"Merry Muscles" scaling success.

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private1

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51N3BV2mT1M

Following up the thread here:
https://www.adisc.org/forum/showthread.php/106963

Previously I had asked for help in finding a Special Needs Merry Muscles, since the manufacturer had discontinued them. One employee told me that the heavy-duty hardwarey bits on the "MEAS" where necessary to hold larger users, but a second employee told me the product had been discontinued because people were buying them for older children who did not have special needs. The first excuse (weight) was basically telling me that a product they used to make was actually impossible. The second excuse just seemed stupid - the response to a larger-than-expected additional market for your product should be "Hurray! More money!" as opposed to becoming so offended that you discontinue the product altogether!

Anyhow, in my previous thread, I was looking for a "Special Needs" model that I could disassemble and scale.

I got my hands on one, and have spent a couple months tweaking. A few trips to JoAnn Fabric, Home Depot, and a bicycle shop has yielded two very nice working prototypes.

The original "Special Needs" model is smaller than I had pictured. At 120 lbs I can BARELY force myself into it - it would comfortably fit up to maybe an 80lb kid. This is the model that "Paige" told me could not exist, because the additional heavy-duty hardware was necessary to hold a larger/older child.

SO MUCH FOR THAT. My clone is very similar in design/material/construction and has adequately held up to 160 lbs.

Here's a video I got today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51N3BV2mT1M
 
This is awesome! Great work! ♡

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Good work looks like fun I still use the special needs jumper. To do this the sides were made longer by fitting in some blue fabric on each side. By doing this I can do up two rows of snaps on each side and works well as I am 175 lbs. Did change the support ring with half inch copper pipe and fittings./

bn3baby
 
bn3baby, I thought of this, but just lengthening the side panels is not the same as scaling the whole thing. The overall shape of the seat supports/cradles baby in just such a way, being slightly wider than the user's back, and a larger user is now wider than that design. Simply making the front and back further away from one another does not solve this problem.

Picture if you will a small chair that fits a 4-year-old perfectly. Attempting to sit in that chair will be unpleasant at best. Now make that chair longer, front-to-back, without altering the width. You can now sit on this chair, yes, but it is more of a bench used 90 degrees around than a chair.

I got the special needs MM I was looking for. At my size (5'2" 120lbs, 30" waist) it just sorta kind almost works. I was looking for something that would fit me and work as well and comfortably as the baby one does for babies. I wasn't looking to be hung by a thong.
 
Looking at now your jumper is made it's almost like the one I have but mine has snaps down the two sides so I can get in and out see old photos.

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Reading one of the old threads that comes up when you search for "merry muscles," https://www.adisc.org/forum/showthread.php/88608-Merry-Muscles-Special-Needs-Bouncer, that is one you had scaled by another company (whose website no longer exists). You posted those same pictures, but also some pictures of the (blue) original, which is very definitely narrower overall.

"Forever A Kid" may have done a great job on the one they scaled for you, but "Forever A Kid" no longer seems to exist...

I am going to put together another one today, perhaps different material as an experiment... I intend to try zippers on the sides, provided JoAnn has any suitable ones in stock...
 
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I made another one out of some sort of knit material from Joann... sooo perfect...

... zippers were a bad idea though.
 
Okay, this stirs so many feelings in me, so, bare with me while I put my thoughts together? Good.

Do you know how much easier AB/Little, and, to a degree, DL, life is because disabled people exist?

Things like the Merry Muscles, adult high-chairs, low feeder seats, bath chairs, bouncy seats, potty seats, spout cups, full-support swing seats, gait trainers, (the closest thing to an AB walker that exists), car seats, and strollers, to name a few.

All these exist, because disabled people do, so, on behalf of all of us, you're welcome. But something understandable also happens when making some of these things. They're not joy-joy play things; they're medical equipment, so, every effort is made to make their medical equipmentness obvious. Well, I happen to be both, dang it!

The jogger strollers do the best job not looking medical, followed by the car seats, if you don't go adding postural and positioning supports to them. The full-support swing seats are okay too, but again, don't add a headrest.

The foot rests on adult convaid strollers, and most other adult sized umbrella strollers are a dead bloody giveaway they're medical equipment. If you ever see me drink from an adult spout cup, shoot me. Those things are as ugly as homemade sin! They're also ridiculously expensive, because makers know people need them so badly, they can overcharge. Those bouncy seats. Could you get any more medical looking? All but one potty seat I've seen looks more like a torture device, and don't get me started on the bath chairs. Now, I get it. I do. I'm disabled. I know why every bloomin' strap is on the bath chair, and why combination shower/potty chairs look like torture devices, but it makes Li'l' me wanna cry. Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?
 
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SpAzpieSweeTot said:
Okay, this stirs so many feelings in me, so, bare with me while I put my thoughts together? Good.

Do you know how much easier AB/Little, and, to a degree, DL, life is because disabled people exist?

Things like the Merry Muscles, adult high-chairs, low feeder seats, bath chairs, bouncy seats, potty seats, spout cups, full-support swing seats, gait trainers, (the closest thing to an AB walker that exists), car seats, and strollers, to name a few.

All these exist, because disabled people do, so, on behalf of all of us, you're welcome. But something understandable also happens when making some of these things. They're not joy-joy play things; they're medical equipment, so, every effort is made to make their medical equipmentness obvious. Well, I happen to be both, dang it!

The jogger strollers do the best job not looking medical, followed by the car seats, if you don't go adding postural and positioning supports to them. The full-support swing seats are okay too, but again, don't add a headrest.

