Does This Chair Actually Work? My IMPOSSIBLE Chair Build 

I would stabilize it by adding 4 vertical pieces of wood that connected from the seat slats to the floor. 😎

Everyone gives you a hard time for making chairs that you can't sit on because they seem fragile. I think you should make a throne that you can park your truck on.

“It’s wants to fall but can’t because of constant pressure” Same chair same

John, I think some of the issues may be coming from how the cables are ran through the wood as one cable. I think the way they are ran through the seat back proper allows the chair to slide back and forth. If they were attached to the chair as individual pieces the chair couldn't move.

"Is that right Rambo..." 😂 Boondock Saints!

Anyone new to woodworking, just because Bessey sponsored this video doesn't mean that him saying " Bessey is the answer" was because of the ad. They really do make the best clamps you can buy. Especially for the price. I have never had a Bessey clamp fail on me.

"I can sit in any chair and snap it in half!" Same John, same...

The center of gravity needs to be centered more over the central cable when someone is sitting in the chair. But the fact that it's a chair means that leaning back places a rotational moment, moving the CG that overpowers the cable tension in the front. a stool would probably work better. Though, it does look awesome.

What helps a lot with these tensegrity structures is diagonal cords. like from the left front down at the ground to the left back of the seat itself, from the left front of the seat to the right back down, etc. i did that on my tensegrity shelf and the stability improved drastically. evan and katelyn have a video about it

What makes these tensegrity items so “magical” is that it looks like it’s floating; when more and more cables are added it begins to lose that magic because it looks cluttered. The fewer cables the more magical. I also think you should increase the distance between the underside of the chair and the top of the bottom support to really emphasis the illusion that the body of the chair is not connected to the legs.

“You and your stupid rope” is from Boondock Saints. My favorite movie

"Serial crushed by a big friggin' guy" - One of my favorite lines from that movie, lol.

Amazing quote, "Someone skinny! Prepare your ass." 19:03

That gives me an idea for a full tensegrity dining room table

Intermediate skills world class shop tools. Geometry of cables is absolutely paramount. Love the videos and his personality.

John that is the greatest movie ever! Boondock Saints, and when he says “aye Rambo” hilarious.

The Golden Gate Bridge had less cabling than that "floating" chair... interesting build though

"What we need, is some rope" "Is that right Rambo?" "Take your stupid ...rope" LOVE this movie!!! "Is it dead?!"

You are literally living my dream. Your shop, your job, and your creativity are all dreams of mine. I’m wanting to start an epoxy furniture/countertops business but also want to be able to do all kinds of metal and wood work and build different types of furniture. Literally what you do!

"Charlie Bronson's always got rope. He's got a lot of rope strapped around him in the movies, and they always end up using it."

As an amateur wood worker, seeing those perfectly square edges after jointing makes me weak in the knees

We're like 711, we ain't always doing business... But we're always open.

Boondock Saints. The first one. I love those movies.

Just found your channel today and have greatly enjoyed 3 videos so far... love them and can practically smell the wood... love it!!!

Pretty nice work, John! 😃 It may have problems, but looks really nice! I don't know what to do to fix it, but next time start with a cheaper wood as a prototype. 😬 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

185 people cant even build with legos, its amazing how many keyboard professionals have all the answers and opinions, yet you are the one with a successful business and RU-vid channel.. weird how that works.

This was so dope , you guys should Build another one ! I wanna see the whole process of building a fully stable one where you can sit at any angle

“ Boondock Saints” One of my absolute favorites. We can officially be friends now John.

Awesome job, sitting in the chair may require some mental focus, Best line in the video "Someone Skinny prepare your ass" John you said that right as my Girl Friend walked in my computer room.

I have a Boondock Saints movie poster in my home theater. One of the best movies ever.

9:40 I can't believe the chair disrespected your time and effort like that! Your commentary is so funny and your woodworking skills are top notch, keep up the great work.

I think the key to this is to think of the cables on each corner as a 3-legged stool, for a total of 12 cables (13 if you count the center one). Also, think of the base as a 4-anchor-point plane, and the bottom of the seat as another. Now it's a simple task of having 3 cables come up from each bottom corner, to the seat corners directly above and to the left and right (i.e., not the far diagonal corner). Also, engineer some sort of tensioning system into each of the 12 cables, such as turnbuckles, hidden perhaps within the seat and accessible from the bottom. Now those 12 cables, 8 of which are on a diagonal line to 2 other corners, will provide the rigidity you're after, without sacrificing too much of the 'invisibility factor'. And if it does, simply start subtracting cables, starting with the straight vertical ones.

“I’m f**king fine..... I’ll catch you on the flip side.”

