HS-DT-S1-Clara

=Design Folder-Clara=

Unit Question (UQ):
The DT lab is overflowing with cardboard. How can cardboard be used to make a stable chair with back support capable of holding a 150 lbs person without using any fasteners, glue or tape?

**Unit Question Interpreted:**
A chair is a product that doesn't get much credit, yet it is the object that we probably use the most in our lives. I sit on a chair most of the time when I'm not a sleep. When I go to my D.T. Resistant Material class once every other school day, I go in, take a seat, and I notice something. The room is overflowing with cardboard! It is important that we reuse it, so what is better than to make a chair out of it? To save material and resources, we cannot use any other material.

**Design Brief:**
In daily life, the product we need the most to be able to work is the chair. We practically use it most of our time. I will make a chair out of cardboard, and cardboard only, that will both be strong, stable and good-looking. I will make it for people like me, who loves to sit down while working. It is the perfect solution to the cardboard overflow in my classroom to make it out of cardboard.

**Design Specification:**

 * It must be a chair.
 * The chair should have a back support that you can lean against without falling backwards.
 * The chair must be able to hold a 150 Ibs person.
 * The chair is going to be made out of cardboard.
 * No fasteners, glue or tape may be used.
 * It must be made in the D.T. lab.
 * It must be free standing.
 * It cannot be too big, since its a chair and you would want to put it wherever you like.
 * The chair must be pretty to look at.
 * It should be ergonomic.

**Test**: I could test my clock by:

 * Asking someone that weighs 150 pounds, or more, to sit on it.
 * Ask that person to lean back and see if the back support is strong enough.
 * Lift the chair up to see if all the pieces stays, there, and doesn't fall off.
 * Test the chair's ergonomic features by sitting on it.
 * Look at it to see if the chair looks nice.

**Guiding Questions:**
How will I put it together? How will I ensure that it is stable and strong? How can I conserve materials? In what way is cardboard strong? In what way is cardboard weak? What tools are best for cutting cardboard? How do I make the chair Ergonomic? How do I make sure the chair is safe?

**Investigation of Materials:**
I tried to make a small chair by folding and cutting one piece of paper. The result was not very strong or stable, but I discovered that the armrests made it easier for the back support to stay stable. I think it is because it made it come forward a bit, keeping it from not falling backwards.

When rolling the paper together and folding in pieces at the top and the bottom I created a stable construction without using any tape. The infolds also made the edges stronger and they didn't bend as easily when adding objects on it. Guiding Question: How would it work if you folded cardboard in that way?

I discovered that making slots is a good way of connecting pieces. If you connect them as a box it becomes more stable. The bad thing about it is that it often gets a bit unbalanced, as it is difficult to make the slots fit perfectly.

Design-Plan
We did a project where we had to make three small chairs out of note cards.

This chair is made out of one single piece. I used my old discovery of rolling paper and making in folds to make this chair.

It can hold relatively much weight and is quite stable. Its back support is not stable. The negative part about it is that the in folds tend to come up and there is a risk that the seat will fall down if the weight is too heavy. It generates no material waste, as it is made out of one single piece.

This is a chair made out of 6 different pieces, using slits. All of the parts are connected and would not fall of easily. It is pretty balanced. To me, it is esthetically pleasing. It would not be able to carry that much weight though and the point of failure I think is the "legs".

This is a chair made out of two pieces. It uses slits and one slot. The way of connecting the rolled up paper is pretty stable. It is balanced, but the seat falls down easily and would probably fall of completely if you tried to carry it to another place. Guiding Question: How could you connect the seat and back support to the leg part?

Plan
A chair varies in both shape and size, depending on what the purpose of it is. A dining chair is often higher than an occasional chair, but the seat is also narrower, and so on. I have decided that I want a chair that should be appropriate to sit on when you work, therefore I want to make a conference chair. I do not want the seat to be too low, so by measuring the most comfortable chair that I use at home, I discovered that about 20"(50cm) is a perfect height for me. I want the width of the chair to be 20" as well. The depth of my chair should be 18"(45cm). The back support could possibly be 16"(40cm). Size of the chair: 20" high 20" wide 18" deep 16" back support

Therefore, the dimensions of the 1/4 scale chair should be 5" high 5" wide 4,5" deep 4" back support

**Materials**

 * Cardboard (conjugated and thin cardboard)
 * Cutting knife
 * Cutting mat

**September 22, 2011 -** Start on the 1/4 chair
Today I researched about ergonomic chairs and what dimensions my chair should have. My plan was to come up with the size of the chair and also how I wanted to do it. I managed to decide the size of my chair (see dimensions below plan). I also made this final chair out of note cards, which is a modification of the first small chair.

This is what a chair with the same proportions would look like. This chair is made out of two pieces, and I think I will use the base of it for my chair, but I still need to figure out a way to make the back support more stable.

**September 26, 2011** - Do the 1/4 chair
Today I started my 1/4 chair. I wanted to make it the same as the small chair, but with the thin cardboard. I also wanted to solve the issue with the unstable back support. This is what I accomplished:



The base was stable, especially since I added this part - a slot under the chair to give it more stability. The back support was still not strong though. A disturbing part of the chair was the infold, since everything on the chair was symmetric except for that. I have to figure out a solution for that or if I just want to ignore it.

**September 28, 2011** - Do the 1/4 chair
Today I tried to solve the solution with the back support. I figured that one way was to make a separate piece that goes between the back pieces. I also noticed that the proportions seemed wrong, as if the seat was too high. I made an image in sketchup to see how other proportions would look like.

I thought these proportions looked better, so I have decided to use them instead, in both the 1/4 chair and the final chair.

The new dimensions of my real chair will therefore be: 18"x18"x18" Backsupport: 36"

**October 11, 2011** - Do the 1/4 chair
Today I started on the second 1/4 chair. This is what I accomplished:

This is the new chair with the right proportions. I managed to solve the problem with the disturbing infold, and instead I made a slit to connect the parts. I also made the back longer so that I can fold it in under the chair. I still need to figure out a way to keep it all together.

**October 13, 2011** - Do the 1/4 chair
Today, my plan was to come up with a way of keeping the chair together. I made a piece that holds it together. It is connected with a slot. This is also my final version of the 1/4 chair.

This is the final 1/4 chair. The qualities of it is that the seat and the back support are stable The shape of it is very symmetrical, and the seat is shaped as a cube. Its ease of construction is that many of the pieces are wrapped around each other. I also added a design part where I cut out two 1/4 chairs in the piece that wraps it together. It is made out of cardboard only. The negative part of it is that it uses quite a lot of material. It might not also be very ergonomic, since it's not exactly shaped after the human body in any way. The proportions are right and the seat is at a comfortable height.