On The Right Tracks: Electric Wheelchair Guts Find New Life As Tank

Every hacker has dreamt of building their own tank at some point. Or maybe that’s just us. [Peter Sripol] and [Sam Foskuhl] have built one at a scale which is big enough to be rideable, but small enough that neighbors don’t get concerned.

An electric wheelchair is at the heart of the build. After ripping out its internals, the two motors with gearboxes are directly connected to the two tracks, allowing differential steering. Holding everything together is a solid welded steel frame – essential for years of reliable sieging.

The tracks themselves are simple strips of wood, cut and assembled by hand onto a nylon belt. Meanwhile the track wheels and drive assembly are designed in CAD and cut with a CNC router from some plywood, a great choice for adding some precision to the most mechanically challenging part of the build. As always in [Peter]’s videos, a large portion is dedicated to testing – in this case with a rather large array of fireworks. We certainly wouldn’t want to be in his bad books considering his other souped-up weapons.

A small, hacked, novelty electric vehicle? Sounds like it would find some good friends at EMF Camp, especially at the Hacky Racers event.

11 thoughts on “On The Right Tracks: Electric Wheelchair Guts Find New Life As Tank

  1. I think you have it in reverse, “swords into ploughshares”, or “tanks into wheelchairs”.

    When we were walking to New York City in 1982, Willow from Maine had to rude for a while, her artificial leg was cracking at the “knee” joint, so much walking. I thought of getting her some glue, but wasn’t sure what kind, and I worried that it might get in the joint and then it wouldn’t work either.

    She’d lost her leg to cancer, and apparently no money for artificial leg upkeep. But money for nuclear weapons.

    Michael

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