An account of the final hours of furniture design...

 After the mould was freed it was time to flatten the design in solidworks and get the template cut out. I had bought a high quality trimmer bit, having delusions of grandeur that it would run easily down the side on a top bearing, maknig the cut out fast accurate, easy and safe.

 what a mighty wrong decision. I was pissed off, wet, and covered in mud. I had been building in the mud all day at work and i came to school with the project due the day after and with a firm inflexible idea of how to do this lost all sympathy for the process. i was stressed and the results were dismal. above is a photo of no les than three dangerous kicks from a trimmer and 20 mins of clmaping, jigging and cursing. This was with the sharpest the router piece would be as well. By the time the end was near it would be beyond the abilty to cut. After the final dangerous kick i pulled my head outa my butt and remembered to relax and start listening to what it wanted. I dotn smoke but if someone offered me a cigarette i would of taken it.

 I have a deep contempt for jigsaws bu they really came to party. The first one was a beat of a machine on its final legs; the gearbox sounded as if there were hungry rocks in there. Was licky enought to come across a fresh hitachi, well know for good jigsaws with a straight base and a good blade. It was teh obvious choice all along. My desire was to create and effortless piece of funrniture a nd so far it had been, but it my mind i ahdnt allowed for errors, which the trimmer idea was. The jigsaw revived the faith in myself and confirmed that the key was stay chilled and toy around with different methods. 10 mins later the jigsaw was safely cuttin g all the scrap way, and much more accurately than i though it could. A good lesson. It ws accurate enough tio actualyl get up to the scribe line and feel that a good sanding could finish the job. I dotn like furniture with overly safe eges or overly sanded surfaces. Its very apparent when somne decided to sand because that was teh only way left. here it was apparent, but given the circumstance, it realyl was the only way left. With dull edge and over bullnosed edges, done with a trimmer, the stool finally was coming to an end.

 It gets the sit test, and performs well.

 Its due in an hour, and there is a hole in the side where i made i mistake with the trimmer. with the chair to soft and floppy it feel it needs some hard edge, some colour and a touch of personification. After meeting an inspiring person the day before with a big story i name it after him and badge the chair in his honour. Even with only about an Inch of bearing wood it still feels stable. I dotn have time to glue it so the perspex it sits there by friction only. I have 3 kinds of finish for teh final touch, but its too late. It misses out on a water based crytsal clear finish, chosen not to yellow the timber, and misses out on the sure fire beeswax touch too- there is not even time to rub it down. Im happy with it tho, and relieved its a strong as it is.

 If i were to make these for some money i would refine the process. I also would refine the design. Im fairly sure i could drop a layer of wood, reducing it from 16mm to 12mm. it woudl save a days gluing, and also reduce the weight by 400 grams. I would also veneer the top, or play with printed plywoods. i would also like to rebate designs into with leaf, or detail the edges with acrylic strips, to play with the distances that i feel vaulted legs do quite well. I woudl also like to do a super thin model, with carbon fibre layers in between 2 layers, resulting in an 8mm chair, weighing under a kilo. All in all, moving away from being taught how to make stuff to aking the material how it was to be made has been a fun and encouraging experience. I fully intend to delve deeper into this rabbit hole. A big thanks to Ian for he Superb teaching during the semester, and a sharing of his enthusiasm and knowledge. Im also appreciative of the understanding he showed during my time away from class for personal reasons. A truly awesome unit, i wish Swinburne held more classes like this. Woo!!

Thanks again.

Ciao.

A QUICK APOLOGY REGARDING THE GRAMMAR...

This work is posted from my solidworks computer, which has a disastrously amount of fluff in the keyboard, and a slightly different layout on the keyboard, compared to my mac, which i normally use which has a much flatter keyboard,,,,,,resulting in some terrible reading and punctuation....I can spell. I promise. But after proof reading and realising the mistakes, but unable to Edit, i aske you to use your powers of deduction and logic and correct the error on my lazy behalf.

Thanks.

 UPDATE; I rushed to school after work, with stool in the back strapped to the mould still with straps keen to butcher it and peel it off its form.

 There was alot of waste, which i wasnt happy about, and was a little made at myself for not refining it, but it still was only single sheet 8X4 sheet.

 Here is a great over exposed shot....its meant to capture the amount of waste. the form is purposely built 100mm to long in every direction. This allowed a number of things, such as a good footprint for the router when its needed to cut, flexibility of choosing the better piece of the final  form if some glue didnt stick, and the option of tacking the edges with screws and still not mucking up the final layer if it was needed to get the curve, which it was/

 After cutting off the unglue layers, about 50 mm set in from the edge i could take the screws of the first sheet out, which held it while i put the second layer on....i was nervous to see what the actual final join would be like, but it turned out to be top notch, And i was overly stoked. Had that been messy and loose i would of suffered a mood fouling bout of the shits. Seeing that this was the first time i had ever done this i was stoked at the result, and grateful for the luck so far...

 One screw was burried in a place that i couldnt get to, but being in a offcut area of wood a hole saw was called in to remedy the problem, liberating the from from the mould without hassle..

 some sweet bends and it loosens off nicely. It probably flexed out 10mm either side from the tension, increasing the size of the footprint, but not too bad.

 Happy kid

Whoa! Hot dog! It takes the load with ease...100kg applies and no sweat. It feels sturdy and its ergonomically comfortable straddling it and sitting normally. The arch feels nice and the butt is held well. Im really pumped now. The thing i dislike the most is the simplicity of the shape, but hoping once its cut into shape it will become more interesting.