"I'll get my stupid rope. I'll get it. There's a rope right there!"

After watching your vids I finally bit the bullet and used some nice wood in a project, built a black walnut toolbox with a thick poplar handle (not the strongest ever I know but it seems alright hahaha) but wow!! I still have a ton to learn but honestly it looks really nice, Im so pleased! Thanks for the inspiration man

I've never been this early to the party, but I'm psyched about this build! Ready to learn some more about real woodworking!

I can't recall ever laughing with someone sitting in a chair!

As a project it's quite nice. I've always loved this kind of "How the hell does this work?" things. My thoughts about the design are, that the connection between the base and the chair that supports everything should be more on the rear, this way the main tension rope goes with the center of gravity. Probably it's enough to invert the orientation of the wood hooks that he made for the main cable.

YES! please do another one. I am also a big guy and would love having a chair like this. especially if I built one myself.

How can are there people not loving this content. Keep on going man! love it!

What about a tensegrity hammock, where each “arm” that holds the hammock is a tensegrity element?

Can we get a "Fancy as F&*%" shirt?

Big guy problems with chairs, my life story 😆 I'm with ya John, great build and video!!

That is the most beautiful carnival ride I have ever seen.☺️

Boondock Saints!!!! Love the ass clownery!

You could benefit from taking some physics courses. The main issues you're encountering are coming from alignment. Your loads are varied, but your cabling is not, it generally follows one direction which is obviously weak and unstable. That is not to advise perpendicular alignment. I recommend short interval curved parallel alignment. Consider compression, ductility and the engineering benefits of shallow, long span lateral and vertical arches when designing your pieces.... Good luck.

Love the look. The only way I see fixing the forward/backwards rotation is to move the center of gravity back as you said. Boondock saints is one of my favorite movies.

I may have been rooting for a ca-chunk moment there at the end... LOL! Killer build John. Tension structures always start to look a little radio tower like, so I think you're on the right track.

Gotta love the 'Saints'! "Oh, is that so, Rambo?"

"Go to your home!" Gotta love the Happy Gilmore reference!

Of course! you have to make another one !,Cheers from Toronto Canada!

For stability tighten the front wires a lot more, bringing the chair forward a bit. Then how about, adding wire straight down to floor base, as oppose to two that you did and add tension spring to the center tension wire also to absorb some shock?

Love your videos! More and longer videos please.

Getting crazy wowsers amazing video as always John keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend keep making

I admire the maximum clampage greatly boss!

Building on what someone said above, the biggest issue that you're facing is the rotational element when someone goes to sit back in the chair and causing the center of gravity (CG) to shift. I believe if that center cable were located further back, by lengthening the top center spoke (coming from the base) and shortening the bottom center spoke (coming from the back and base of the chair) it would greatly reduce the rotational instability you're seeing. Alternately, four straight and fixed length cables coming from either the four corners of the seat, or the two front corners of the seat and the two bottom corners of the back, into the four corners of the base should also prevent this issue.

Excellent work!! 👍

I can't even put together Ikea items, yet I can't stop watching this channel!

Boondock Saints. Best lines in #2: Everybody shut up! Romeo is crying! And "You look like you've seen one up close ". 🤣

Yood video! I am impressed that it is much harder to get it to work than I thought it would be. The flexing of wood is a problem. That might be why most are made of steel instead of wood.

Boon dock saints is absolutely one of my favorite movies!

Boondocks Saints. One of the best movies ever!

Very nice build. It looked like some of the wires you built were able to slide through the wood. I would change those out were they were unable to slide. Also I would run wire from the back piece at the lower point that has the main wire (the very first wire that you built in thto the vide) to the front legs. Hope this helps.

As a big guy myself (6'4", 260lbs), I feel your pain... :-) One way to possibly stop the rearward motion in the chair as it is now would be to run a cable from the rear section, along the top and down the front of the front section, if that makes sense. This would actually pull tight as weight is applied to the seat and prevent, or at least limit, the rearward movement. If necessary, a groove in the wood will prevent the cable slipping sideways. You could even be really clever and fit a V groove bearing at the apex of the curve on the front section to prevent wear and tear. Also, with regard to the fans/background noise in your shop, I have the same problem. It gets stupid hot in my shop, plus I have the 3D printer running almost 24/7. I found that one of those little sponge covers on the mic really helps eliminate background noise while helping you stay more comfortable. I would also add that, if people continue to moan, tell them politely to do one. After realising very quickly that people will moan no matter what you do to try and accommodate them, it's far better for your sanity to just ignore them. RU-vidrs are providing masses of content for free - viewers must learn to make allowances. I generally say to people now "if you don't like it, don't watch". Sure it may cost me a few views, but it's made the whole process so much more pleasant for me and for the people who genuinely appreciate the content.

