A variation of the Zig Zag Chair

[Solid]

Hi
I'm new to this forum and thought that instead of just looking around for inspiration of things to do on my own I thought I could share something I made for a change.
When looking at all the great Project people have done and posted here on this forum there was one project that I couldn't get out of my mind. It was Rockers version of the Zig Zag chair. as shown here http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/zigzag-dining-chair/

Before making the real chair (cause we really need new chairs, the IKEA chairs we have now is better off in an open fireplace ) I thought I would make one out of scrap wood. So I used the last 2" by 2" pine I had and made one. Basically just to see if I could do it with the few tools I have and if the chair really would hold my weight.
Said and done and this was my prototype

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Since I didn´t have that much pine left the chair wasn´t made with full height. I made an really easy fixture for sawing the 22,5 degree angles and basically held the the end of the wood with my hand when sawing, making the mitred angle somwhat incorrect. But hell, it was just a prototype and to my surprise it really held my weight. so even if the angle was a 100% it worked out fine. But Before I Went on making the real chair I made a fixture that was a Little better.

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Well after doing my fixture I got ahead and bought the Oak that was going to be my new chairs. Before started making the angels I hade to translate Rockers plan measurments in inch and making them in the metric system. After that the saw was put to work. A few hours later all the pieces were done.
I then did my first change from rockers original plan. It looks like he had a router making mortise that would go through the both pieces. Since I don´t have a router ( yet ) I made an alteration to the plan and it came out like this. I made 4 mortise withe the domino.

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I first thought that I would just go ahead and glue every piece for each chair together in order to be able to get the chairs done faster. Well...it´s a good thing I didn´t. I began making one chair to be able to see the final result, and it came out really good if I may say so.

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But.....there was one problem. Although there is no question in my mind that this chair would hold my weight I felt I wanted som more sturdiness and made an extra piece to fit in the lower parts of the chair. Even though I havent glued all parts yet ( just the 3 bottom parts ) I Think this Picture will give you an idea of what I´m talking about

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So I just got started glueing  the rest of the pieces and will post the finished result when I got the first chair ( with the extra piece of oak ) done.

Until then enjoy this pics for now.

/Anders

 

[Alan m]

welcome o the fog solid
unfortunitly i cant see the pics

 

[Kev]

[welcome] Anders

Looking forward to seeing your progress with the chairs.

Kev

 

[nclemmons]

Welcome to the FOG.  I had forgotten about that chair design.  Glad to see it resurrected!

Thanks for sharing.  I'll be curious how comfortable and stable the finished chair is!

neil

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Although there is no question in my mind that this chair would hold my weight I felt I wanted som more sturdiness and made an extra piece to fit in the lower parts of the chair. Even though I havent glued all parts yet ( just the 3 bottom parts ) I Think this Picture will give you an idea of what I´m talking about

Boy, it's been a long time. I had forgotten about this project, but I helped Rocker get his story published in Woodcraft Magazine. Because I already had the design completed in SolidWorks, I ended up doing all of the artwork for Woodcraft, and even wrote a couple of companion stories to go with it. It coincided with the U.S. release of Domino.

I disagree with your addition of the extra gusset, though. It defeats the concept of the design. The chair is supposed to look like it is unstable. That's the purpose of the design.

The design uses locking Domino tenons to ensure the joint remains stable. Once the tenons are installed, the joint cannot come apart.

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Here is a side view of Rocker's design from SolidWorks. The locking tenons are shown before they would get trimmed flush later on.

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[Rick Christopherson]

I then did my first change from rockers original plan. It looks like he had a router making mortise that would go through the both pieces. Since I don´t have a router ( yet ) I made an alteration to the plan and it came out like this. I made 4 mortise withe the domino.

[attachthumb=#]

Ahhh! I just noticed this. You must not have realized that those were locking Domino tenons, and you plunged normal mortices. The original mortices were made with a Domino set to maximum depth, and plunged after the joint was originally assembled. The tenons are inserted after the joint is assembled.

Without these locking tenons, you will have the gap in your joint like what is shown in your previous picture.

 

[Solid]

Thanks for all the comments. this is what I like about this forums, the response you get after posting something.
And thanks for the input regarding the locking tenon. I think I got the idea of it when I read the article Rocker had written. Somehow I just felt that it wouldn´t be any difference in strength between my way of doing it or Rockers way of doing it. If the chair breaks I don´t thnk it will break where the glue is.

My version of the chair with an extra piece of oak holding things together might not be all that good looking but hopefully it will hold much longer then our IKEA chairs and withstand the tough handling from 3 children doing all kinds of things but to sit on the chair. I guess only time will tell