About Freedom NXT Wheelchairs
As you can see in the image to the right, a typical Freedom NXT wheelchair is a simple manual chair. We come across them regularly and they are rather easy to work with however they are usually small in size. They also have a tilting seat system as part of their design.
Type of frame
1 inch round tube (often with the seat-pan on the top of the tube)
The Frame Clamp Required on Freedom NXT
It could be any of the clamps listed below:
- “Gold Body” clamp #1 1″ Round Tube SIDE MOUNT
- “Gold Body” clamp #2 1″ Round Tube FRONT SIDE MOUNT
- “Black Body” clamp #1 1″ Round Tube NARROW SIDE MOUNT
- Bolt-through Technique #1 – Small MultiHole Plate with Round Tube Adapters
- Bolt-through Technique #2 – Medium MultiHole Plate with Round Tube Adapters
Where It Is Attached
There is a tilting seat mechanism built into these chairs so attachment is usually onto the seat-base frame – see our article Mounting Onto Tilting Seat Wheelchairs for more details.
How WE Do It
Each one of the above clamps and attachment techniques work with NXT chairs.
The one that works best for your NXT chair setup will depend on the chair, however we always start with what is the simplest, which is the regular 1″ Round Side Mount Clamp.
As the name suggests, we’re looking to attach to the SIDE of the tubing, it just happens to be the underside!
Common Side Mount Obstacles and Obstructions on Freedom NXT
NXT wheelchairs have 1 inch round tubing and bolt holes along the seat-base framework of the chair. There are often space issues and obstacles that can make a standard 1″ Round Tube Side Mount Frame Clamp difficult to position.
These obstacles can include pelvic belt straps, armrest attachments, seat-pan clips or the tilt mechanism to name just a few.
There can also be obstructions on the inside of the seat-base tubing, like weld spots and other fixing hardware. Sometimes the vehicle tie downs may get in the way too.
Each one of these technical challenges can lead to using a different clamp however it’s still going to be a Side Mount Clamp or a Bolt-through option.
“Tool Space”
Are there issues with getting a 5mm Allen Wrench to the back of the clamp from the underside of the chair?
If so, then the FRONT SIDE MOUNT CLAMP is easier to attach as the attachment bolts are on the front of the clamp (as the name suggest).
The bolts are underneath the Inner Piece Adapter (IPA) which is a black, beveled ring bolted onto all these clamps. The IPA creates the bind between the clamp and the parts that come next ( and is also one of the original key aspects of all DAESSY Mounts)
The trick with the FRONT SIDE MOUNT Clamp is making sure it’s hanging plumb before it’s tightened up. Accessing the tightening bolts underneath the IPA to adjust after the mount is constructed requires a full strip-down back to those bolts. Believe us, that’s a frustrating job.
We carry a very small spirit level in our kit-bags to check it’s plumb before ratcheting down the bolts and installing the Inner Piece Adapter over the top of them.
“Tube Space”
Is there enough linear space on the tubing for the SIDE MOUNT or FRONT SIDE MOUNT Clamps?
Some NXT frames don’t have much available space on the tubing. For example, when a seat-pan clip, harness point or the tilt mechanism are close together.
In those cases, consider the more compact 1 inch Round NARROW SIDE MOUNT Frame Clamp. Both the “gold body” clamps require 5.5cm of clearance along a straight run of wheelchair tubing. The NARROW SIDE MOUNT Clamp only needs 4 cm and can literally get you out of a pinch. Literally!
“Sharing Space”
There are times when the best place for attaching the clamp is also the best place for anchoring something else. Usually this is some sort of harness or lap-belt lug point impeding attachment or existing fixing hardware or other aspect of the chair making it physically impossible to get a round clamp around the tube.
In such examples, we can use a “bolt-through” technique taking advantage of the holes that already exist in the frame tubing of the chair. The hardware to do so is a MultiHole Plate and Round Tube Adapters.
As pictured above, the Round Tube Adapters are two pairs of small parts with a 1″ radius, which sit on the inside and outside of the chairs tubing, over the top of one hole each. By design, the holes along the top of the MultiHole Plate match the spacing of the holes in the wheelchair tubing so the use of paired Round Tube Adapters turns a round surface into a flat surface to which the MultiHole Plate is attached.
This is then the anchor point for the rest of the mount.
In the example below, the seat tilt mechanism attaches right in the middle of the “tube space” remaining (image 5). This meant a round tube clamp couldn’t be used like in image 1 above. The Round Tube Adapters came to the rescue by using the holes on either side of the tilt mechanism bolt and building across it with the MultiHole Plate (images 6 to 8). A shifting spanner was helpful in tightening the RTAs on the inside (image 8).
The end result was a very solid anchor point for our mount kit (image 9).
We also come prepared with a box of washers to “pack out” any imbalances we may find, like when a belt clip needs to be accommodated in the attachment setup.
Installation of your Mount Kit to your Freedom NXT
Once the Frame Clamp is installed, no matter which method is used to do so, the rest of the Mount Kit is installed as per the requirements of the kit being used.
The frame clamp is the anchor of the mount kit and the part that connects your mounted technology to your chair. Making sure the best method is used, attached in the right way is very important to the stability of the kit, access to that mounted technology and safety of the person using it.
