January 2011

This video demonstrates the way in which the dial switch works with the glass dome light. It still needs a bit of tweaking; the inner diameter of the dial needs to be a few more millimeters smaller to engage the microswitch every time. Once I get it resolved, it’ll be time for producing 3 of them.
Here is what the inside of the prototype looks like:

I laser cut the shapes for the pattern chair out of cardboard (they are perforated only only to make them easier to bend) to see what the form looks like in real space. I like it well enough to have parts cut out of steel. I am unsure about how the metal will behave compared to what I am experiencing with the cardboard. The front panel of the seat bows quite a bit in cardboard. But I expect that this will not be as big a factor with steel and even less of a factor once the seat is attached to a frame. The side panels are bent at 90 degrees. I am not sure if the stresses from leaning into it will cause the seat back to fail. I might have to create a separate seat back from the bottom to create a stronger connection. I have had to add flanges to the two lower back panels to connect them and make the seat more rigid.

I’ve played around a bit more with the legs so that the horizontals have more character. I think I might change them some more so that they are bent at the same diagonals as the diagonals in the seat pan.