Sideshells in cool rooms

December 20, 2009 @ 11:07 pm · Filed under Tiny slices of awesome

3 Comments »

  1. Kevin Said,

    January 5, 2010 @ 2:58 am

    Sorry to ask this question here, but I can’t find where to just email you a question. I have a Seafoam green side shell that I’m going to follow your guide for restoring (I’ve been looking all over for just such a tutorial — a million thanks!). The shell itself is in great shape except for some scuffing in the front and great globs of white epoxy on the bottom.

    My question is about shock mounts. The ones that were with the chair are completely shot (dried out and flaking to pieces), and I bought a set of new ones for $20 on eBay. The mounts just arrived, and I’m concerned that they aren’t very well matched. One mount is between 1/8 and 1/16 inch shorter than the others and another isn’t quite equal height all around (one side is about 1/16″ shorter than the other). Also, the ’smooth’ side (that mounts to the shell) isn’t so smooth, and one mount in particular looks like it was carved (perhaps ‘planed’ would be more accurate) with a sharp blade to be flat. My guess is that since they’re attached with epoxy, they will probably work fine, but I don’t know if this degree of asymmetry will be an issue.

    After I bought these, I saw another seller (‘Special K’) who seems to be selling a higher quality set of mounts for the same price, so maybe I should just return these. Your thoughts?

    By the way, you might be interested in how I got the chair. My girlfriend and I (both midcentury modern lovers) regularly hit the Pasadena City College flea market, and at one of these I spotted the chair beside a trash can just as we walked out of the parking structure. It was in two pieces, and my guess is that as the original buyer was leaving the rotted shock mounts gave way, the chair fell apart, and they gave up on it rather than take it home. I saw the possibilities, and ran it to my car before going into the flea market. It came with a completely corroded stacking base (looked like brown powder coating till you touched it and got rust all over your hands), with one missing glide. Definitely a project.

    I toyed with removing the rust (I tested some Naval Jelly and steel wool — a lot of trouble!), but I’ve decided that the stacking base is so wide that it’s out of proportion to the shell. I like the look of the dowel bases, but with shipping one of those will be around $110, and the rocker bases to me work better on the Arm shells. So I’m planning to pick up an inexpensive H-base, like the ones in the photo above. I think it’ll be a sweet piece when I’m done.

    Oh, one more question — I know it’s importing to sand the shell where the mounts attach, and I’m assuming I should also light sand the shiny/smooth parts of the mounts that go against the epoxy. Is that correct?

    Thanks a million, and sorry for the long post.

  2. Larry Said,

    January 5, 2010 @ 5:31 pm

    Those shocks should be fine so long as you have good threads in them. Up to you as to weather you’d want to return them and get others to replace them. Hard to say with out pics. When it comes to where the shocks mount, you want to sand it with a heavier grit paper for best bonding. Wont hurt to scuff up the shockers too.

  3. Kevin Said,

    January 5, 2010 @ 6:47 pm

    Great, thank you! I’ll go ahead and proceed with what I have, and if I get a chance I’ll send along some pictures.

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