[CQ-Contest] Operating Chair Idea

[Tim Makins, EI8IC]

I needed a different operating chair - the old typist's chair I used wasn't
really comfortable for long periods. No spare money to buy a new one... Then
an idea occurred - car seats can be very comfortable, and I had a few spare
in a couple of old cars on the property. So I removed one of the seats,
found its centre of gravity by balancing the seat over a thin piece of 2"x1"
wood strip whilst sitting on it, then welded a couple of 9"x2"x1/4" strips
to the base. These were bolted to the old typist chair's swivel base, and
hey presto, a brand new operating chair, very comfortable, and still with
it's reclining back and headrest.

If you are going to try this, there's one area that can be critical - the
angle of the seat to the ground. If you look at the base of the seat on most
chairs, i.e. the actual surface you sit on, it is generally parallel to the
floor. However some car seats are not parallel, but tilt up at the front.
You will need to correct this otherwise the front of the base will push up
on the back of your thighs, which isn't comfortable over long periods.

Typist's chair bases are very handy, for their wheels and swivel facilities,
but if you don't mind a fixed chair, then a simple set of legs for your old
car seat could be made out of a variety of materials, such as wood, rebar,
tube, or box-section. If you've got a tidier yard than mine, and don't have
old cars gently rusting back to nature, your local car-dismantler will
probably be able to provide a variety of seats for small amounts of money.

73s Tim EI8IC
http://www.qsl.net/ei8ic/
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