Flat-Pack Chair
Content
Background
The goal of this project was to design a 'flat-pack' piece of furniture and fabricate it using shop facilities.
Constraints:
Maximum 2 sheets of plywood
No use of glue or mechanical fasteners
The furniture must be able to endure normal use conditions (i.e. a chair should not collapse when you sit on it)
Design Process
I used the open-source SketchChair tool for the design of the chair. This allowed me to make a orthographic sketch of my design, which it would process and calculate each profile I needed to cut.
The benefit of using this tool was that I could rapidly iterate my design without much effort, so I could focus on the design itself rather than the minutiae. SketchChair also allows for simulation of designs, so I could test my design before fabrication, which saved on material costs and fabrication time.
SketchChair Software
CAM Processing
The final design was cut from 1 1/2 sheets of 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood. I chose to stain the pieces in two colors: Minwax MW1185 Classic Black for the legs and structure, and Minwax 231 Gun Stock for the slats.
Final Product
