A Footrest For My Folding Lounge Chair

Footrest:  A structure to support the calves and feet of the seated occupant at a comfortable angle and height above the floor.  

Cherry Footrest

For this project my aesthetic goal was to create a solution that belongs to the lounge chair next to it. Detail continuity. It should appear as an obvious mate. As my lounge chair folds up flat for easy storing and moving, the foot rest should also ideally fold up flat.  A bonus option is that the foot rest stores under the frame of the lounge chair when not needed. It doesn't slide under the seat assemble for a quick clearing of the space in front of the chair.  The front stretcher blocks that path.  It will slide under the stretcher if folded up first though. This footrest is just a bit narrower than the outer frame of the lounge chair so it can slide underneath it without scraping against the sides. 

I had enough cherry wood to make this footrest. I also had the hardware needed for it on hand. I had canvas for a sling to support a pad.  I didn't have any material that matched or complimented the cushion on the lounge chair so I ordered a cushion online.  

To make the side parts I started with three 15 inch long strips, 3" wide,  and 1" thick. They were glued together side-by-side. Once the glue was dry I scraped off any squeeze out then ran the board through my drum sander to smooth both sides. The final panel thickness was 31/32".   A nice feature of my CNC software is that it can render how the board will look after the toolpaths are cut.  This render is how the side parts were cut out. I held the board down with clamps on the outer corners.  The opposite side of each piece needed a little more work, but I try and maximize what is done while the board is on the CNC.  

All Four Side Parts

After the toolpaths were done I took it off the CNC.  I used my bandsaw to cut through the tabs and free the boards. Next step was to use a spiral downcut flush trim bit in my trim router table to cut off what was left of the tabs.  The CNC could only round over the edges of one side of each piece.  I put a 1/4" radius roundover router bit in my clamp-on trim table to round over the other side.   It only took 3 minutes or so including time to clean up whatever cherry chips the shop vac missed while cutting.   

My trim router table.

Dowels: Three dowels were needed. The dowels have a mating taper on their ends to fit snug into the tapered mortises.  I had enough cherry, but no pieces long enough. I ripped six 1" wide strips from a 9" long board, and then took them to my router table to round over all corners.  I then joined those 9" dowels end to end using this end-to-end finger joint design.  

End A

End B

The same vectors were used for both sides. The reality of CNC work is that sometimes bits bought turn out to be something other than the diameter they claim.  Testing the fit of this joint after cutting both sides I found it looser than I expected.   My conclusion is that the bit I used was slightly larger than the 3/16" diameter it claimed to be. My experience with Onsrud brand bits is that they are the most accurate.   As such I ordered new 3/16"d upcut and downcut bits.  

For the third dowel I remembered that I had a bag of 1" cherry dowels that were 12" long. I took two and used the radial finger joint show above to glue them end-to-end. Fit was not as tight as I expected it to be using the Onsrud 3/16" spiral upcut bit.  It was tighter than the other joints I used an older bit to cut though.  After gluing the two sections together, I cut it to the needed length, then clamped it vertically on my CNC to taper then ends.  

Puzzles occasionally show up when parts assembled don't match expected action.  This showed up when I first assembled the side parts and found that the inner leg didn't rotate under the upper dowel of the outer leg.  This was not a critical failure, but became a nagging subconscious thought as I remembered checking that it would fold flat in my CNC software.   A few days later I checked the drawing to determine how long the canvas needed to be. I realized I'd misplaced the bolt holes on the outer legs. Drilling new holes where they should have been was fairly simple.  Patching the initial holes took a new CNC toolpath file and scrap of cherry to cut snug fitting plugs from. The inner frame now rotates flat within the outer frame. The dowel ends and the sockets for the dowel ends are tapered with a 3 degree tapered end mill. 

The canvas sling.  Some careful measurement suggested it needed to be 19.24" + 1.5"overlap for two rows of snaps and 3/4" wide hems on each end long, and 17.5" wide + 3/4" wide hems on each side. The snaps allow installation and removal without taking apart the frame. Nice when it may need cleaning or replacing. Two rows of snaps keep the canvas flat. With just one row the canvas ends may bend up/down when snug and try to pull the snaps apart. I laid out the canvas I had, marked and drew the rectangle needed. Trimmed a 45 degree slice off the corners so when the hem were folded over they would miter together. I marked the fold line as well as the reference lines that the canvas folds to. Using fusing tape and some straight pins I folded over the sides and used my iron to seal them down. 

Canvas with Snaps

To verify the canvas with snaps would work, I assembled the frame for a test. 

Upside down to snap the canvas ends together

Standing up the canvas loop serves to limit how far  the frame opens. The slope is intentional as it is the angle my lower legs want to be at when sitting on the lounge chair. 

Standing up. Canvas Sling.

Teak Oil Finish

8/7.  The cushion arrived after spending 20 days between my house and somewhere in China. The red fabric is darker than the cushion on the lounge chair. Pretty much what I expected. It had been vacuum packed and was a tedious challenge to get through the wraps of tape that covered  the packaging. It needed a few days to recover/expand from the vacuum process. 

In use the angle of the frame and cushion make a very comfortable footrest for use with the lounge chair.  

I'll be making one more at least to improve on a couple flaws I found in this prototype. The lower dowel is right where my feet want to plant when getting out of the chair. Model #2 will move that dowel 4" up the sides rather than at the ends. Model #2 will also rethink how the cushion attaches. This one came with elastic straps that stretch then click together.  There is no adjustment. They want to collapse the frame unless the weight of my legs are on top of it. For now I've hidden a "push" bar in the middle under the canvas to keep the canvas tight. 

Comments I encourage.  

4D