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Anyone here ever cut the recline spring on your office chair??


Mighty Favog

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Hi y'all,

 

I bought a Lay-Z-Boy office chair that is real comfortable to me. I'm not a real big guy at only 145 lbs. and I do like to lean back sometimes and type on the computer. Thing is I have yet to come across a new chair will lean back with my svelt weight in it.

 

So, as the title asks, has anyone ever cut a couple of coils out of the tilt spring on something like this??

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20 minutes ago, Mighty Favog said:

So, as the title asks, has anyone ever cut a couple of coils out of the tilt spring on something like this??

Many have a knob that adjusts the preload. Loosening that (assuming that your chair has one) may help.

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11 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

You guys are no fun… I’m thinking Disneyland “E“ ticket…

 

O.K., way back just before I was in Cub Scouts, I used to tag along with my two brothers' Boy Scout trips while my father was a Scout Leader.

 

One place we went was Camp Carlson just outside Ft. Knox in Kentucky where we stayed in an old log cabin that was the size of about a ten car garage. It had some leftover furniture in it and one of item was an old wooden office chair. These kids found a piece of rope and tied it around the chair with somebody in it while they swung the chair and rider around in circles as fast as they could. Then let go of the rope to see what the chair and rider would crash into.

 

Did I mention the adults were all outside drinking beer around the campfire?? 

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5 minutes ago, DizRotus said:

 

At least they weren’t rubbing tenderfeet the wrong way.

 

Then we went to tour Ft. Knox and did a couple naughty things there...

 

We had lunch in one of the mess halls where my brother got his fountain drink. He mixed Pepsi and seltzer with a little ice. Mixed in the right portions in looked just like a draft beer. A couple soldiers were dropping their forks in disbelief. 

 

Then we went to the base gift shop. The scouts got out of our bus and started climbing on a Sherman tank that was near by at the rifle target range. Then a C.O. came running out of a building yelling "Get off that thing. It's LIVE!!"

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21 hours ago, Mighty Favog said:

I used to tag along with my two brothers' Boy Scout trips while my father was a Scout Leader.

I did a stint in scouts.  we were in the "UN" patrol because the scoutmaster said we were Unhelpful, unfriendly, unkind, etc....

Not sure we had a camping trip that lasted more than one night ... some didn't even last that long before the scoutmaster called it quits. 

Let's see ... we wanted a party with the fundraiser money, so the scoutmaster bought cooking gear for the troop. First campout, one of the guys puts all the cooking gear into a rowboat, rows out to the middle of the lake and throws it all overboard. 

One time our troop was disqualified from a big jamboree for using a lighter during the fire building competition. 

we went on a 50 mile hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and four of us took off and left the scoutmaster and the other guys behind. 

Our Boy Scout careers didn't last long. 

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24 minutes ago, JL Sargent said:

Cut one of the springs in half. It will definitely tilt easier after you do.

 

That was my idea. It only has one spring and it's a little tough to get to. But I do have bolt cutters that might just reach in there.

 

I also called the manufacturer and the lady I spoke to said the display model might have been worn from that many people sitting in it. Well, I think that's possible but improbable.  I mean, there was a LOT of difference between the two. The company is sending me another seat plate assembly anyway.

 

However, another thought I had was to offer the store to swap out the plate on their display model for the one I got. That would make their chair more closely be a representation of their back stock for sale. While also satisfying me and giving me what I needed. I would even offer to do the labor in the store to change them out.

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1 minute ago, JL Sargent said:

Since you have a new one coming anyway, you could try this: Remove the spring. Cut a short section from the end of it. Stretch spring to original length. Reinstall. It will be weaker.

 

 

I wish I could get it out. Imagine a car's valve spring in the head, only the valve keeper and top plate is peened into place through its center threaded bolt.

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What an amusing thread thus far.  You guys were a bunch of trouble makers  lol.

 

Rather than fool with spring, could you fool with weight?  Add a 5-10 (??) pound weight to the rear of the chair so now "you" weigh  155/60.  These weights could be in the form of Almond M&M's dumped in a bucket.  Maybe add a salami sandwich to the bucket for your typing marathons?

 

 

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I don't think I'd SHORTEN the spring as that would give you a dead "flop zone" where the chair will flop depending on being pushed or pulled.

 

You'd maybe want to THIN the spring to lesson its strength....  then again (I'm not an engineer) I'd imagine if you thinned the spring by grinding some off, that would heat it and it might lose some of its tensile strength.

 

Ever thought of a bean bag chair?

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