Affordable and Safe Foldable Crutches

Intro: Affordable and Safe Foldable Crutches

These Crutches can be made from regular Crutches, and a section of Aluminium Tube.

You can make a pair of these in half an hour.

I hope to make a more step-by-stepish Instructable, soon, with the help of some Fab-Lab... ;)

You just need a Tube Cutting tool, a Riveter, an extra Aluminium Tube, a pair of rivets, and a rubber band, or whatever to keep the thing together, when folded.

STEP 1: How It's Made

This is all you need to make a pair of fold-able Crutches that are affordable, and you can trust, since this uses the same set-up as the height regulation, two holes in witch a pair of holding pins with a spring will snap onto.

Not shown above is the separate tube section, that is there, but already riveted.

STEP 2: Folded

A normal height-adjusted Crutch is made of a telescopic set of 2 Aluminium tubes where the thinner fits into the larger, the thinner tube has just 2 holes, and a spring with 2 pins snapped into those holes.

When the pins are fit into the larger tube's series of pairs of holes, the set becomes a solid crutch of a certain height.

So I use that same system to separate the Crutch in 2, and then, re-assemble the Crutch.

Here's the thing, folded.

The 2 parts of the Folding Crutch separate above the height adjustment holes, and snap into either the top pair of holes, or an extra pair of holes. an extra spring-and-pins piece is plugged into a new section of thinner tube, and that section is riveted into the larger tube.

STEP 3: Snapped

To use the Crutches, just plug the thing together, the pins will snap onto the holes, and that's that!

STEP 4: Here You Go.

Now. use them as any crutch... But these, you can carry into your Car, the Subway, etc. without the hassle of the old ones.

Comments

[antioch]

Awesome, I'd love to see more 'ibles of this kind that could help people in need! Looking forward to the detailed version but the idea is inspiration enough.

[Edgar]

Glad you've liked it. :)
Do you think a Sketchup 3D series of images would suffice to make a decent step-by-step?

[antioch]

I'm sure they'll suffice although personally, I'd prefer a photographed step-by-step walkthrough since so far pretty much all the sketchup image series on Instructables were rather crude and cryptic.

I can see how easy it is to get disappointed when approaching a hospital with this idea. I don't think hospitals have much interest in supporting or promoting this.
You might have better chances when dealing with non-profit organizations that exclusively care for the poor.

[Edgar]

Yes, anyone can build one, now.

[Kiteman]

That's a cool idea, thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to the step-by-step.

[Edgar]

I have to find a Fablab that wants to make one of those...

[Kiteman]

Why not approach a local hospital or private clinic?

[Edgar]

Been there, done that. No success. Why?

Portugal's "elites", that's why. Inferiority complex viewed as "enlightenment".

[Kiteman]

Sounds like you had a bad experience.

Is it trite to suggest there are other hospitals in other countries? Or that you make a "cottage industry" out of converting them for patients yourself, like a crutch garage?

[Edgar]

Not trite, and I appreciate your concern. But now, I'm betting on my Nerf Rifle, so maybe one day I might have the money to make those crutches...