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Hello and welcome to küschallTV
This is a tutorial on how to set your küschall Advance
active wheelchair to its perfect driving performance, getting the best out of it.
The adjustments and settings shown in this tutorial have to be
performed by educated küschall providers/technicians.
This video is not a replacement for the corresponding instructions in the service manual.
If you are a user of the küschall Advance® and want to have the settings
on your wheelchair changed, please refer to your küschall provider.
Küschall AG cannot be held liable of any injury or accident,
caused directly or indirectly by any form of misinterpretation of this tutorial.
The küschall Advance is an outstanding rigid active wheelchair.
Stepless adjustability for most of the settings means fine-tuning
to the millimeter, resulting in impressive performance.
Learn how to accomplish this to perfection.
The more efforts you put into adjusting, the better your küschall Advance will perform.
During the next minutes we will deal with the following topics:
How to adjust the front wheel supporters and the forks in verticality and drift angle
What is to be paid attention to when adjusting the center of gravity
How to ensure absolute parallelism of the rear wheels
Some important info on air pressure, wheels and quick release axles
How to set the backrest locking mechanism to a perfect position
How to change the tension of the carbon seat plate
Let’s start with the adjustment of the front wheel supporters and the forks
Of course, the verticality of the castor angle has to be guaranteed in all cases,
for example when the seat angle is changed.
Therefore, the two screws at the steering head can be used for stepless adjustment
Turn the fork into driving direction.
Check the verticality by applying a spirit level at the short vertical front side of the fork.
All measurements with a spirit level require the wheelchair
to be put on a horizontal surface! Check with your spirit level first.
The supporters of the küschall Advance are not only height adjustable
but can turn around the axis of the frame tube.
This is a unique feature to enable you to adjust the drift angle of the castors.
A guarantee for brilliant directional stability.
This drift angle can be corrected at any time if required.
The aim is to have the forks and the front wheels in a 90° angle to the floor,
not drifting to either one or the other side.
You find the right position of the supporters
by turning the whole wheelchair on its back first, so the front frame is horizontal.
The supporters have a flat outside surface between the screw heads.
This flat surface should be parallel to the side of the frame resp.
the side of the carbon seat module. In this position of the wheelchair,
you can take a spirit level and apply it at the flat outside of the supporters.
This indicates the parallelism to the side of the frame.
By turning the supporter around the frame axis,
you can set it according to the spirit level. Now the supporter is set right.
Do a last check at the castor wheels. They have to stand in a 90° position to the floor.
Maybe some additional fine-tuning is necessary.
There is one more very important setting about the forks,
namely the ease of turning.
If the forks are turning very easily, that is good for maneuvering on the spot
but at the same time, too easy turning can result
in flattering of the forks at higher speed. Here you can see how to test it.
Too tight forks though simply consume too much energy
when turning on the spot or maneuvering around.
The right setting looks like this: The fork will turn half way around when pushed,
but it will find the opposite position very quickly.
Now a last check: Test the rolling resistance of the castor wheels.
The resistance has to be equal. If one wheel is easier to turn than the other,
you have created a three-wheeler with a bad directional stability.
In that case you have to raise or lower one of the supporters on the frame.
Now, after we have done all the settings on the supporters and forks,
this part of the wheelchair is perfectly set.
The center of gravity adjustment has to be done individually in each single case,
and it is accomplished by moving the vertical braces forward or backward.
The Advance offers an easy and stepless way for adjusting
the center of gravity thanks to its unique slot nut system.
Simply loosen 4 screws at the braces and move them parallel forward
or backward to the desired position.
Make sure the wheelchair stays symmetrical by measuring
the distances between the braces and end of seat module to the millimeter on both sides.
Alternatively you can use the markings printed on the seat module.
Rigid wheelchairs with camber bars need to be adjusted in parallelism of the rear wheels.
This adjustment also is called “track”. This has to be done each time
camber bar was moved or turned in its fixation or when the seat angle was changed.
Absolute parallelism is required to ensure a perfect driving performance.
When the axle is turned to the front,
the wheels will come closer at the front of the wheelchair.