The foot rests on adult convaid strollers, and most other adult sized umbrella strollers are a dead bloody giveaway they're medical equipment. If you ever see me drink from an adult spout cup, shoot me. Those things are as ugly as homemade sin! They're also ridiculously expensive, because makers know people need them so badly, they can overcharge. Those bouncy seats. Could you get any more medical looking? All but one potty seat I've seen looks more like a torture device, and don't get me started on the bath chairs. Now, I get it. I do. I'm disabled. I know why every bloomin' strap is on the bath chair, and why combination shower/potty chairs look like torture devices, but it makes Li'l' me wanna cry. Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?

Being physically/developmentally disabled, adult potty chair, bathing bench, side safety rails, and push rollator walker are necessary.
I wish I had a "bouncer" my own size.
Besides exercise, it would aid in stimming/emotional regulation.
 
SpAzpieSweeTot said:
Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?

Is there a model of jumper you'd like me to try up-scaling next?

I would LOVE to get my hands on the old Johnny Jump-Up Deluxe... not the regular, not the modern one with the metal frame... this was a canvas deal, with wooden bars on front and back (not the plastic one) and NOT the yellow version...

The "Sassy Seat" jumper looks cool, as do a couple models from "Today's Kids" . . .

I personally think the Merry Muscles is awesome, having been in it quite a bit, but I'm more than willing to try scaling a different one too.

- - - Updated - - -

caitianx said:
I wish I had a "bouncer" my own size.
Besides exercise, it would aid in stimming/emotional regulation.

That might be doable...
 
private1, I hope l didn't make you feel bad. Not my intention. :hug: I dunno. I shall have to look at some baby bouncers, it seems.

Hey, flaghouse.com actually has some bouncy seats, one called the bouncer lounger, the other called the bouncing chair, I believe, but don't quote me. They'd actually be cool, if they weren't medical blue, and so. . . I dunno. Just peep them out.
 
SpAzpieSweeTot said:
private1, I hope l didn't make you feel bad. Not my intention. :hug: I dunno. I shall have to look at some baby bouncers, it seems.

Hey, flaghouse.com actually has some bouncy seats, one called the bouncer lounger, the other called the bouncing chair, I believe, but don't quote me. They'd actually be cool, if they weren't medical blue, and so. . . I dunno. Just peep them out.

I looked at the Flaghouse bouncer lounger and that's a little beyond my income. I do like my Merry Muscles bouncers don't need anything else.

bn3baby
 
SpAzpieSweeTot said:
private1, I hope l didn't make you feel bad. Not my intention. :hug: I dunno. I shall have to look at some baby bouncers, it seems.

Hey, flaghouse.com actually has some bouncy seats, one called the bouncer lounger, the other called the bouncing chair, I believe, but don't quote me. They'd actually be cool, if they weren't medical blue, and so. . . I dunno. Just peep them out.

... feel bad? trust me, you'll need to try an awful lot harder to do that!

Seriously though, I didn't design the Merry Muscles, I just scaled it up and found that it is, actually, the most awesome, least unpleasant bouncy contraption design I've seen. The MEAS (their current youth/adult offering) is horrendous, but I find the design they're currently pushing for infants (which the old 'special needs' one was based on) to be acceptable.

Something like flaghouse's "Bouncer Lounger" (but obviously less-medicaly) would be an interesting project... more accurately a scaled-up version of the baby product it's similar to... I'd have to find one to model after... The fabric part should be easy enough but I do wonder what material I can get my hands on for the frame that is suitably bouncy/flexy and not at all breaky...
 
private1 said:
... feel bad? trust me, you'll need to try an awful lot harder to do that!

Seriously though, I didn't design the Merry Muscles, I just scaled it up and found that it is, actually, the most awesome, least unpleasant bouncy contraption design I've seen. The MEAS (their current youth/adult offering) is horrendous, but I find the design they're currently pushing for infants (which the old 'special needs' one was based on) to be acceptable.

Something like flaghouse's "Bouncer Lounger" (but obviously less-medicaly) would be an interesting project... more accurately a scaled-up version of the baby product it's similar to... I'd have to find one to model after... The fabric part should be easy enough but I do wonder what material I can get my hands on for the frame that is suitably bouncy/flexy and not at all breaky...

Oh, I know you didn't make the Merry Muscles, because, I'm 100% sure, if you had, it'd look better. Hell, if any of us had, it'd look better. I was mad at the manufacturers, not you.

as far as other jumpers, all the ones I like don't seem to be made anymore. 2 things I do like. Pink, in every shade, hue, and variety, punctuated with purple and yellow, and an activity tray thing with toys. I'm not gonna get graphic, but I can't stand and support myself well enough to squat. . . Soooo, my hands are gonna need something to do. Only here would I ever say that :lol:
 
Well,

I'm not sure if you use cad, i use fusion 360, its free for personal use...

Anyhow, as for loads in the beams, I'd use either laminated (microlam) wood, or like 6061 aluminum...either if scaled up should do the job, and aluminum should be able to be much smaller, I'd say 1x3 would easily support 3 people on a 24" center...

Pm me if you need a couple pieces or 6061 cut/welded i have plenty in stock...can mail you some...
 
Bigbabybret said:
I'm not sure if you use cad, i use fusion 360, its free for personal use...

Anyhow, as for loads in the beams, I'd use either laminated (microlam) wood, or like 6061 aluminum...either if scaled up should do the job, and aluminum should be able to be much smaller, I'd say 1x3 would easily support 3 people on a 24" center...

did I miss something?
 
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