A Comfy Solution

At GCE, during the third unit of Rapid Prototyping, we learned all about a variety of tools and safety precautions when using them. For this Action Project, we were asked to come up with a completely original idea for an object that we could use in our new school space. After coming up with this idea, we had to follow through with it and build it. For my project, my partner and I improved a char by attempting to make it more conformable. The biggest challenge I ran into was time constraints. We only had 2 hours of in-class time to construct this when it actually took around 5 to do. I am very proud of this project because after I took the extra time to do it, it turned out very successful and comfortable!

LS & MI (2015) Finished Chair

Here is a link to our Instructables page where I list all of our materials and explain step by step how to make this chair.

We improved an office chair by adding large amounts of extra padding to both the seat area and the back part of the chair.

The time lapse video we took was taken on an iPhone. Since there was no way to accurately figure out the setting behind the speed, I looked it up online. On 9to5mac.com, I found that when the video is under 10 min, the video is taken at 2 frames per second and is 15x faster than normal speed.  This means that for every 1 second of time lapse video

One thing we were inspired by to make this was an IKEA hack called the cobalt office chair. For this specific chair, the makers completely redesigned the look of the chair to make it more visually appealing. This is similar to what we did but instead of visuals we went for comfort.

To loosen one part of the chair, I had to unscrew something at the bottom which used torque. If the handle attached to the back of the chair had been larger, I would have had more torque and the job would have been much easier. 

There were multiple safety hazards to be aware of when completing this project. First, wear goggles when using a staple gun and sharp blades because a staple can fly off and hit you in the eye or a blade can shatter and do the same thing. Also, watch your fingers when using anything sharp or a stapler. You can slip and cut/staple your hand and/or finger. Using thick gloves can help prevent that from happening. 

One quote from one of the Field Experiences was "...we try to provide artistic materials at a low price..." I really appreciate how available the Wasteshed makes materials and this relates to my project because their materials are so cheap, I was able to purchase a few that greatly helped in the construction of the chair.

Completing this project was both fun and extremely stressful. Using tools I had never used before was fun and so was creating an idea and following through with it. However, the deadline that was placed over us felt unfair which led to a few stressful late nights. After finishing this project, here are 5 lessons I learned: 

1. Safety first. Always make sure you are following the proper safety precautions.
2. Have a plan. Nothing is worse than starting to build and remembering you missed a step when it's too late. 
3. Asking for help from friends whether it be for materials or a helping hand can be very beneficial. Just remember to say thank you.
4. If you've never stapled fabric before, ask for help. If you just go ahead and try to staple it, it can look very bad.
5. Try to gather as many materials as possible as quickly as possible so there isn't any time where you have nothing to do.