Overview

Aluminium is incredibly difficult to use in the workshop. The welds werent sticking and the TIG electrode kept overheating and damaging the metal. It also feels quite fragile and warps alot under heavy weight. This couldve been overcome with T-bars extending dwon the legs but i thought it wouldve ruined the aesthetic so i didnt include them.

Although the chair is lightweight, i dont think that property outweighs the labour involved enough to make it worthwhile using. If I used mild steel flatbar or even bent tubing it wouldve been done in less than half the time.

Final Chair :)

Finishing

angle grinded welds

screwing in the bolts to hold in the top

placing top on

:)

Trying to get rid of the excess weld spots

Solidworks data

Stress levels on base

Progress

Aluminium bending is easy. I used 6mm aluminium flatbar 40mm wide. We had to set up the TIG welder specifically for aluminium welding

Welding was extremely hard and was not bonding the metal properly.

Slight redesign

After consultation from Ian and Daniel, it was decided that the feet should be removed as they ruined the aesthetic of the chair while the side panels were inset to form T-beams and doubled as a strengthening part of the base.

Scale Mockup

Bent up test leg out of 3mm aluminium.

Strong with a bit of flex lower down the legs.

Put inward facing feet to account for the downward force