Make: Online: Furniture Archives

Archive: Furniture

June 29, 2009

Wall outlet wall

Because one can never have enough access to power.

June 24, 2009

OK, so it's not like smurf-blue, but still: Blue hardwood! It comes from Talipariti elatum, the so-called "Blue Mahoe" tree, which is native to the Caribbean and is, apparently, the national tree of Jamaica. Turns out it also grows very quickly and shows some promise for sustainable forestry. Lumber is available through Tropic Ventures.

June 23, 2009

Flying Loft Musical Bed

Tarver's instrument is unique to say the least. I recently spent some time with him to witness his invention first-hand and was taken aback. High above his loft, entangled into the foundation, sits his creation. It is a beautiful expression of do-it-yourself ingenuity that is one part concrete and two parts found objects. The interlocking elements and nautical details distinguish its custom look and feel. Tarver's ability to reconcile the geometry of its construction proves necessary in achieving musical harmony. Witnessing the instrument being played can only be described as extraordinary.

Tarver, details the precision involved in achieving the sublime resonance which bellows from the instrument:

The main beam was built up with a pair of 2x8's glued together at the outside edge, blocking a short way in along the joists, a 3/8" plywood stress-skin bottom, and concrete fill in the cells. The platform is not supported with any post(s) from the ground, but rather suspended from the I-beam in the ceiling with the 2-inch square hollow steel bar. The steel post terminates in a concrete finial which supports eight steel wires that go from corner to corner. The rings which anchor the wires are supported with railway spikes.

A big thank you to all those involved. Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.

June 19, 2009

Street sign chair

I like this simple perch attached to a street sign by Ken Mori. When not in use, it rotates to vertical, to advertise it's proposed use. Via Urban Prankster.

Oil drum rocker

Nice retread of the familiar oil-drum-chair concept, which manages to actually connect the form of the drum and the function of the chair in a rational way. There are four rubber feet--two in front and two in back--and the arc between them can be adjusted to set how far the seat rocks, presumably all the way down to no rocking at all. The seat is made of "waxen smoked bamboo," which also happens to be the magical name of my hippie sister-in-law. Via Recyclart.

P.S. I'm collecting drum/barrel chairs in the comments. If you know of one we haven't mentioned, please to drop us a link!

More:

June 18, 2009

Opening ellipse chaos table

Peter Marigold designed this ellipse "chaos" table that slides open to accept a number of different leaves. Looks great for backyard buffets and ripe for a remake. Via NOTCOT.

June 16, 2009

Bashful ball-and-claw-foot chair

Jake Cress is a gifted cabinetmaker in Fincastle, Virginia. Besides traditional pieces in the Chippendale vein, he makes whimsical "animated furniture," several pieces of which can be viewed on his site. But my personal favorite by far has to be "Oops," the embarrassed claw-foot chair that has dropped its ball, and wants to sneak it back before anybody notices.

June 14, 2009

Literary gold mine for CNC millers

From 1976 to 1983, Popular Science magazine, along with the American Plywood Association, ran an annual plywood panel project design contest for its readership. Often the winning projects were items of furniture, but that was not a requirement. A potter's kick wheel and a folding plywood boat are notable exceptions. The rules were simple: Apart from common fasteners, the entire project had to be constructed from one or more panels of plywood, cut to make most efficient use of the material. In 1984, these projects were collected, by original contest editor Alfred W. Lees, into a book called 67 Prizewinning Plywood Projects.

1984, of course, was decades prior to the advent of accessible home CNC milling, so all those carefully shaped and slotted parts, at the time, had to be laboriously hand-cut using a jigsaw or similar tool. Today, the book is a rich, untapped resource for CNC enthusiasts. I scored a used copy on Amazon, and besides the projects themselves, the book yields a bumper crop of ideas for clever tricks to incorporate into your own designs.

Where's all the CNC kerf-bending?

Here's a traditional wood-bending technique that seems ready-made for CNC millers, and yet I can't find much online evidence that it's being done.

To make a kerf-bend, the wood is first corrugated on the inside of the intended radius. The width, depth, number, and spacing of the kerfs all affect the qualities of the finished bend. The open kerfs are flooded with glue, and the bend is made and clamped in place until the glue dries. Stuart Lees of Stu's Shed has a nice piece on the subject.

I imagine it's tedious work, cutting all those kerfs, at least if you're doing it manually with traditional tools, like a table saw or a fence router. And perhaps more intimidating, for some, is the mathematics of figuring out just how many kerfs you need, and just how thick, deep, and widely spaced they ought to be to achieve a particular radius. Yet both functions can be performed automatically by a CNC system--the cutting by the hardware and the calculating by the software.

