Chair Tower

Stuart Ablett

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Location
Tokyo Japan
In > this thread < I show near the end the workshop area on site that I was using, in one picture there is a white colored tower that is used in the chair stacking act. This is a new tower that was built out of aluminum for the new chairs, the ones I just fixed, but it had too much flex in the top aluminum plate. I removed the plate and found out that because of the way they welded up the tower, there was a lot of space between the plate and the frame, this led to the flexing.

They asked me if I could fix this, I told them that I could, I would remove the aluminum plate and replace it with wood, the artists liked this idea very much, they do not like the aluminum tower at all, and the plate on top especially.

They shipped the tower to me today.....

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The crate is very neat, the sides clip into each other and can be taking apart or opened with just a small blade screwdriver to bend the tabs back....

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My tool boxes are in there too, and after digging out all them darn packing peanuts, I can say that I do NOT like them, on a windy day!

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Here is the tower standing on it's street feet, on stage in use it has four feet that are basically short posts that drop into inserts on stage, the inserts are all adjustable to make sure the tower is level.

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The tower on it's way down to the Dungeon, I'll have to clear out a space for it and get it level, then figure out how I'm going to do this, I have a good idea, but we shall see.

for starters I think I'll use some very thick good quality plywood, it should be less likely to move with changes in the weather. I plan on making the top out of three pieces, two long narrow pieces that will go across two corners, and then one piece in between these two pieces to fill in the space, but it will not be for anything but looks.

More to come.

Cheers!
 
You do realize that this is the beginning of an epic journey, they will be calling you from where ever they are in the world to come fix their stuff!

Congratz!
 
Popcorn always gets stuck in my teeth. I think I'll have ice cream instead...

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Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the tower, Stu. Also looking forward to seeing where this journey takes you. :thumb:
 
You are all very kind :eek:

OK, here is an overview of the top of the tower......

chair_tower_top_overview.jpg


and a view of both the right and left front corners....

chair_tower_top_left_front.jpg


chair_tower_right_front.jpg


You can see how the tubes are not flat, or level, but are sloped.

I will make a plywood platform that will be cut in such a way that the wood sits flush on top of the sloped tubes, and then it will be bolted in place. It will be a bit finicky getting it to fit, but not anything impossible, they want a perfect fit between the tubes and the aluminum frame.

I leveled the tower using my 4' level, it is dead level now, so I labeled each leg and marked the floor too, as I know it will need to be moved from time to time.

chair_tower_feet.jpg


Now I just have to get a nice thick piece of plywood and start cutting! :thumb:
 
Are they supposed to be sloped? If not, a 4" angle grinder would make short work of that mistake.

No they are not supposed to be sloped, :doh:but an angle grinder would weaken the structure. I have a lot of weight that cannot shift around that goes on top of this tower. I'll make a new platform out of thick plywood and cut away only slightly the underside of the plywood so it mates perfectly with the aluminum structure, or at least that is my plan now. :D
 
Stu this has to be the best endorsement you can ask for. They now trust you and your work compleletly to send that to you for repair. Well done.

Just thinking alloud on the top and fitting it, given you want a real snug contact between all the surfaces of the tubing and your piece of wood on the top one thing i can see helping some is to take a carboard something like the cereal box stuff that would crease and when you place a solid piece of plywood on top and sandwhich the carboard in between it would show up the high spots with a crease.

Looks to me like you need to transfer the tubing high spots to the wood somehow. Or put carbon paper if they still make the stuff between the two.

Rergardless we know you will get it right and do it right. :thumb::thumb:

The frame itself does not say much for the guys who made it understanding the customers need and taking it into account.:doh:

This thread and the other chair thread has the making of an Aparto reno epic thread.:D
 
Early this morning I got out to the home center and bought some plywood, it is 24mm thick (just a tick under 1") and is very solid.

chair_tower_top_test1.jpg

Here is the piece on top of the tower, it is 60 x 60 cm in size or just under 24" x 24" It looks OK from here, but when you looks under the top.....

chair_tower_top_gaps_1.jpg


chair_tower_top_gaps_2.jpg

...... you can see the gaps between the tubes and the plywood.

Next up I traced the tube locations onto the bottom of the plywood......

chair_tower_top_traced.jpg


and then I started to remove wood with various hand planes.....

chair_tower_top_adjusting.jpg

It sure dulls the plane blades quickly, but that is no big deal, with some more tweaking, it should fit very well, then four bolts that will be counter sunk and epoxied over, a liberal dose of epoxy on all the tube tops, and the gusset ribs on the under side in the middle and I should have one heck of a solid top.

Cheers!
 
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