KD kids chair revised to "Happy Chair"

[Mayo]

I noticed all the posts with the knock down kids chairs and revised the design a little bit. I had some extra MDO left over from a previous job so I figured I'd make one and see how it turned out.

I made the size of the slots and tabs to fit 1/2 inch MDO plywood, and to make it a "Happy" looking chair - literally and figuratively!

The first attempt had the slots for the eyes centered relative to the face however when the seat tabs were pushed into position, the eyes were then out of position. So in the second revision I moved the slots for the eyes so that the tabs would be centered in the face when assembled.

I still don't like how the back of the chair can be lifted upwards in the slots when the chair is picked up - and reversing the position of the tab openings would then make it possible for the back of the chair to be pushed downwards instead - possibly pinching a child's fingers between the bottom of the back and the seat, so I didn't make that change.
Either way has it's drawbacks...

How I cut it:
I used a 1/8 inch 2 flute downshear spiral and stepped it down .15 in 4 passes.
Router speed was 13,000 and move speed was 1.5 IPS on a PRT Shopbot.
I had 2-3 tabs on each part holding things in place.
Screws held my scrap MDO down to the spoilboard.

[myxpykalix]

i like your version...of course if you wanted to make it into a "time out chair" all you would need to do is reverse your smile, because as you know, a frown is just a smile turned upside down!

[Ajcoholic]

I still don't like how the back of the chair can be lifted upwards in the slots when the chair is picked up

I think in my thread I said how I drill through the back, and into the seat (in the center) for a 1/4" dowel. Then drill out the back to 1/32 oversize. press the dowel into the seat and cut it flush with the back.

WHen the seat (which holds the short dowel) is pushed back to the back panel, it locks the back so when you lift on the back it cannot rise. To dismantle the chair just pull the seat ahead, and then lift the back.

With BB plywood - at least the stuff I get - it is very dimensionally accurate. I pass it through the wide belt sander as well, so it is a snug sliding fit into the machined grooves. So much so you need to lightly tap my chairs together, and they wont come apart unless you want them to.

Barring not wanting to use a dowel, just put one small wood screw through the back into the seat.

AJC

[Mayo]

I didn't see the part about using the dowel to prevent the pieces from sliding!
In my second revision, I wound up lengthening the back part of the seat and I positioned the back farther upwards so that now the seat us positioned underneath the bottom of the back. So yeah, I could still put a small screw to keep things from moving.

To further refine the "Happy Chair" look I think I'm going to reduce the tabs on the back piece somewhat so they don't stick out quite as much.

It used to be that you could buy MDO plywood and it was made with NO voids inside the plies. This is no longer the case. Even though it costs way more than it used to, it's now made inferior. I'll have to get some Baltic Birch!