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Furniture Structure and Materials

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Title: Furniture Structure and Materials


1
FurnitureStructure and Materials
  • Quality of materials and technique in furniture
    construction has a major impact on both its
    durability and its proper use.
  • Generally the details of construction of a piece
    of furniture are at least partially concealed in
    the finished piece. Because of this, the
    reputation of a particular manufacturer,
    published specifications, and price are all clues
    to the quality of construction.
  • Well made furniture need not be expensive, but
    cheap duplicates of high quality products are
    almost always the result of some skimping on
    materials, or details of construction.
  • Good furniture is not weak, fragile, or shaky
    when new, and will not develop weaknesses with
    normal use over long periods of time.

2
FurnitureGeneral Guidelines
  • Just how sturdy a piece of furniture needs to be
    depends on its intended use.
  • Many fine antiques that have held up for
    centuries are quite delicate, but they have been
    used only under conditions that do not impose too
    much rough usage.
  • Delicate materials and finishes can survive in
    private living spaces or in executive offices
    better than in hotel rooms, dormitories, or where
    young children will be regular users.
  • Whatever its intended use, good furniture is
    characterized by good materials, techniques of
    construction, and finishes at an appropriate
    level of durability.

3
Materials used to make furniture
  • A variety of materials are used to make
    furniture, but the primary structure of most
    furniture is based on three families of
    materials, used alone, or in combination.
  • The three families of materials are
  • wood
  • metal
  • plastics

4
Wood furniture
  • Wood is still the most used furniture material,
    and was almost the only material used in most
    historic (pre 20th century) furniture.
  • Wood used for furniture is either
  • solid wood
  • plywood

5
Solid wood furniture vs.plywood furniture
  • Solid wood
  • To produce a board measuring 1 inch thick, a tree
    is cut down and sawn to random lengths of 6 to 12
    feet.
  • Since trees are round and boards are rectangular,
    there is substantial waste.
  • Imagine a square within a circle and everything
    outside of the square is trashed.
  • Next, the board desired is rough-cut from the
    log, and the saw kerf wastes another centimeter
    down the length of the log every time it makes a
    board.

6
  • A 1 inch thick board must be rough cut to a
    little less than 1-1/2 inches thick, then dried,
    which causes slight warpage.
  • To make the board flat and smooth, it must be
    planed, this trashes another 3/8 to 1/2 inch.
  • In producing a 1 inch thick board already the
    waste is greater than the yield.
  • The board is just a random width and length, and
    the piece of furniture is not even started.
  • If the simplest stick chair is made, waste is
    another 25-30, and if a piece of furniture has
    any curves or uses a low yield species of wood,
    like cherry or walnut, the waste factor is
    another 100 to 200......or more.

7
  • In comparison with solid wood construction of
    furniture, using plywood is much more efficient
    as a use of wood.
  • Furniture grade plywood is manufactured
    specifically to be used as an exposed, visual,
    attractive, finished surface.
  • One type of furniture grade plywood is called
    Baltic Birch plywood.
  • Baltic Birch plywood is made of 7, or 15, layers
    of birch, each layer turned 90 degrees from the
    previous layer. Baltic Birch plywood is made in
    sheets that are 5 x 5.
  • This yields a piece of plywood that is very
    stable, visually refined, and without voids in
    the layers.

8
Edge of Baltic Birch Plywood13 ply 3/4 thick
sheet
9
Birchnatural, unstained color
10
  • A good web page showing photos of different types
    of wood surfaces.
  • http//www.boulterplywood.com/ProductGallery_41.ht
    m

11
A connection using baltic birch plywoodEdges of
typical sheets of baltic birch plywood
12
A table using baltic birch plywood and steel
tubes.
13
A glass top with molded baltic birch plywood base
elements.
14
Metal Furniture
  • Metals are used to make parts, such as legs,
    frames, and table bases, and as a primary
    material for office furniture, kitchen cabinetry,
    utility shelving, and storage units.
  • Steel in the form of rods, tubing, and sheets is
    the most used metal for furniture.
  • Aluminum in the form of tubes, and formed
    sections, such as angles, channels, and Ts is
    used for cast legs, frames, and small parts.