Run the play until it is perfect! Looking forward to chair version 2.0

Hey I know one like might not be much but what ever helps supports what you love I’m glad to do it and I love wood working myself

Fantastic video John!

"You and your stupid rope" - Boondock Saints. Great movie indeed, in my top 10 for sure.

It’s a shame that I haven’t long discovered your videos/builds. I like you and think you are pretty cool. I would like to see your interpretation of a floating shelf with a hidden compartment? Something like we have not already seen on youtube, I’ll continue to catch up on your videos whilst you figure something rad out.

Just another opinion, you asked... :-) As you surmised, yes, move the support cable much further back to put it under the seat where the seat transitions into the back of the chair. That will help lessen the rotation of that support when you lean back in the chair, but it isn't a perfect fix. For the final support to prevent the rearward rotation of the seat, run a cable from the left rear leg to the current support point at the front of the seat (the hole that was just vacated by moving that support rearward) and then continue that cable to the right rear leg. That should provide more stability as it is tying the previous rotation point to the rear preventing it from further forward movement. Next, remove all the other cables and try taking the seat slat mounts and use 2 different cables to form an X shape for stability. From right side of seat to left front leg. And from left side seat to right front leg. You already have those holes and the added angle of the cables crossing from side to side will add much integrity to minimize the left-right sway. For the rear cables, I'd do the same X shape from the top right back slat to the rear left leg. And the top right slat to the left rear leg. Yes, that means modifying a back slat like the seat slat, but that should stabilize the back side to side . squirrely

John, what you should do, in order to give the floating chair a full floating feel without any cables is do like your cave coffee table. Use crystal clear resin between the chair seat and chair base, standing on edge, essentially, tongue and grooved into the wood for rigidness. That way, there are no visible cables and it truly looks like the chair is floating. Know what I mean?! Let's see it!!!

"And shepherds we shall be. For Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee. And Teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomine Patris, et Fili, et Spiritus Sancti." and yes the best two movies I have ever seen

To fix the rocking back back problem you can run a hole from the base of the seat "arm" (where it pokes out from the rear vertical back support) and twist the 2 wires together and inlay them into the front arm of the base to anchor them at the very bottom where the chair sits on the floor

Boondock saints! Long time favorite! "What's the symbology there?" I would consider making both arms a little longer, and using the extra horizontal space to add a second central support cable, so that the cables straddled the center of gravity.

IT WAS A FIREFIGGHHHTTTTT! great movie. Great floating chair

Hello Amazing fabrication regarding the chair As a civil engineer i can help you by reminding you about one small thing : in this type if design the key is to have both of the gravity forces on the same alignment and by meaning both i mean the person sitting and the vertical cable holding the curved center part in the chair otherwise you will have the extra force coming from the eccentricity that the cable will take Good luck on thr build it was a great one overall

I'm paralyzed from the waist down it would be awesome if I had a realtor that floated. Awesome chair and great video

Hi John, every time any one of you sat in the seat, all tension was lost on the back lines, basically making them useless. Way too many lines for my taste, but the wood looks awesome! Go for a redesign. If you took the base and turn it around, then rebuild the chair with the hook in the front going back, it will relieve some of the seat tension issues. Use a pulley system to maintain tension through the rotational forces. Connect the seat stabilizer lines straight down to a pulley then straight back to the rear of the base to a pulley and up to the back of the chair. This should be more stable. You may still need an extra line in the hook area to prevent it from sliding back too far when you sit down, but that should get you on the right path.

I believe if you were to add a second line to your first and 'main' attachment point on the 'base' and connect it to a point further back on the 'floating' piece (basically a triangle with the top at the metal anchor), you could eliminate the majority of that sag that occurs when you add weight. Additionally, you could add a couple tension strings which begin on one side of the base, go through a hole on the floating piece, ride up the length on the other side, then come back through another hole near the top and attach back to the original spot on the base. This could add an element that resist the side-to-side deflection.

OK 1. You effectively mad a 2 point chair. All of the cables rout through the center and you lost your side to side stability as a result. Also adding a tensioning system would really help with the stability. 2. As the center of gravity changes depending on how you seat yourself on the chair, I believe you would need at least 2 cables for the vertical support one in the front and one in the rear. The rear then would either need the front of the frame to be beefy as heck or have struts running from it to the floor to support the load. In conclusion I think you need 6 individual cables to make this chair work, but they all need to run straight up and down. 2 center weight supports. 4 side load supports. Either beef up the lower frame or add some extra supports for the rear cable so it doesn't snap off when you lean back in the chair. Finally for the chair to maintain level the cables need to be tuned to be in equilibrium with each other. After all that I think you would have a really awesome looking chair that is functional. But I think it would be cooler if you used really high strength fishing line, as from a distance it would be harder to see than the cables. 500lb mono or spider wire could be pretty cool and with the changes I suggested should give around 1000lb of capacity on the lines. Though I doubt the wood would forgive anyone for trying that... Anyway awesome build. A+ for initial looks and craftsmanship. D- for functionality and engineering. AKA the perfect office chair for guests, as it looks good but also says, "You are not to sit here.". Hope to see a round 2 on this project soon.