In fact, it seems like such a natural fit that I'm having a hard time believing it's not already out there. So sound off, CNC-millers: Who's doing this today, and where can I learn more about it?

June 11, 2009

How-To: Collapsible table for picnics

Instructables user MarchW saw a smart design for a collapsible table and re-made it. The top slats are connected with nylon strapping, and when the bolts are removed, the cross-supports can be removed and the whole thing folds up to about the size and shape of a yoga mat. Perfect for picnics!

More:

How-To: Collapsible treehouse table

June 10, 2009

How-To: Collapsible table

Instructables user TimBTodd made this collapsible table for his brother's treehouse. This would work nicely in a workshop as well.

June 8, 2009

How-To: Floating dock

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Here's how Instructables user pilx made this simple floating dock with some wood carpentry and four 55 gallon plastic barrels.

June 6, 2009

Ultraminimalist lab-stand lamp

I made this minimalist table lamp from three ready-made components: 1) a burner tripod lab stand from The Science Company, 2) a 5" globe incandescent light bulb, and 3) a socket extension cord from the hardware store. It works and looks great, and the total cost is about $20 US. The 5" globe light bulbs are also available as compact fluorescents (CFLs), rather than incandescents, which doubles the unit price but probably saves money in the long term due to the radically increased lifetime and efficiency of CFL bulbs.

June 4, 2009

Treehouse Designs Skate Deck Chair

The beautiful thing about Maker Faire is that you often get a sneak peek into designs folks have in the works but that are not available yet. One of my favorite prototypes I saw was the Treehouse Designs Skate Deck Chair. From their site, the chair is a "prototype for a furniture line in kit form constructed of reclaimed skateboard decks and CNC-milled color fin ply." I, for one, can't wait until this kit is available because I have 6 old decks waiting for a new life. You also gotta love that the design team on this project is father/daughter duo Lance and Amanda Glover, coming up with a styley and functional use for Amanda's old skate decks.

June 1, 2009

Chair from old crutches

I wish there were a way to fashion my metal crutches into something this stylish. Instructables user wholman made this chair from some wooden crutches and a bit of extra wood.

May 11, 2009

Styrofoam chandelier

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Eric's styrolight looks quite scifi -

I made a chandelier from the molded styrofoam packing material Apple used to use for shipping their laptops. Approx. 35" x 35" x 12".

The unique lighting fixture went on to win the Sustainable prize in Design Within Reach Austin's M+D+F competition - congrats!

May 6, 2009

World of Warcraft pod

Cati Vaucelle, Steve Shada and Marisa Jahn made this: the WoW Pod:

The WOW Pod is an immersive architectural solution for the advanced WOW (World of Warcraft) player that provides and anticipates all life needs. Inside, the gamer finds him/herself comfortable seated in front of the computer screen with easy-to-reach water, pre-packaged food, and a toilet conveniently placed underneath his/her custom-built throne. When hungry, the gamer selects a food item (‘Crunchy Spider Surprise’, ‘Beer Basted Ribs’, etc.) and a seasoning pack. By scanning in the food items, the video game physically adjusts a hot plate to cook the item for the correct amount of time. The virtual character then jubilantly announces the status of the meal to both the gamer and the other individuals playing online: “Vorcon’s meal is about to be done!” “Better eat the ribs while they’re hot!” etc.

It's on view now at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, MA.

May 4, 2009

The RGB coffee table

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Macetech built this dazzling RGB coffee table -

IKEA Granas side table (over 2x2 feet, big enough for coffee table) with 9x9 array of 81 ShiftBrite RGB LED modules. Currently running a simple sine plasma into HSV/RGB conversion on an Arduino (Seeeduino).

Wow - more than a conversation piece, I'm guessing guests may fall into a hypnotic state! See more of the display piece in his photoset.

In the Maker Shed:

Seeeduino v1.1

April 20, 2009

Recycled barrel chair

This chair is made from a 55-gallon plastic drum, along with six small bolts, nuts, washers, six drywall screws, and a little ingenuity. It's "surprisingly comfortable" (claims its builder).

Recycled 55 Gallon Barrel Chair [Thanks, Seth Robinson!]

April 17, 2009

How-To: Piano lid coffee table

The hardest thing to find for building this piano lid coffee table is the piano lid, but once you find one (check your parents' and grandparents' attics), this project comes together pretty easily!