems like your project does not suffer from getting stuck on low ground or cement edges.
I would like to make a little car to let kids ride around in that way I would have better control of where they are going, and if made correctly, I could jump in with them :P I could also put a pull behind mower as an accessory.

Thank you for the inspiration Micky, very well done for your first instructable!

[mickydee]

This setup would make a great small kid's car.. I don't notice much drift once the castors true up.. I imagine you would put in a steering wheel, if you built a car, so yhe only controls you would need would be forward and reverse. My motors are 13 amp each. They can run on either 12 or 24 volts. Top speed would be slower with 12 volts.
I tried it on 12 and didn't seem to lose much power. I think the range would suffer though. Great idea! let me know if you build one and maybe I will build yours for my grand kids.
mickydee

[dubdryver]

I actually don't have any kids, but I like entertaining my friend's! I think they would have a ball with such a thing! There are parks near by and we could go riding around. It just all around seems like a very cool project!
It will have to probably wait until this winter when there isn't as much activity going on, that way it could be ready for spring!

I would actually prefer the remote control over a steering wheel so that "we" the grown ups would have control over the vehicle. They like to rid their bikes into things, and occasionally people!

I would probably work towards aluminum, fiberglass reenforced wood, or steel butted tubing similiar to what is used on bikes to reduce the weight some, and add some efficiency. I have quite a bit of time ahead to brainstorm the process. I am just thankful for your footwork into the "meat" of the project which is where all my questions would have been. Anyone can build a box car, but making it electric and remote controlled is where it becomes fun!

Thanks again Micky, Best Regards!

Josh

[ducktape100]

cool how long did it take you to make it

[mickydee]

I didn't really keep time when I built this. Mocking up and building the. frame took two Saturdays. Taking the wheel chair apart took a couple days. Thinking and planning took ar least a week. Add another couple weeks for assembly and electronics testing
I guess it probably took about a month
mickydee

[ducktape100]

cool that did not take that long

[simplistik]

Any chance of getting some info/pictures on how you designed the kill switch of your project?

[mickydee]

If you look at Step 4 of the ible you will see where it is located. I just stripped the guts of the kill switch that comes with the motor and fitted a SPST push / pull in it's place.
Cut the lead from the ignition coil and put it in series with ground. thru the switch.
You can mount it anywhere you want but this keeps the leads short.

Hope this will help
mickydee

[johndavid400]

Very nice Sir,
A good idea is a good idea....
I would also like to be like you when I grow up.

[mickydee]

Hello J D
Just to let you know ,You instructable was the reason I bought my first Arduino Uno
I tried to build your controller and H-Bridge. but it was just too much for me. I decided to build something that the average guy tinkering in his shop could build.
Thanks for the comment and the inspiration.
mickydee

[hightekrednek2396]

i bought my arduino to make his project too im gonna mash yours and jds together so its rc and has a seat

[Jollyrgr]

Dumb question. Why couldn't the frame be made out of 2x4 (treated) lumber? Every one of the RC mower projects I see use steel tubing. Yes, steel is stronger but is it really needed?

[mickydee]

I made my mock up out of wood .I didn't pay much attention to strength and used long dry wall screws for attachments. I think it would work for awhile I think if you braced it well, it might holdup. I was tempted to try that, but my buddy really wanted to weld it up. As he had a supply of steel tubing on hand we went ahead with the metal frame. Try it, if it doesn't work you will have the templates to make a metal chassis
Good Luck
mickydee.

[pietzeekoe]

If only I could find a cheap used wheelchair chassis....

[Kiteman]

An excellent first Instructable, sir, and I hope to see many more.

It would also be great fun to see a video of this in action.

[mickydee]

Kitrman
I just figured it out and posted a short video at the tail end of my ible.
Take a look and let me know what you think
mickydee

[Kiteman]

That's perfect.

[mickydee]

I am basically learning everything even getting around my computer.
I will try to put a video on YouTube and try to embed it to my project.
Wish me luck
mickydee

[Kiteman]

>Good luck<

(You may be able to find a member of the younger generations to help you.)

[mickydee]

I hope to include videos soon. This is the first time with this program and I can"t figure out how to upload videos. All the videos from my camera (Panasonic 35mm)are too large for the 10 meg limit in the program. There must be a way around this. Would appreciate any help
mickeydee

[Kiteman]

This site doesn't actually host videos.

The easiest thing to do is to upload your video to YouTube or similar, then embed the video here.

[mickydee]

I appreciate your comments. Some of this stuff is over my head. My Grandson is due to come home from Duke in a few weeks, and I think he will be able to solve all my problems. You are right these kids today were born with a computer in their hands
mickydee

[orangeoverlord]

This is just the coolest thing ever!

[HMBeck]

You are awesome!

[mickydee]

Thank you for the comment and your thoughts
mickydee

[i_made_that]

Great idea for a project, nicely written ible too. Thank you for posting.