clocker
10-10-2011, 02:03 PM
Hi all!
Been a while since I did anything I thought worth sharing but a long gestating idea has finally come to fruition and here it is.
One of my pet obsessions is "ergonomics"- basically, the study of how we interact with our surroundings (specifically, machines)- and rebuilding Sigfrid's car has given me ample opportunity to indulge my ideas.
In a car, one of...if not THE...most important elements is the seat, and I've spent a lot of time playing with (and consequently, acquiring) different seats to try out in his car.
Unfortunately, the FD is very space challenged and none of my efforts really worked out, leaving me with a surplus of chairage.
This was my collection at the beginning of the summer...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/seat5.jpg
The Corbeau(s) in the center were in both my FC and S.'s FD but neither of us liked them much and I've since sold them off to a Porsche owner.
The two outside seats are from Hondas, the one on the right is now in my car, the one on the left has been sitting around gathering dust.
I actually preferred the LH model (separate headrest) because it had all the bells and whistles (adjustable lumbar and bolster width and micro adjustment for seatback angle) but I just couldn't make it adapt as well as the other version.
I put the seats up on Craigslist but was not happy with the offers, so I decided to repurpose the seats for my own pleasure...specifically, a desk chair.
As it happened, I had access to a junk lounge chair from which I could steal the swivel base, so V.1 was hastily assembled to check practicality.
It was remarkably close to being right (height, seat angle, etc) but the 3/4" particle board I'd used was not up to the task and the base broke after a few hours (as it turns out, particle board is strong in compression but not in shear).
Encouraged however, I made the Mark2 version using real wood and it's been fine for a few days.
Ultimately, I want to fab the whole thing from metal but I need a functional base plate to derive measurements from and wood is easy and fast to work with, so that's what I have so far.
Here's the (semi) finished prototype...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/Sear2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/Sear3.jpg
(the upholstery is actually a dark charcoal grey and black, the flash washed it out in the pic)
It's a giant improvement over my previous generic office chair but not as nice as say a Herman Miller Aeron...then again, it didn't cost a grand either, so there's that.
One of my coworkers wants me build one for him, so the passenger seat is allocated as well...I'll probably make out slightly better than even on the whole deal.
This makes driving my PC a whole lot nicer.
Been a while since I did anything I thought worth sharing but a long gestating idea has finally come to fruition and here it is.
One of my pet obsessions is "ergonomics"- basically, the study of how we interact with our surroundings (specifically, machines)- and rebuilding Sigfrid's car has given me ample opportunity to indulge my ideas.
In a car, one of...if not THE...most important elements is the seat, and I've spent a lot of time playing with (and consequently, acquiring) different seats to try out in his car.
Unfortunately, the FD is very space challenged and none of my efforts really worked out, leaving me with a surplus of chairage.
This was my collection at the beginning of the summer...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/seat5.jpg
The Corbeau(s) in the center were in both my FC and S.'s FD but neither of us liked them much and I've since sold them off to a Porsche owner.
The two outside seats are from Hondas, the one on the right is now in my car, the one on the left has been sitting around gathering dust.
I actually preferred the LH model (separate headrest) because it had all the bells and whistles (adjustable lumbar and bolster width and micro adjustment for seatback angle) but I just couldn't make it adapt as well as the other version.
I put the seats up on Craigslist but was not happy with the offers, so I decided to repurpose the seats for my own pleasure...specifically, a desk chair.
As it happened, I had access to a junk lounge chair from which I could steal the swivel base, so V.1 was hastily assembled to check practicality.
It was remarkably close to being right (height, seat angle, etc) but the 3/4" particle board I'd used was not up to the task and the base broke after a few hours (as it turns out, particle board is strong in compression but not in shear).
Encouraged however, I made the Mark2 version using real wood and it's been fine for a few days.
Ultimately, I want to fab the whole thing from metal but I need a functional base plate to derive measurements from and wood is easy and fast to work with, so that's what I have so far.
Here's the (semi) finished prototype...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/Sear2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/Sear3.jpg
(the upholstery is actually a dark charcoal grey and black, the flash washed it out in the pic)
It's a giant improvement over my previous generic office chair but not as nice as say a Herman Miller Aeron...then again, it didn't cost a grand either, so there's that.
One of my coworkers wants me build one for him, so the passenger seat is allocated as well...I'll probably make out slightly better than even on the whole deal.
This makes driving my PC a whole lot nicer.