John From is a Mutant Vehicle originally created for Burning Man 2013 – Cargo Cult and was last out in 2013. Many people have worked on this, including by Jm, Rigger, Lucy and Shannon. The main body is a playground teeter totter that was recovered, rusting away, from someones yard and the majority of the materials were found in a scrap bin. The motors are recycled from a late 90s model Mobility Wheelchair.
Burning Man 2013 wasn’t kind to John From and it has been sitting in a warehouse since. The vehicle has had major reconstructive surgery, rebuilding and replacing a many of the mechanical major components including the motors, spacers, union joints, wheels, batteries and 100% of the electrical and electromechanical components.
Overview & Interactivity
(Note: Lighting is a work in progress. Pictures below will be updated.)
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Night Lighting (video) |
Banking Steering (video) |
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Build Montage (video) |
As it was originally a playground teeter totter, it can still be used for its original purpose. Two adults can sit on each of the wings, bounce up and down, while reliving memories of years past.
The body of the vehicle has been decoupled from the frame to allow the body to bank from right to left while John From is steered with the driver’s feet.
Safety
| John From has been built with safety as the #1 priority. The body is a repurposed children’s playground teeter totter with sturdy hand rails so people will not fall out. |  |
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Antislip plating for ingress and egress. |
| High quality disk breaks were originally designed for dirt bikes. These are well over rated for a vehicle going 5mph. |  |
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Locking brake handle will prevent rolling away. Especially required during transportation and loading/unloading from the trailer. |
| A light tap of the Emergency Stop button will disconnect all power to the motors in the event of an electrical fault. |  |
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All potentially sharp edges have been rounded and protected from injuring riders. |
| DOT certified horns for audio alerts. |  |
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Tail lights for night time visibility. The tail lights are independently powered from any intelligent lighting to ensure they will always work in the event of a failure of the intelligent lighting.
Tail lights will also illuminate DMV registration tags to help easily identify the Mutant Vehicle. |
| Head lights with ‘high beams’ and ‘low beams’. The head lights are independently powered from any intelligent lighting to ensure they will always work in the event of a failure of the intelligent lighting. |  |
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24 volt electrical system to eliminate the risk of shock. The entire chassis is used as a separately wired safety ground. With independent star grounding system for each voltage rail to prevent ground loops and shots. |
| FAA Designated ground facing lighting to indicate the direction of travel and advice on the proper side to pass. Ground lights are independently powered from any intelligent lighting to ensure they will always work in the event of a failure of the intelligent lighting. |  |
