Author Topic: Office chair wheels  (Read 21959 times)

Offline AdeV

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Office chair wheels
« on: August 29, 2012, 06:02:12 PM »
If, like me, you're a bit of a porker, eventually you will suffer the ignominy of broken office chair wheels:



The symptoms are: An inability to move around the office, except in small circles, and a definite tilt. And, of course, once the first wheel has caved in, the second is only a matter of time away...

Fortunately, the wheels are really simple: two plastic discs pressed onto an axle which is held in a moulded plastic structure. The metal pin joins chair to wheel unit. Repeat * 5



The first job, after squaring off some aluminium of about the right size, is to mark up the axle hole. I will cut 3 "subframes" from the block shown. Here I am using a height gauge, and since the digivern its made of has a flat battery, I'm using a gauge block to give me an ultra-accurate height of about 1/4" I wasn't bothered about the exact height, just so long as there's about enough meat around the axle that it won't burst out under the many newtons of force I will be applying to it...



Having scored the block twice, I then make use of this rather nifty optical punch to definitively mark the crossing point. I don't need this level of accuracy, but this optical doodah is so useful, I wanted to show it...



The plastic peg has a target printed on the bottom, you line that up with the mark; remove the peg and replace with the hammer, and bash it once. Job done :)

We then line a centre drill up on the punch mark:



Centre drill, then drill 6mm all the way through. Each axle is straight knurled in the centre which will hold it in the aluminium block nicely.

Next, mark the edge at 90 degrees to the axle hole up for the main pin. Drill about 1.5" in to 10mm. Then it needed a tapered section - I picked a likely looking cutter out of the many I've picked up along the way; load it up:



Perfect fit:



The pins used a lip in the plastic to hold themselves in. That wasn't going to work with the aluminium, so I drilled & tapped a hole in the side. The cheapo M3 tap is a fragile beast (I could see it twisting slightly under the forces), but I somehow did all 5 tapped holes without breaking it.



Screw in a bolt, and turn it into a grub screw with a hacksaw:



Finally, part off the piece using a carbide-tipped rotary saw blade (an Evolution Rage Pro - fabulous things - you need ear defenders for the noise, and armour plating to deflect the centre-of-the-sun-hot chips):



Press fit the axles in using the vice:




And we're done:




Rinse & repeat:



And finally, stick them back where they belong:




I am now happily buzzing around the office again without having to walk! Hurrah!
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline micktoon

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2012, 06:25:44 PM »
  Hi Ade , I thought you would have CNC'd some pimped up rims , (American chopper style) when your were on there mate :headbang:, I hope your going to give it some stick and find the next weakest link :whip: Then Madmod that bit  :dremel: and so on, until you have a one off custom seat that stands you as much as your Bridgeport  :lol: ........................ Go on Son ................Pimp that chair  :clap: :thumbup: :thumbup:

  Cheers Mick

Offline rleete

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2012, 06:52:11 PM »
You could just lose some weight.




Nah, where's the fun in that?
Creating scrap, one part at a time

Offline andyf

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2012, 06:56:21 PM »
Ade, that's madness!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/office-chair-casters-Stationery-Supplies/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A192413031%2Ck%3AOffice%20Chair%20Casters

Still, this is Madmodder, and you wouldn't have anything to sit on until a new set of five for under £1 each were delivered.....

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline kwackers

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2012, 04:26:05 AM »
I think you've missed a trick. I'd have also made new wheels with bearings for high speed rolling...
(And you've also lost the little mudguards)

Offline PTsideshow

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2012, 06:13:06 AM »
 :bugeye:  :thumbup:   :dremel:  :clap: great job!
"The internet just a figment, of my imagination!' 
 
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2012, 07:38:36 AM »
Excellent replies, thanks chaps!

Andy - they look very like the originals, which would give them a 6 month lifespan tops (that's how long the originals lasted)... my solution is more economical, in the long run....

rleete - doing my best, currently going backwards, apparently I shouldn't be eating all the pies?  :scratch:

Mick - Hmm.... cnc rims.....  :proj: One of the wheels does tend to fall off the axle now (bloody plastic crap), so a nice set of aluminium rims might be just the thing...  :palm:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2012, 08:51:23 AM »
You could just lose some weight.

Nah, where's the fun in that?

The car would be faster too!  :D

Nice fix Ade.  :thumbup:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline NickG

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2012, 04:28:48 AM »
We want alloys! .... :lol:
Location: County Durham (North East England)

Offline Scuba1

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2012, 10:59:00 PM »
We want alloys! .... :lol:

We want alloys! .... :lol: We want alloys! .... :lol: We want alloys! .... :lol: We want alloys! .... :lol: We want alloys! .... :lol: We want alloys! .... :lol:  We want alloys! .... :lol:

Go for it you know you want to
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2012, 10:22:53 AM »
Well, who am I to refuse..... especially since Ralph recently dropped off some nice aluminium rounds which will make excellent little wheels...

besides, I've now got 2 wheels which are liable to drop off the axles; unlike the plastic units, the aluminium is sufficiently rigid that I don't lose traction (or height), but obviously the extra strain on the one remaining wheel is bound to cause a failure eventually, and I'm fed up of having to put the errant wheels back on...

