The Captain America Ball Chair Is Completed!

After spending 500 hours work on designing and building this 42" diameter one of a kind ball chair I am overjoyed to finally say that it is completed.  The labor for the project has been spread over eleven months time doing computer aided design,  fiber glassing, sanding (lots of sanding), primer and paint, mechanical/electrical layout and construction as well as upholstery work.  Just saying all that makes me tired. So here finally is the end result of this huge project.

The red upholstered seat that is in the chair was completed a few days ago by my sister Rose.  She is a professional seamstress and without her help on this portion of the chair along with the cushion for the matching stool I would have had a harder time completing this project.

Installed into the chair are three LED lights that you can see in the photo above.  These lights are set up with two separate switches.  One switch will turn on one light.  The second switch turns on two lights and with both switches on all three light are lit. Along with this feature, in the chair is a stereo amplifier and two 8" speakers.  I am able to plug an iPod, iPad, or my cell phone into the amplifier and enjoy music while I read or full stereo sound if I am watching a movie.  To keep things cooler in the chair I also have installed a ventilation system to use if the need arises.  The two red cylindrical shapes on the insides of the walls of the chair you can also see in the photo above.  These are the adjustable ventilation ports that use two small computer fans to get air flowing.

Here's a little closer view of the amplifier, speaker, ventilation port, and control panel for lights and ventilation. The fiber glass housing for the amplifier was partially made with a 3D printer to simplify the mounting of the amplifier then the Captain America badge was added for just a little more detail.   You can also see the blue and white star buttons in the chair clearly in the photo above.  I printed these using my 3D printer and then assembled them on to the six wedge panels that make up the interior.  All of these wedges were padded with one inch of foam rubber to give the interior a nice feel to it when you are sitting in the chair.

In keeping with the theme of the chair (Captain America) the paint had to be the colors and pattern of the Captain America shield to be certain.  This was a major undertaking to accomplish as you well know if you have been following the construction of the chair over this past year.  I think my efforts have been worth all that I labored over with this project as the paint turned out very well. I will still play around with the red cushion that is installed in the chair as it is designed so that I can either add or remove the bean bag material that fills the chambers as I see fit.  I sat in the chair and it seems very close at this point but I will use it for a while so that I can get it dialed it to my liking.  

If you want to know much more about how this project was designed and built the full process has been documented on this blog starting back in November of 2015.  Ejoy the photos and please let me know your thoughts on my latest creation.  I'd love to hear from you. Have a good day in your workshop!