The SOLIDWORKS Magic Wheelchair build team has built to-scale replicas of real things before. When Savannah’s family requested the judges’ chair from The Voice, a popular singing competition, Albert Hernandez took to SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD with Cloud Services to get the design started.
He began by examining photos of the real chair from the TV show, which is rather large and spins when a button is hit. For Savannah’s safety, we decided to remove the spin mechanism, but Albert still wanted to make it as true to the show as possible while making it right for Savannah.
To do this, he changed the aspect ratio of the chair. This way it would fit around Savannah’s wheelchair and be appropriate for her height and size.
Albert designed the costume’s model as one solid piece. Knowing the chair would be manufactured out of foam, he sliced the chair into 2-inch pieces so teammate Sal Lama could machine the pieces on his CNC machine.
He also designed spots for magnets. Magic Wheelchair build teams have to get creative with how their epic costumes will fit together around the child’s wheelchair, and the SOLIDWORKS team has had great success with magnets. Learning from previous builds, Albert designed extra magnet spots so the team could pick and choose the best places for connection when the costume was actually put together.
For 3D-printed pieces, Albert had to make sure everything was 6-7 cubic inches large so they could fit on the print beds. He had to redesign the 3D-printed pieces a few times; as all engineers know, while parts may look good in CAD, in real life, there can be complications. When some of the 3D-printed pieces, like the U-shape around the chair and the racing stripes, didn’t fit correctly, the team had to decide if they would fix it manually or redo the CAD and reprint. “Most of the time, it’s easier to change the CAD and reprint the part,” said Albert. And, so they did.
Once all the foam was properly cut, the team got to work stacking them on top of each other in the correct orientation. How were those foam pieces kept together? With glue and skewers—easy stuff. The costume then had to be hand-shaped into the organic lines from the original chair; David Law and Annie Cheung took the lead on shaping the foam. After that, they cut the costume into three pieces so it could be assembled around Savannah’s wheelchair, and then it was time for hand coating and painting.
When asked which piece of the chair costume Albert liked the most, he said the footrest. “When we went to the dry fit, Savannah’s feet were hanging in the air,” he said. “We thought we measured correctly so the base could be the footrest, but we were off by a couple of inches.” In order for Savannah to be comfortable and not have the pressure on her legs, Albert designed the footrest. To personalize the costume a bit more—Savannah’s name was on the back of the chair, like The Voice judge—Albert added Savannah’s initials to the front of the footrest and made her name shine.
A piece of the costume Albert was also proud of was the electronics box. “It’s the first one we put in that fit,” he laughed. The chair’s frame is much smaller than previous builds, so there was nowhere to hide an electronics box like previous costumes; the box had to fit well. This time, he accounted for the electronics box and tucked it into the front of the frame. The box is designed to hold two PCBs and has places for a power supply and wires. The top of the box is magnetically attached, and the whole box is velcroed onto the base.
Overall, Albert thought the design came out really well. Looking at the final costume and how it shone in the Salem Haunted Happenings Parade, it’s hard to disagree.
Stay tuned to learn more about how the rest of the costume came together—the central podium, the electronics that brought the costume to life, and much more.
Help support Magic Wheelchair and amazing kiddos like Savannah!
SOLIDWORKS worked hard to make Savannah the most incredible costume ever and help the non-profit Magic Wheelchair achieve its goal of providing kids in wheelchairs with epic costumes and experiences. SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab are funding Savannah’s costume build in its entirety, but we invite our readers to support Magic Wheelchair in Savannah’s name! If you visit her classy.org page, you can donate directly to Magic Wheelchair and help support them and all the lives they touch with their great work.
Read about our previous Magic Wheelchair builds here.
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