BYU CMR Mini Flex Chair

Summary

This chair uses Lamina Emergent Torsion (LET) joints to fold from a single sheet into a full structure. With about an hour to print and a few drops of super glue, you can make a scale model of our full-sized plywood chair!

LET joints use the bending of individual torsion bars to gain bending and translational motion from previously solid sheets of material. This makes it so we can gain large deflections from materials that do not generally bend, such as wood.

This concept was developed in a joint venture with the Wasatch Design Collective and BYU Compliant Mechanisms and Robotics Group.

If you are interested in purchasing your own full-size version, feel free to visit:

https://flexchair.squarespace.com/

Post-Print Processing

Add a small drop of superglue to the locations marked by the red arrows. Begin by gluing the back together, and then glue on the inside of the chair.

We also used tape on the outside of the chair to hold it in place during gluing and while the glue was drying.

Technical Information

This chair is a scale model of the Reversible Single-Sheet LET Array Chair, the research for which can be found here:

Parkinson, Bethany, et al. "Techniques for Designing Stable Flat-Foldable Wood Furniture." International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Vol. 86281. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022. https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/proceedings/IDETC-CIE2022/86281/V007T07A067/1150616

Ames, D. C. (2021). Laser forming of compliant mechanisms and flat-foldable furniture (Order No. 29003693). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2637681352). Retrieved from https://byu.idm.oclc.org/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/laser-forming-compliant-mechanisms-flat-foldable/docview/2637681352/se-2

To learn more about compliant mechanisms in general, see the BYU Compliant Mechanisms and Robotics (CMR) website or these books: Compliant Mechanisms, Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms. Also, follow us on Instagram @byucmr or Facebook @Compliant Mechanisms and Robotics Group.

Learn More

This design was developed by the Compliant Mechanisms Research Group (CMR) from Brigham Young University (BYU). Follow us at @byucmr on Instagram or visit the BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research (CMR) website to learn more about compliant mechanisms.

See https://rdcu.be/dnHx0 for an article in Nature Communications about how and why we share these maker resources.

Intellectual Property

The downloadable 3D print files provided here may be used, modified, and enjoyed for noncommercial use. To license this technology for commercial applications, contact:

BYU Technology Transfer Office

3760 Harold B. Lee Library

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT 84602

Phone: (801) 422-6266

https://techtransfer.byu.edu/contact.