Skeleton Shopping Cart R/C!

Skeletons drive a shopping cart. This project used an abandoned shopping cart, trashed electric scooter, discarded battery from trash and cheap radio control with a speed controller. Don't worry, the cart will be returned to the wild in better shape than when found.

Found materials:

Shopping Cart

Electric Scooter (2) (1 good motor)

Pallet Slats

16 Volt Battery

Purchased Parts:

Steering Servo

Radio Control

ESC

Zip Ties

Sheetrock Screws

L E D Light Strip 12volt

Plastic Skeletons (2)

Wig

Screw Eye Hook (2)

Miscellaneous:

Hot Glue

Craft Paint

Other Hardware (bolts, washers etc)

Tools:

Hand Saw

Wrenches

Hand Drill

Screwdrivers

Craft Paintbrush

Room to work

I found an abandoned shopping cart behind a dumpster at work. The plastic parts were chalky and no tag or logo was visible. I didn't know the origin of it but I kept all the pieces so I can return it to the wild. I really don't want to keep it anyway.

The wheels are removed as they are making way for the scooter parts which roll on the street much better than the cart's wheels. To make a base to attach things easily, scrap pallet slats were bolted on using the holes the wheels were in. Parts were drilled through and sheetrock screws hold the scooter motor frame and rear wheel on. Zip ties were used for the less structural parts.

I found the rear wheels needed to be as far apart as practical as this is a 3 wheeled vehicle and will tip over easily if not driven carefully. I would be better driving as a 4 wheeler, but I wanted the "T" handle for skeletons to hold on to for a more animated look.

This isn't a first try at radio control for newbees as there is some risk with a bigger battery like used here. I won't go into super detail here as the radio, esc, and servo have their own instructions. The battery supplies 16 volts to both the esc and servo. Both the servo and esc can supply 5 volts the the radio receiver. I label the wires as I go so I don't get lost. The gear is zip tied down onto a plastic foam pad and then zip to the cart's kid seat on top, easy to access.

The motor is designed for 24 volts but I run it on 16 volts to tone down the speed. The whole assembly was stripped down with just the motor, frame and chain drive left. The tires don't even need to hold air as the cart is very light. Mine were all running flat with no problem.

As far as safety goes, at your own risk. There is some circuit over current shutoff built into the esc, but it isn't something to lean on. I don't operate indoors and there is no switch to turn on, I just plug the battery in. The cart has turned over 3 times with no damage.

The battery is made up of 4 home brew packs I assembled from unused discarded lithium batteries from my job. They are plugged in parallel, so they add capacity but stay at 16 volts. In use, they didn't even get warm. The main connector is well worn "T" type. It unplugs very easy. If disaster strikes, I just pull the battery away and it comes off removing power. It sits in the kid seat on top. People don't come into contact with the cart.

The plastic skeletons were a bit plain, so they got a makeover. Hot glue around the eyes and some plastic eyeballs were added. Lips and teeth were built up also with hot glue and lashes made from a paint brush make old blue hair vogue. Cheap leftover craft paint sticks to the hot glue just fine.

The driver needed his fingers to be curved around the steering handle. That plastic doesn't bent very easy but it will if heated with a heat gun. Zip ties hold them in place.

The arm joints are't very flexable, so the screws were removed and zip ties hold the together loosely. This works very well.

A seat for the driver is just a small pallet slat and zip ties hold it in place. His pelvis is loosly tied to give room to wiggle.

It's fun to try to come up with a good pose for them, zip ties to the rescue. Cut and reposition until happy.

This being on 3 wheels, it can tip over if turning too tight or going too fast. I keep a close eye on traffic and people. It has reverse too so we can back out to make a wider turn if need be. To stop, there is plenty of rolling friction so it slows down quick enough.

Most parts were reused, found or adapted from other projects. This kept the cost reasonable. The servo, esc and radio are the main cost but are used over and over many times.

It's so rewarding to hear people laugh and say "no way!" or "That's so funny!" . Kids weren't afraid of it, I would drive along the street kinda' following them or approach the cars driver side as they stopped to let their kids out. People took lots of pictures.

As promised, the cart is returned to it's original state and ready to be released back into it's natural habitat. I went around the area and it probably came from Harbor Freight, so I will set it out there. Imagine the stories it will tell the other carts of how it saved Halloween.......or something like that.

I do some kind of r/c halloween project every year, I hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks to the Instructable's community, we get share to and learn. Feel free to comment!