Welding Chair Suggestions for Aging Dad

[Donal Harris]

Does anyone have a suggestion as to welding chairs which help a person with problems going from a standing position to seated and then back up?

[George N. M.]

My only suggestion other than a power or hydraulic seat which eases a person down or helps push them back up would be one with extended and raised extensions of the arms to allow the person to use their arm strength to assist seating or rising.  Your dad might be the person with the most relevant suggestions since he may know best what would help him.

Some sort of counter weight which would be raised as the person sits and could be released to help push them up might be a concept.  It would have to be carefully balanced to the person's weight and strength.  One person might only need a few pounds of assistance while someone else might require much more.

GNM

[Shainarue]

A chair used while welding or a chair fabricated using welding? 

A chair used while welding: is it possible to raise the table he welds at? If so, then a higher seated chair with stabilizing arms should be good. Not so high of a seat that he has to heft himself up. But high enough that he can basically just lean back into the chair. 

[Scott NC]

  How about modifying an Ez-lift chair, (throw a welding blanket over it) or a barber chair (hard to find, probably) to his needs?  Or model something similar if you build your own.  Lot's of safety considerations there, I suppose.  You could look up the mechanisms on the internet probably.

[JHCC]

What is the cause of his difficulty? Balance? Lack of leg strength? Missing limb? Knowing the specific issue might help with what we could recommend.

[Donal Harris]

Both rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. Not a lot of cushion in his spine. Same with his knees. Plantar fasciitis. Leg pain. AMI a couple of years ago. 
 

The guts of an EZ Lift chair or something similar using hydraulics instead of electric motors was my initial thought, but I am not an engineer. I work in a clinical lab. 

[JHCC]

My first thought would be something with a built-in counterweight that would reduce the amount of strength he'd need to get back upright, kind of like an oversized version of an old-fashioned postage scale:

(Just without the postal rates.)

[Scott NC]

  I still haven't looked but I imagine those ez lift chairs are just a simple scissor lift mechanism.  Most likely an acme thread and nut.   Barber chairs are probably hydraulic due to how they pump you up and glide you down.  If he has arm strenght, I would imagine Georges idea would be best.  But forward looking never hurts.

[Scott NC]

  I would only try this myself, due to liability, but another thought I had was to mount a small overhead electrical winch with cables going to four points on the chair.  Up/down.  If you had an overhead I beam and mount the winch on a trolley, he could move to different "work stations" as well.  Sometimes I think of "pie in the sky" ideas.

[JHCC]

Cool idea, like one of those sling seats suspended from a moveable arm that industrial powerhammer operators sometimes used.

[George N. M.]

I was thinking of something like elevator weights slidding up and down the back of the chair and a linkage to the seat which would rise and fall at an angle.  However, the engineering for that is not in my tool box.  If it were me, I'd just buy an eezee lift chair and see if medicare would pay for all or part of it as a medical appliance.

[Latticino]

Can't post a commercial link, but perhaps something like the VOCIC Lightweight Electric Lift Chair mounted on a very wide spread set of legs with casters?

[Donal Harris]

He has a gantry hoist in his shop. That was the first thing I thought of, but it only moves across the width of the shop and not forwards and back. It also lifts too slowly. Something like that would be a good thing for someone who is totally incapable of standing up on their own. 
 

I considered counter weights as well, but that seemed to be something which would work well to make him essentially weightless, but way too complex. 
 

What I think may work is something like this, assuming it moved quickly enough. Or maybe something like that with a spring which wouldn’t totally do all the work, but would serve as more of an assist. 
 

I have also considered going to a place that sells used office chairs, but all I have ever seen or used don’t do a good job at lowering smoothly. You press the lever and they all seem to just drop to the lowest point quickly. Then you have to sort of stand while pressing the lever again, at which point the chair rises too high and you have to try again. 
 

I am really surprised that with as many  Boomers and older Gen Xers as there are today, someone out there hasn’t already invented something to do this already. Seems like there would be a fairly good market for it. I need to keep him going out to his shop for as long as possible. As long as he is still able to get out and work in his shop, training his dogs, or down in South Texas or North Dakota bird hunting, I will still have him. 
 

This came about because he told me the smoker he was building would be his last. I told him it wasn’t and bought him another 8’ of 18” pipe. I told him that he may wake up tomorrow and just not feel like getting out of the house and when he does, he should just say, “Not this morning. Maybe later today.” And if he gets out there and feels done in after an hour, that is OK. He should just tell himself he is going to go take a break and will come out again later in the evening or maybe tomorrow. He should never think he’s made his last smoker, bird hunting trailer, press break, or any of the other things he has always been making. There will someday be a half finished this or that which I will find and finish once he is gone, but I am just not ready for that yet. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

If you do an internet search for this, it sounds just like what your father would need. Like the picture you posted above. It works with any chair and moves reasonably fast. One of the guys that I know had one and he loved it. It served him well for years, until he passed away. Sold by Amazon and other medical equipment stores. We are not allowed to post links to commercial sites.

Carex Premium Power 17 inch Chair Lift

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I just got to thinking about how Johnny had his set ups, after his accident (broken back) and it was too late to edit the above post.

He had a regular lift recliner in the living room to watch TV or just relax and read. In the kitchen he had one of the Carex lifter's in his chair at the table, where he could work on some of the projects he liked to do. Then out in his shop he had another one on a roll around mechanics seat. He had to use a cane or crutches to walk around with. Without the chair lifters he would need someone to help him get up & down, which I did often, like getting out of the car.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails.

[Frosty]

When I broke my leg curling last February I couldn't safely go up and down the stairs so was stuck in my recliner, unfortunately it was a major fight getting up out of it. Sooo Deb located a used lift chair, a rental that was for sale too. So we gave my old recliner away, a local church answered the free cycle add and now it lives in their shelter in the basement. 

This lift chair isn't terribly comfortable but I was able to get up without straining or rebreaking anything. 

The mechanism is really simple, a linear actuator and simple lever linkage that lifts and tilts or reclines and raised the foot rest.

Below is a not very clear pic. I'll find more lights for a better pic if you're interested in making a lift.

Something I thought of a while back was an inflatable seat cushion and an air tank. Crack the valve and it lifts you, open the bleeder and it lets you back down. A person could carry it easily and use it on any chair. Recharge the air tank with an air hose or bicycle pump even. You can get inflatable pillows and cushions at sporting goods stores. 

Frosty

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Love the Doxy there...whatcha doin...

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails.

[Frosty]

Yeah, that's Baxter he was wondering what I was doing on the floor. Ronnie is with Deb in Ninilchik at a AKC Scentwork trial, Then off to Kenai for a Nosework trial. Bax and I are on our own for a couple weeks, I'm never sure how long these things will last or what she'll decide to do instead of coming home. 

I went to the club meeting today and was getting ready to come home because my knee was aching sitting or standing. Just before I said adios one of the membrs asked if I'd help his daughter make a forged heart. The kind where you put tapered points on both ends of a piece of rod, fold it in half then open and scroll the ends into a heart. But of course ask me to teach someone how to do something I've never done. Worse Pat didn't have any thin round stock so we used round stock larger than 5/16 and not quite 3/8", maybe it was metric I don't know and didn't measure it. 

Anyway Lacy made her heart, the part I did to demo was wonkier than her half. . . Of course. 

My knees didn't hurt until we were done and I was saying good bye to Pat. Anyway, it was a great day and Lacy'll be back to the next meeting Father or not, her Mother said so.  

Frosty The Lucky.