Author: Erica Charbonneau / Source: Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers
A friend needed a wheelchair for their French Bulldog at short notice. They were unable to afford the costly commercial wheelchairs available online. I rose to the occasion to design something for an adorable dog, and the results were fantastic.
Murray loved her chair!I’ve since built two other chairs for dogs, and I’ve worked on iterating on what I call the “FiGO” design and documentation to encourage dog owners to tackle this project for their pet in need.
This device uses parametrically designed 3D printed joint pieces that fit into acrylic or aluminum tubing. The tubing can be easily customized to the dog for both fit and style, and the 3D printed pieces can also be personalized via the Customizer application on Thingiverse. Currently screw size, tube outer diameter, wheel angle, and your dog’s measurements can be input to view a rendering of your dog’s custom wheelchair. However, the standard pieces are available for download on Thingiverse. I’m working on making the pieces resizable based on your dog’s weight for added strength (currently you can do this by manually scaling the pieces).
All the other materials used in the project can be sourced locally at a hardware store or online on amazon.com.
1. MEASURE YOUR PET
In order to determine what size your wheelchair frame needs to be, you’ll have to measure your pet properly.
The diagram above depicts the three measurements that need to be taken. Measurement A is the width of your pet, measurement B is the height of your pet from the ground to the top of their shoulder bone, and measurement C is the length of your pet from chest to tail.
Once you have these measurements, you’ll need to do a few simple calculations to determine the lengths of tubing that will be required for your FiGO wheelchair. You will need 6 pieces of tubing, cut to the following lengths:
» 2 width tubes: measurement A plus 1″
» 2 length tubes: measurement B minus the radius of your chosen wheel, then minus 1″
» 2 height tubes: measurement C minus 2″
I have created a simple Google spreadsheet that does these calculations for you as you input your dog’s measurements. Click on File→Save a Copy to edit the file for yourself.
2. 3D PRINT THE JOINTS
Print all 10 of the joint pieces, A–E (Figure ). You’ll print 2 each of A, C, D, and E; these pieces are identical on either side of the wheelchair.
The B piece comes in two versions, mirrored for left and right sides. Print one of each (both files are provided on Thingiverse in the files section).
3. BUILD THE FIGO FRAME
Take both of your A pieces and a width tube, and slide an A piece onto each end of the tube. Make sure the tabs that will be used for the straps are facing in the direction pictured.
Next connect both A pieces to both length tubes.
Slide both B pieces down the length tubes leaving about 1″ or so between B and A (this will change depending on your chair size, and you can easily adjust…
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