Awesome video again. Any possible you could do a dust collection video?

Maybe a second wire like the first one you installed towards the back can help stabilize the tilt forward to back. Since it’s all about balance, perhaps more balance between cable in opposite directions of tension.

Another great video! Why not use the CNC for the chair legs?

As a hobbyist woodworker I'm impressed, but as a fulltime architect watching that cable setup was an absolute pain :D Still works tho, 9/10

so fixing the rotation to the back should be fairly straight forward. i know this is a couple months old but if you make another anchor point on the seat base between the main vertical tension point, and the lateral cables, and anchor that to the very back end of the base the end of the "T" shape in the back, and have that nice and tight, it would prevent the bottom of the seat portion from rotating forwarnd and taking the tension off of the main supporting cable. That should also help with any additional lateral movement, as the two taller stabilization cables in the back wouldn't get any extra slack from the seat rotating, and therefore making them actually functional. if you ever try this again with a new design, i would suggest making the seat as level to the base as possible. as it is now, with the seat angled back slightly, it has a natural desire to rotate along the supporting axis. if you make the seat level with the ground, and the anchoring point perpendicular to that instead of the slight angles it has, there wont be nearly as much rotational bias. furthermore, on the seat portion itself, i would have a larger stronger bit of wood perpendicular to the main seat bar in the very front and the very back. that way you can have straight up and down supporting cables instead of trying to triangulate them all along a single center axis. that would really help with lateral movement as well and centering the base portion so the "crane" part supporting the main char is much shorter would help with the footprint size and strength of the overall build. and i wouldn't be too bothered with adding an extra supporting cable to the base to spread the area supporting the chair. your putting all that pressure and strain on 1 cable and one half inch section of the wood. simply by adding another cable you could use a lighter gauge cable, thinner bolts to support it, and still have be able to support more weight on it. just my 2 cents. enjoyed the video none the less.

I know that it's been two years, but I thought up a solution that could work fairly simply. By extending the wires that are going up to the front of the seat through the seat itself, and running that wire through the top-back of the seat, you will have a line that pulls the back of the seat forwards, such that it won't fall backwards. The issue with that is that it essentially adds wire pseudo-armrests to the seat.

Boondock Saints, my favorite movie!

Love these builds, Boondock Saints greatest 2 movies ever.

boondock saints.. lovley movie :D jealous on your diffrent type of wood u getting your hands on! cool builds keep up the good work! //from a swedish carpenter.

Boondock saints is the one of my top 3 favorite movies and what a good scene to quote as well

"what do you need the stupid rope for" lol great Boondock Saints reference!

I'LL TIP HER!!! lol one of my favorite movies!

That was nicely done, Roc...

this is very cool would you ever build anything from hemlock i know its a strong wood and it kinda looks nice

Making the verticals spine of the back deeper (in relation front to back of the chair) may gain you space to move the center point of balance further back. The edge of the chair may need to come forward beyond where you had it as well to get better COG. It makes footprint size larger but could gain you better access to fix the leaning back balance. Also, since you’re doing a 2.0 (I assume?) consider adding guy lines to each corner of the seat and run outward from center rather than straight down. That may help counter the leaning back motion. Better yet(?) you could cross brace each wire point = Run from the center line of seat to outer section of the base and from the outer edges of seat/lower back slat in to centerline of the base.

Base rear most point cabled to the seat lower bend will add more rotational support. Currently the seat lower bend to the rear side anchors is what is trying to stop your leaning back rotation but doesn't have a good angle for front/back directional support as most of its strength in in the left/right direction. The closer to horizontal the cable the better, Might want to even consider a little upwards hook to the wooden structure to elevate the new cable anchor.

This is sweet! I feel the not being able to sit in delicate chairs. Another great creation.

Nice idea i would try adding a tension line just under the front of the seat to the top of the pillar to stop sway back

The upper chair piece's main support cable attachment could also be wired to the same rear outrigger points to prevent the back from torquing forward. Might work

Hm. If it were me, I'd look into heavy-duty springs for the back cables that will dynamically increase tension as weight is applied to the chair so the back of the chair doesn't get floppy. This is such an awesome project though. Great work!