This little tut has been long in the making…I have a pile of little lawn chairs to prove it.  LOL.

This tutorial is only for the folding chair.  The lounge style may come some time in the future or not.  We will see how things go along.

Step one:  Cut 4 pcs of 12 gauge aluminium wire approximately 6-7″ long and straighten them as much as possible.

Down load the template page and be sure to check that the squares are one inch squares.

 

 

Bend each wire matching the template as close as possible.  Also cut a 3″ piece of music wire approximately 1mm diameter.  You will need a drill bit the same size or bigger to match the drill bit.

Flatten and try to have as straight as possible.  Next mark the drill holes with a sharpie and drill the holes.  The drill holes at the ends of the back and front legs are really close to the ends..approximately 2 mm from the ends.  After drilling the holes, trim to match the lengths on the template.

Don’t drill the holes for the seat and back rest at the ends of the wire.  We will get to those a little later.

Go ahead and trim the lengths of the seat and back rest to match the template once you have drill the holes drilled for the seat and armrest positions.  File the ends smooth.

Next bend the ends of the back rest towards the front.

Flatten the ends of the seat and back rest .  Bench vise works for this.   The back rest flatten the ends approximately 1/2 inch of the ends.  The seat flatten 3/8th of the ends.

The armrests are 3d printed  Armrest file.  Happy printing.  If you don’t want to print the armrest you can add wood ones using the outline on the template file.

Drill holes for the armrest as pictured.

After drill the armrest holes assemble the legs to the armrest using some head pins.  I used the soft pierced earring backs to help stop the pins from falling out as I assembled.  We will need to unassemble and assemble several times, so don’t cut or permanently place the head pins.

This is the front legs assembled.  I miss the back legs picture somehow.    Attach the back rest at the armrest and the front seat to the front legs.  Face the head pins from the inside otherwise they will interfere with the test folding of the chair.

 

 

Here’s where we are with the front, back legs, seat and back rest assembled. 

You want the back rest ends to be to the inside of the seat ends.  Mark where the ends over lap for drilling.  Be sure that you mark and drill very straight through.  If you drill a little off it will cause the chair to bind and not fold or sit straight.

Thread the length of piano wire through the ends you just drilled.  We getting there.  Almost done with the frame.  If you have extra length of the wire where the back rest and seat meet, after drilling , just even them up by cutting off the excess.

There are brackets at the bottom of the temple.  Cut two out and paste onto a piece of flashing metal and drill the top two holes. Cut out the brackets and remove the paper template.

Bend the tabs almost 90 degrees as above.  These little brackets help the chair from over extension at the pivot point of the seat and back rest.  Be sure to mirror the bends for each side.  Place onto the music wire with the tabs pointing towards the center of the chair.

Once you have both of them on…be sure to use the little soft earring backs to help them from falling off on you.

Mark the other end of the bracket where the drill hole is on the back leg and drill the holes.

Add the head pins to the bracket and test close your chair.

Hopefully all will lay flat.  If the chair won’t lay flat, test remove pins one at a time to see where the problem is.  Usually it is a drill hole that doesn’t line up with the other side evenly.   If you have this problem, you may need to make another piece to replace the uneven one.

Next part will be adding the webbing and finishing off the chair.

Dollhouse Miniature Folding Lawn Chair Tutorial Part Two