Ramified Armchair Bending Plywood

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Ramified-Armchair-bending-plywood/

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Ramified Armchair - bending plywoodby alepalan on September 18, 2013

Table of Contents

Ramified Armchair - bending plywood ..............................................................................................

Intro: Ramified Armchair - bending plywood .......................................................................................

Step 1: Testing Ergonomics ...................................................................................................

Step 2: Testing Material ......................................................................................................

Step 3: Mold and first bend ...................................................................................................

Step 4: Second bend ........................................................................................................

Step 5: Clamping ..........................................................................................................

Step 6: Mold: Seat ..........................................................................................................

Step 7: Cutting the pieces and veneering: ........................................................................................

Step 8: Prior to Assembly ....................................................................................................

Step 9: Assembling .........................................................................................................

Step 10: Finishing .......................................................................................................... 1

Step 11: Enjoy your new chair ................................................................................................. 1

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Author:alepalan Portfolio

Alejandro is an industrial designer who focuses on creating impact through his designs. He has a broad background having worked at a graphic designagency, a furniture manufacturer, founded a successful furniture company, taught at universities and co-founded a medical device startup. Alejandro hasapplied his knowledge to design 100+ products in the market. His designs convey meaning and emotions keeping them simple and functional. He focuses human-centered design and design thinking to create a deep connection with the users and to identify strategic opportunities. With solid foundation inmechanical engineering and design background, he is closely involved in all aspects of the design process, from ideation to production. Alejandros workhas received recognitions across the world. His latest product has been awarded the Core77 Design Award for Social Impact Student Category andpublished on Fast Company. He has been featured in the first book of Industrial Design in Argentina as well as in several design magazines. At AdaptAir,Alejandros has focused on developing medical devices for pediatric patients with respiratory problems. He has travelled the world with his device to helpfight the battle against pneumonia, the number one killer of babies under the age of five. Alejandro holds an MFA in Design from Stanford University, Mastein Furniture Design from Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and Industrial Design also from UBA.

Intro: Ramified Armchair - bending plywoodI always wanted to make a bent plywood chair so I went ahead and made this prototype. I used compression mold to curve the plywood and a water based resin glue put the bendy ply together.

I decided to make a simple design that would be broken down into 7 different pieces: Front leg (x2) Back Leg (x2) Arm rest -connecting front and back leg- (x2) Seat

The seat is elegantly supported from the edges of the branching legs creating a bridge between the front and the back legs. The ramif ication of the legs not only split two directions with the same angle to each side generating a consistent flow in the legs but also creating the armrest. The biggest design challenge was creating thepartition in the legs that become part of the armchair and seat. The front legs start thick from the ground and bend forward to become the seat and also backwards tobecome the armrests which then come down as the back legs. The ramification was the whole concept around the project, which made it an interesting detail.

Material : Poplar bendy ply and red oak veneerMolds : Random scrap plywoodStrip of plastic (x2) for quick and clean unmoldDAP Weldwood Plastic Resin GlueBiscuit Joints to put the 7 pieces together
http://www.alepalan.com/http://member/alepalan/http://member/alepalan/


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Step 1:Testing ErgonomicsMaking a full size prototype is helpful to check dimensions and proportions.

Testing the ergonomics to verify if the angles and lengths are comfortable.


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Step 2:Testing MaterialI tested the flexibility of the bendy-ply to know exactly the minimum radius I could bend the wood. After deciding the minimum radius was 3.2 inches I then went back tthe CAD drawing and did some adjustments in the design so I could manufacture the prototype.

The total material for my chair was 2 sheets 8x4 ft. of poplar bendy-ply of 3 mm and 1 sheet 8x4 ft. of red oak paper backed veneer. I got all of my material at Macbeain San Jose for less than $100.

Step 3:Mold and first bendI started doing the male mold for the front leg. I decided not to use a female mold because I was going to be short on time and had to do 7 pieces in total. I decided to

clamp the pieces down with just pieces of wood that spread fairly even the pressure of the clamps.

Making the first bend:In total I used 5 strips of the 3 mm bendy-ply and used regular wood glue and left it for 24 hours to dry. It was an easy and short bend of 90 degrees. As a tip: I put a tpiece of plastic over the mold for two important reasons, first, to make a smooth surface to bend, and second, to make it easier to unmold. Also as it was my first bendused 13 clamps but after that I realized I could have probably used 8 clamps.As I was told that regular wood glue will tend to open up after a few months I decided to use a great wood water resin glue called: DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin GlIt is basically a powder that you mix with water and creates a super strong glue. You dont have too much time to play around (probably 30 minutes) so you need tomake the bends and clamp them down fast.


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Step 4:Second bendBending the armrest was way harder than what I had expected because it took triple the time than the front leg. Of course, doing the mold was also more complicatedbelieve this is due the 2 bends on the single piece. In addition, having long pieces to bend makes the setup and handling of the material more difficult. After I took thepiece out from the mold I discovered that the bendy-ply wasnt very structural for longer pieces. It flexed more than what I wanted and got worried that the whole chairwasnt going to resist a person.

The Third bend was probably the easiest one. You can check out the last picture.


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Step 5:ClampingMolds need to have parallel surfaces so that you can place the clamps. Clamping really tight is very important. The orange clamps worked better than the rest. Warnindont do so much pressure with the same hand because you can get blood blisters in the palm of your hand.

Step 6:Mold: SeatMaking the mold of the seat was definitely harder. I cut some strips of wood over the curve and then put some wood puddy and sand it down smoothly. As a female mwas going to be complicated I kerfed a piece of fine plywood (only the part of the radius) up to the very last layer, spacing them evenly 7 mm away from each other.This created a flexible piece of plywood that I could easily use as a female mold. To clamp the seat to the mold I had to ask my wife for some help gluing the surfaces the wood and also clamping it from the other end.


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Step 7:Cutting the pieces and veneering:One the pieces were bent I sanded the edges and cut it 2 mm from each side so that it was squared and even. I then put some contact cement on the wood and on thveneer, waited for 20 minutes, and then stick them together. At first I clamped them down but I realized this was not totally necessary. Contact cement is really strong will stick together and make it almost impossible to remove once it is done. Something tricky but everyone should be aware of. The veneer was cut slightly bigger thanpiece and I later cut it with a knife.

Step 8:Prior to AssemblyAfter I had my 2 sets of legs I aligned them with some clamps and measured it with a 1:1 plan to cut it exactly where I had to cut the legs. I glued the legs together withbiscuits and let them dry for 24 hours. Finally I squared the 2 sets of legs so that they were identical.


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Step 9:AssemblingOne of the key parts of the process was the assembly. I had the two set of legs and had to glue them together with the seat. I measured where I wanted to put thebiscuits and did the 3 holes in the back and 1 hole in the f ront of the legs. It was easy to glue using some parallel woods that helped me keep everything straight.


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Step 10:FinishingI decided to use oil and wax as a surface finish. I heated Boiled Linseed Oil to 140 degrees and then applied it with a brush. I let it dry for a few hours and then removewith a cloth. Then I added 3 layers of wax to have a nice and protected surface. If you want you can smooth the surface with a 600 sandpaper.

Step 11:Enjoy your new chairAlthough Bendy Ply is not super strong to make a commercial chair it worked OK for this prototype.

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Ramified Armchair Bending Plywood

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