The machine is blocked with another project at the moment, I will work on it once that one is done  :D
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline DMIOM

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2012, 12:52:43 PM »
......The machine is blocked with another project at the moment, I will work on it once that one is done ....

But haven't you just increased the fleet to two CNC mills ??

Dave     :coffee:

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #12 on: September 13, 2012, 12:53:09 PM »
How did I miss this??

Saw somewhere on the net a guy who put a Recaro racing seat on casters for his office chair....



I think you could do something like that!

 :proj:

Eric
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Offline rleete

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #13 on: September 13, 2012, 05:11:59 PM »
I did that with my Miata seat.  Problem was, no arms, so not very comfy.  I suppose I could add arms, but that's work.
Creating scrap, one part at a time

Offline AdeV

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #14 on: September 13, 2012, 05:58:17 PM »

But haven't you just increased the fleet to two CNC mills ??


[Racing Driver Book of Excuses, vol 17, pp4750,4769 (Reasons for not using 2nd of 2 [or more] machines, physical conditions)]

Excuse #4,755,312 sub-para IXV clause 7: I can only run one of them at a time due to a lack of extension leads (and in fairness, you can't just pop down Argos and get a 4-way 32-amp 3-phase trailing extension socket...)

Excuse #5,102,117 sub-para MCCX clause 18a & 34c: Also, I don't like running that machine as it's short of a cooling fan & has a faulty coolant pump.

[/Racing Driver Book of Excuses]

More accurately, there's only one operator, and his brain cell is already fully engaged on the jig plate...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline DMIOM

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #15 on: September 14, 2012, 04:15:09 AM »
 :beer:

In the face of such immutable logic, and since, as far as we know, Ade isn't blessed with the same cranial characteristics as Zaphod Beeblebrox I think we should leave the poor chap to get on with his jiggy-jig and park the new alloy wheels project. 

Actually, come to think of it, the "round-tuit" I've seen on a wall somewhere was about the same size as those wheels - may be a post-ironic gesture would be laminate up all of those "round-tuit"s to make the blank for the wheel ...........

Dave

Offline AdeV

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #16 on: September 14, 2012, 05:29:36 AM »
I am somewhat alarmed to discover that you can not only buy alloy wheels for your office chair...



...but that the same company offers racing-style office chairs (complete with arms) as a commercial product!

http://www.promechracing.com/Office-Racing-Chairs/c-1-105/
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline andyf

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #17 on: September 14, 2012, 06:54:05 AM »
Ade,

Have you viewed the video of the "presentation box" those alloys come in? Link on the left of the page where you stole your pic. Could be good if modded so a motion sensor on the chair sets it going!

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline dsquire

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #18 on: September 14, 2012, 08:38:36 AM »
Ade

At that price they don't seem that bad as long as they are up to the task of high speed turns under lots of pressure. You sure wouldn't want to blow one touring around the office. You couldn't even begin to build your own for that price. Course if you did Rob could make them all shinny with his trick camera.  :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe you should order a 5 point harness with that as well.  :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers  :beer:

Don
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Offline AdeV

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #19 on: September 14, 2012, 08:57:09 AM »
Office chair racing has lost its appeal since I saw this:




 :proj:  :lol:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline dsquire

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #20 on: September 14, 2012, 09:59:04 AM »
Office chair racing has lost its appeal since I saw this:

 :proj:  :lol:

I think you better put a muffler on it before you start chasing the secretaries around the office.  :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers  :beer:

Don
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Offline AdeV

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ALLOYS!!!!!
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2013, 05:01:19 PM »
ALLOYS!



I confess to extreme laziness, the wheels are all different thicknesses, and the finish varies from "OK" to "abysmal" and I couldn't be bothered making it any better.... I have 2 more cartwheels to make to replace the last 2 plastic ones, but my 6mm cutter is going blunt.

The alloys are retained in place by a blob of weld on the end of the axle, I would have used some clever mechanism, but time was pressing... and the reason for the alloys? Because most of the wheels were damaged by removing them originally, and no longer held themselves on the axles. You lose one, then a second, then a third, and before you know it you're listing again and only able to travel in small circles...

Of course, the lack of tyres on these new wheels might make cornering an interesting prospect...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline andyf

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2013, 06:59:54 PM »
Ade, knurl 'em for a bit of grip on the corners, so you don't skid into the coffee machine kettle.

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline winklmj

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #23 on: January 14, 2013, 02:44:14 PM »
It's not skidding...it's drifting. Get with the latest craze.
Mike

Offline Divided he ad

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Re: Office chair wheels
« Reply #24 on: January 14, 2013, 07:48:49 PM »
Very swish!  :lol:


You make 10 flywheels with cut outs.... I've still to make 1!!



Lets see you bust these ones then  :beer:



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