Chair

[J G 927]

All I need now is a good chair to do my flight simming in.

 

I thought it would be easy to find an inexpensive chair to settle down and fly in.  All its got to do is:

1. Be comfortable with good back support (obviously).
2. Have wheels that lock easily (so I can position the chair and then lock it in place).
3. Be height adjustable. (so that I can adjust the height to get the most comfortable leg angle to my rudder bars etc.).

 

Simple enough parameters.  Impossible to find.

 

There are plenty of office chairs out there that satisfy 1 and 3 but not 2. Yes you can get lockable castors but to anchor the chair properly you have to lock 5 wheels. reach down to do this and the chair moves and then it is not in the correct place anymore. and it is no good ignoring 2 as the moment you put pressure on that rudder bar it stays put and you go backward.

 

I looked at wheelchairs. Great for 2 as the wheels lock nicely. Bad for 1 and 3.  I was shocked to find out uncomfortable wheelchairs are. None are height adjustable and they are as comfortable as a park bench. I was lead to the conclusion that the brakes were so good so as to help get yourself out of the chair and collapse on the floor where you might be more comfortable. As for height adjustable, not a squeak in that direction. You would think that people who used wheelchairs didn't have legs..... oh wait.... well some must have legs surely.

 

Then there are the comfy chairs. (Oh no not the comfy chair!) some very nice chairs too.  Great for 1 and even 3 in some cases. but bad for 2 as there are no wheels to start with. 

 

Has anyone ever come across a chair that meets all my criteria without paying a fortune for it?   

 

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by J G

[hifly 925]

John, how about a deep pile rug under the chair?

[mutley 4,487]

Do what @needles did, get an old motorised motor vehicle chair, stick some wheels on it and a hand brake, jobs a goodun?  

[J G 927]

2 hours ago, hifly said:

John, how about a deep pile rug under the chair?

 

There is no room for a rug, and in any event I want o have the option to wheel it around easily when I want to.

 

1 hour ago, mutley said:

Do what @needles did, get an old motorised motor vehicle chair, stick some wheels on it and a hand brake, jobs a goodun?  

 

An interesting idea. are there any pictures on the site?

[mutley 4,487]

Not that I know of JG, Brian's doesn't have wheels.

 

Of course, you can always buy replacement castors which have locks on them if you manage to satisfy 1 and 3 above?

[J G 927]

I have tried that. Braking castors are difficult as most office chairs have 5 castors.  By the time you have messed around at floor level the chair has moved, and braking castors brakes are no good anyway, they give up after a couple of weeks.

 

Thanks anyway.

[hifly 925]

Edited March 18, 2017 by hifly

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

If you can answer yes to the following question I may have a work/roll around solution.

 

Q: Will the Flight Sim position for the chair always be in the same position when casters are locked?

A: Maybe.

 

well, if yes, you could nail/screw/glue some small blocks on the floor to act as wheel wedges/chocks...roll up ahead of them, then roll the chair back into the chocks to lock yourself into position. Add a very small lip to roll over to get into the chocks to prevent accidentally rolling forward (feet on pedals will prevent most forward motion), but small enough to roll forward over deliberately to release yourself from the chocks.

 

Might only need three wheels "chocked" to work.

 

Roll forward of, then backwards over the bump into the chocks to lock yourself into station.

Roll forward over the bump, then sideways, then back to Leave the FS station.

 

A crappy sketch:

 

 

cheers.

Matt.

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[J G 927]

Thanks Matt - I loved the drawing!  Screwing or gluing things to the floor is a non-starter, the Mrs would only nail my head to the coffee table.

 

However I have a plan........ 

[mutley 4,487]

1 hour ago, J G said:

the Mrs would only nail my head to the coffee table.

 

That's nothing, my wife would use sarcasm, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire, and then screw my pelvis to a cake stand...

 

Looking forward to plan B, JG

[Tim_A 995]

Are bathos anything like bath salts?

[Tim_A 995]

4 hours ago, hifly said:

 

Very close to my idea for a "pilot seat" for pilotless aircraft controllers. I firmly believe that drone/pilotless aircraft operators should have as much skin in the game as any passengers on board. Crash my flight sonny and you get the big jolt . . .

[Andrew Godden 934]

I knew a bloke once, built his own flight sim ejaculation seat. Maybe you could pinch some of his ideas and adapt them to your latest design requirements. 

 

[J G 927]

It still exists and is now up stairs in another room, however a rogue screw has rendered it unusable to all who have no desire to have two holes where there should only be one.

 

The new project is called Special Project Aero Zone. and is designed to be lightweight movable and fold away. It meet all three of my criteria above (just) and has a few more advantages as well. What has my warped mind come up with? Watch this space and you may well find out.