15
  • Metal office furniture and utility files,
    cabinets, and shelves are made of sheet steel.
  • The sheets are cut, and then bent to form box
    shapes, or with bent flanges (edges) used to make
    shelves or tops.
  • The gauge (thickness) of the sheet metal is an
    important factor in determining the quality of a
    piece. Sheet metal that is too thin will not
    hold up well. Thicker sheet metal is stronger,
    will last longer, and will resist denting and
    deforming.

16
Plastics used in furniture
  • Plastic Laminates are composed of layers of
    heavy paper impregnated with melamine resin.
  • Acrylics such as Plexiglas and Lucite, resemble
    glass in their transparency, but can be made
    translucent and colored, and opaque. Acrylics
    can be bent and molded into curved shapes.
  • Molded Plastics such as styrene, polyethylene,
    nylon, and vinyl, are often made into small
    parts, such as glides, rollers, edge trim, and
    drawer pulls.
  • Fiberglass a hybrid material in which glass
    fibers are embedded in a molded polyester resin.
    Used to make custom auto body parts and small
    boat hulls.

17
A molded fiberglass part for an airplane
18
Making fiberglass objects
19
Two half molds that will be used to form a
fiberglassdrum.
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Fiberglass chairs using a design from the 1950s
that show the fiberglass fibers.
22
The Eames' fiberglass reinforced chairs solved
the problem of how to make a seat out of a
single shell. This chair went into productionin
1950.
23
This chair has a molded fiberglass frame that is
made of fire-retardant polyurethane foam.
24
Fiberglass seats designed by Swedish
designerPeter Fargring and produced by London
based LosPalurdos.
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Components of ChairsOffice chairs are
sophisticated pieces of design and construction
41
  • Chairs need feet to ease the friction between
    the floor and the chair, and to provide a visual
    and functionally appropriate termination of the
    legs.
  • Casters

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Special Needs Chairs
44
Herman Miller Caper chairwith casters
45
Herman Miller Aeron chair One of the most
sophisticated, and now famous,contemporary
office chairs, in comparison with a wood office
chair dating from the 1940s
46
Aeron chair designed by Don Chadwick, and Bill
Stumpf
  • High-performance, long-term seating in three
    sizes with a full complement of adjustments and
    innovative suspension
  • The two designers began this development process
    with a clean slate, with no assumptions about
    form or material, but with some strong
    convictions about what a chair ought to do for a
    person.
  • "The human form has no straight lines, it is
    biomorphic. We designed the chair to be above all
    biomorphic, or curvilinear, as a metaphor of
    human form in the visual as well as the tactile
    sense. There is not one straight line to be found
    on an Aeron chair.

47
Substantial research and testing went into the
designof the Aeron chair.
  • The Aeron design was refined and validated
    through research and experts' opinions
  • It was tested for comfort with scores of users,
    pitting it against the best work chairs
    available.
  • Leading ergonomists, orthopedic specialists, and
    physical therapists evaluated the chair's fit and
    motion, the benefit and ease of its adjustments.
  • The design team conducted anthropometric studies
    across the country, using a specially developed
    instrument to calculate everything from popliteal
    height to forearm length.
  • The research team did pressure mapping and
    thermal testing to determine the weight
    distribution and heat- and moisture-dissipating
    qualities of the Pellicle material on the chair's
    seat and back.

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  • The pellicle is a thin layer supporting the cell
    membrane in various protozoa, protecting them and
    allowing them to retain their shape. They vary
    from flexible and elastic to rigid.
  • thin film or membrane

50
  • "The Pellicle was equally a deliberate design
    strategy in that its transparency symbolizes the
    free flow of air to the skin in the same way
    lace, window screens, and other permeable
    membranes permit the flow of air or light or
    moisture.
  • The transparency of the chair as a visual element
    was in keeping with the idea of transparent
    architecture and technology, which Aeron
    pioneered in advance of Apple's transparent iMac
    computers.
  • Transparency is a major design movement.
  • Its purpose is to make technology less opaque, to
    communicate the inner workings of things, and to
    make objects less intrusive in the environment.
    Aeron is a non-intrusive chair."

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The Aeron chair comes in three sizes and a choice
of Pellicle weaves and finishes.
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  • A web page for wheels and casters
  • http//www.muvtons.com/products.html

58
  • Exam 3 monday, June 9, 1010am.
  • Exam 3 will be very much like Exam 1 Exam 2
    in format and in length.
  • Thank you for your attentiveness in this class.
  • I have enjoyed our time together!
  • Have a wonderful summer time.
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