This is called “toe-in”. If the axle is too much turned to the back,
the wheels will open in the front which is called “toe-out”.
In both cases, the performance decreases, but especially
the toe-out position dramatically influences the performance in a bad way.
To ensure parallelism, simply measure the vertical distance
from the floor to the center of the wheel axle.
You need this measure as a fix for measuring at the rear and at the front of the wheels.
Now, take this level of height in the rear at one wheel
and take the exact horizontal distance to the opposite wheel.
Repeat this procedure at the front of the wheelchair.
The distance must be equal.
If not you can correct it by turning the camber bar very slightly.
A loose camber bar cannot only turn around forward or backward
but it can also be moved horizontally to the left and to the right in its fixations.
Make sure that the distances on the left and right side of the vertical braces
is equal before you tighten the screws.
Also, check and make sure that the vertical distance of the fixations are the same.
Again, thanks to the stepless adjustability, accuracy to the millimeter is possible.
In the end you want to have a fully symmetrical camber bar
in three dimensions: horizontally, vertically and regarding the own turning axis.
Let’s have a look at the tires and the rear wheels now.
No matter how great the wheelchair might be,
if the air pressure in the tires is too low, the chair will not perform well at all.
On küschall wheelchairs mostly high-pressure rear wheel tires are used,
next to the option of puncture proof ones.
High pressure means minimum 6 bars up to 10 bars, depending on the tire.
Valves are so called Schrader valves in most cases,
those are the same like on your car tire.
You find the required minimum and the possible maximum pressure on each sidewall of a tire.
In general, a maximum pressure will provide the least rolling resistance
and therefore better performance but less comfort on uneven ground.
Less pressure means more resistance and less performance but some more comfort.
For the Advance it is highly recommended to go for maximum pressure,
because the rear part of the carbon seat module can compensate some of the shocks,
created by uneven ground. So comfort is guaranteed, even with high pressure.
The quick release axles connect the rear wheels with the wheelchair.
For accomplishing a minimum play when mounted, they are adjustable in length.
Normally, there is no need for adjustment,
as the length will remain, once it is set correctly.
But when you check the tolerance of sideways movement of the rear wheels
and you find a distinct play, you should re-adjust the axles.
Too short axles are dangerous as they will not securely lock
and the wheel may come off the chair when in use.
Too long axles increase the sideways play of the wheels too much
and so the driving performance decreases.
The right adjustment will enable the axles to securely lock in position
but the wheels will have almost no sideways play.
The backrest folding mechanism of the küschall Advance
needs fine adjustment after a change in the backrest angle.
There are supporting screws at the bottom of the backrest tubes
which are vital important for the stability of the backrest folding mechanism.
The correct setting is like this:
In the very moment when the locking mechanism snaps in,
the supporting screw should touch the screw head from the carbon seat module.
Let’s have a look at the tension adjustable seat module.
Under the seat you find a wide Velcro strap.
If you give more space with this strap, you can determine how deep
the carbon stripes can bend down and the seat cushion will sink down in the rear,
for accomplishing good pressure distribution in combination with the seat cushion.
If you tighten the strap, it will decrease the possibility to shape the seat module.
This adjustability is used for both: Adapting to the user weight
and to the desired way of sitting more on the seat
or in the seat (depending on the kind of cushion used).
The dampening effect of this system enables the user to drive with high pressure tires,
fully pumped up to 10 bars, and still having a soft ride for the pelvis and upper body.
After you have done all these adjustments,
the küschall Advance is ready to go and you will benefit from its high potential.
It’s all worth it. You will see…
Here you see the 30 meters long hallway at the entrance of the küschall factory in Switzerland.
Let’s test what the küschall Advance can do!
At the very end of this hallway, we start to propel,
giving it just 3 or 4 pushes on a distance of 5 meters.
And now watch: the remaining 25 meters the küschall Advance
just runs and runs and runs, completely straight and without any additional push!
Thanks for watching this tutorial!
We will be back with more topics, soon.
Have a nice day! Your küschall-team!