Final Cafe Chair

Technical Drawing

Overall dimensions of wood parts.


This is the dxf file which was sent to the water jet cutters. I arranged it in a way that I would get 2 different grained plywood from the same cutting.

Cafe Chair Development _ Construction Process

There are 3 parts in the construction of my cafe chair. First is the metal leg frame which is made out of 4 bent wires criss-crossed and welded. The second is the metal frame for the back rest which is made out of 2 separate parts welded in the middle, and after that welded to the base/legs. The third part is the wooden parts ( seat & back rest ) which are actually 2 plies stuck together.

I was trying to minimize the amount of wire used for the base area, theresore some of the wires seen in the final mock up is either taken out or replaced with less.


The metal parts were sent to be powder coated to make sure that it can last longer. I sent my part to Comet Powder Coatings and got it powder coated to a textured black finish. Before that was done, the metal parts had to grinded and cleaned of gris and unwanted material.

The wood finishing was done by sanding fillets around the parts to eliminate any sharp edges. The sanding machine was then used to smoothen all the flat surfaces. A clear enamel coat was applied to the plywood and sanded lightly several times to achieve a smooth clear finish.

Cafe Chair Development _ Model Trial 1

This is my first 1:1 scale model from my mock up trials. I used printed drawings, and glued it to wood and cardboard to help allign the criss cross leg frame. This was a little challenging due to different angles and heights of the seat. I decided to make another one because the leg's frame base for this turned out to be very narrow, which caused some instability. I still did learn a lot from making this model, learning that alligning wires at angles accurately is vital for achieving a better fit for the wood part.

Cafe Chair Development _ Refined Mock Up

This mock up was strong enough, therefore it was brought to be tested in 1:1 scale. The locking system used for the back rest can be seen more in detail from the sketches below.