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Construction Notes |
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Base |
| The base
is made from 3/4" CDX ply baseboard, cut to suit
the profile of the skirt section, with a 6mm MDF
strip added to the outer 50mm to raise the
overall height and form a lip in which to sit
the skirt unit. |
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A fibreglass
cowling was made in strips, cut to fit the
contour of the base. These were fibreglassed
together with a steel strap core at the joints
for added strength. |
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2 x 100mm
swivel castors are fitted at the front of the
unit, and a single 100mm swivel castor is fitted
at the rear for added stability. |
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The baseboard
is fitted to the underside of the base unit, as
is a footwell housing a 150mm speaker cabinet
for sound output - sound quality turned out to
be rubbish - sounds like you're in a dustbin,
but there was nowhere else to put it. |
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Mobility |
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This comes
in the form of an old electric wheelchair,
stripped down and the drive motors mounted on a
custom built chassis. Powered by two 12 volt
deep cycle golf buggy batteries, the chassis is
bolted to the underside of the base, and the
ride height adjusted to give 25mm ground
clearance. |
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The chassis
is built from welded 20mm box section steel with
mounting plates for the two wheelchair drive
units, and utilises the original wheelchair seat
(which was more by luck than judgement) The
power unit and wiring is mounted on a
fibreglassed MDF board fitted vertically behind
the drive units. |
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The
batteries are mounted at the rear of the unit
and can be charged either in situ or removed. A
third battery is installed under the seat to
provide power for the lights and audio. |
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The control
arm is bolted to the right hand side of the
chassis. This was mainly due to the length (or
lack of it) of the 12 cored control cable.
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Power |
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The third
battery is wired to a fused distribution panel
mounted in the front of the skirt with standard
2.5mm DC power sockets and plugs used to make
the necessary connections. |
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A 150mm
180watt car speaker unit is housed in a 9mm MDF
cabinet which fits centrally into the footwell -
the speaker faces forward and downwards. |
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Ring Modulator |
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This
modulator system consists of three units in one
- the voice modulator, an 18 watt amplifier and
a sound to light circuit to flash the dome
lights in sequence with the voice. |
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The mic
socket can also be switched to run an MP3 player
instead, allowing pre-recorded audio/sounds to
be used instead of live audio. |
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To get the
best from the modulator it is still necessary to
speak in a Dalek type, monotone voice - speaking
normally just doesn't do it. |
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