Edited March 19, 2017 by J G

[brett 2,283]

I would build a chair setup from a car seat from the junk yard(1), build a bottom box section so you can stick one of those rumble speakers in it and then buy those wheels they make for table saw stands that are able to roll and then fold up so the stand stay firm on the ground(2).  Height adjustments can be figured out but not sure why this would be needed.

[J G 927]

On ‎18‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 16:40, hifly said:

 

A shocking suggestion Tim!

 

I have designed my chair in my head and am amassing the bits I need at the moment. Then it is just a matter of cutting, welding and painting,

 

And Brett, height adjustment isn't that important, I have gone for adjustment by unbolting stuff rather than an instant height change.

[J G 927]

Project SPAZ is complete. If you're are very politically correct then don't read on.

 

I think I now have the perfect FS chair for me. Its a wheelchair hence the name.

 

I wanted a chair that had to be:

1. Be comfortable with good back support (obviously). A wheelchair has this so [TICK]
2. Have wheels that lock easily (so I can position the chair and then lock it in place). It has lockable wheels, these work independently of each other and so as the wheels have self propulsion rings, manoeuvrability is excellent. [TICK]
3. Be height adjustable. (so that I can adjust the height to get the most comfortable leg angle to my rudder bars etc.). Wheelchairs are height adjustable so [TICK].

There are other advantages:

• The chair is collapsible and so takes up minimal space when not in use
• The chair has removable and adjustable foot rests. With a bit of imagination and inventiveness these can be converted into supports for a throttle and mouse shelf to ether side of the chair.

Its all built and tested, it works very well and is perfect for my VR rig.  VR is a bonus with this chair design, I have no chance of seeing my self flights-simming in a wheelchair and looking like a right twat, which I suspect I do!

 

Cost: Second hand wheelchair from Gumtree £20, placemats for left and right shelves £5, Chrome tubing for throttle and mouse support £6, clamps £5 from ebay.  Total cost:£36.

 

 

[allardjd 1,853]

41 minutes ago, J G said:

If you're are very politically correct then don't read on.

 

...assuring that we'd all read on, as you intended.

 

John

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

We require a photo of you in the Spaz flying a Spad.

 

Earlier in this thread you mentioned that wheelchairs were not very comfortable,

On 3/17/2017 at 18:39, J G said:

I was shocked to find out uncomfortable wheelchairs are. None are height adjustable and they are as comfortable as a park bench.

 

I am assuming you found a more comfortable version after all? I hope not all wheel chairs are uncomfortable... talk about overlooking a basic design parameter!

Edited April 1, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[allardjd 1,853]

I think your solution is brilliant, not in the British sense of the word which I believe is commonly used for anything even slightly better than, say moronic, but in the less-frequently-used, but immensely more positive US sense of the term.  

 

Well done, sir.  It's one of those forehead-slappers that makes me say, "of course" once I hear it.

 

John

[J G 927]

On ‎01‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 18:05, allardjd said:

...assuring that we'd all read on, as you intended.

 

And you did read on.  Good psychology eh?  But it occurs to me that our American brethren might not appreciate the non-pc element to my post.

 

For the benefit of those in the dark (benefit is a loose term here), Spaz is short for Spastic, and is a very derogatory term for that condition, very very non-pc. In the UK it might be used thus; "Oh you utter spaz!"  Similar to the American expression " You retard".

 

On ‎01‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 18:09, Captain Coffee said:

We require a photo of you in the Spaz flying a Spad.

 

Sorry I don't have a Spad. Does anyone know of a Spad with a fully flyable VC?

On ‎01‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 18:36, allardjd said:

Well done, sir.  It's one of those forehead-slappers that makes me say, "of course" once I hear it.

 

Thanks John. Most of those who know me well would be less kind and put it down to "one of John's crazy ideas again".

 

Photos to follow for those who wonder about the implementation of this wheelchair project, or my sanity, or both.

[needles 1,010]

Come on John, I'm itching to see your new creation. 

As for the ejector seat, did you have a ritual burning on the front lawn? 

All that hard work gone. I might sell my panel if/when I get into VR.

[J G 927]

 

Packed  away, chair collapsed and joystick away under table.

 

Ready to go. Joystick in position, chair up and ready to use. Note the Throttle and mouse platforms these are mounted on what was the foot rest brackets and are therefor easily removed.  There is a USB hub on the chair so that only one connection is needed to connect the chair to the rest of the hardware.

 

Quote

As for the ejector seat, did you have a ritual burning on the front lawn? 

 

It is still around, acting as a bedside dumping ground as it is to large to go into the loft.  It cant stay there as it is beginning to annoy my wife. I will have to dismantle it and chuck it out.  Unless someone want to pick it up for free?

Edited April 3, 2017 by J G

[hifly 925]

Way to go Ironside. 

[J G 927]

3 minutes ago, hifly said:

Way to go Ironside. 

 

Showing your age Geoff!  I remember it as well