WIP: Office chairs

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1,405
Location
Villa Park, CA
Here's a project I'm working on right now - an office chair. Actually, I'm building two office chairs, one for me and one for my wife. The wood is cherry, with poplar in the places you won't see it. The finish is sprayed lacquer, which I still need to rub out to get a high shine.

I carved a volute in the arms and on the top of the backs, just to try to make the chair a bit more interesting (what can you do with an office chair?)

I still have to put the upholstery on, once my wife chooses the fabric. The back will have padding in the cavity formed by the wood and the strapping. I'm going to try to put a bit more padding in the lower part of the back just to provide more back support - have to see how that works out. The seat will have the upholstry going over the whole seat and attached on the front and sides, about half way down.

Mike
 

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Very nice, Mike. "thumb: You won't be finding any chairs like that at Office Depot for sure. I'm guessing that attaching the five legs was interesting. Any detial shots of how you put them together?
 
Those will be quite the office chairs! Can't wait to see how they look with the fabric. Like Vaughn, I'd like to know how you joined the 5 spoke legs.
 
An office chair sits on a "tilt and swivel" mechanism (see first picture). Part of the mechanism is a piece of metal that you put the legs into (see next 4 pictures). Although the legs slide into slots, the thing that really holds them in place is the #12 x 2" screws at the bottom. The screws at the top just keep the legs from falling out when you pick up the leg assembly. The reason the legs fitting in the slots doesn't provide much support is that the wood is short grain where the slots grab the legs. The slots just guide the legs into position.

It's really not too difficult to fit the legs into the slots. I just cut the slots on my table saw using a sled. I cut a test piece first to get the depth and then set stop blocks to get the slots positioned properly.

Notice in the last two pictures that I put some cherry veneer on the metal piece between each set of legs. Otherwise, the aluminum would have shown.

Hope that's clear.

Mike
 

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I was just in the market for an office chair, can i pick out the fabric? Very nice looking chairs. I too can't wait to see the finish product. :thumb:
 
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