How to fix/make sinking office chair reusable Post by:

I had an unusable, sinking office chair and wanted to fix it without spending any money, so I only used what I already had in my apartment (not house/garage/workshop, so anyone should have what I do). To make the seat stand fully up at all time I needed a cylinder (excellent compression resistance when the force is perpendicular to its circular bases) that I could slide along the strut, ideally without play –so a perfect fit. And I found just the thing I was looking for: a piece of PP water pipe, 32mm exterior diameter and 1.6mm wall thickness; it fits so well, it might as well have been designed for this purpose. To prevent the edges (bases of the cylinder) from splitting, I tensioned them using zip-tie loops. I found the zip-ties in a Corsair computer power supply box, so if you kept everything that came with the power supply of your old computer you might find some there.

Materials: --Polypropylene(PP) water pipe: 32*mm ext. diameter, 1.6mm thickness, length bigger than 130mm but anything you have laying around the house is ok if it fits your optimum seat height; * different chairs may use different thickness gas struts so make sure the outer diameter of the shiny part of the strut exactly matches the inner diameter of the PP tube ! --zip-ties, small Tools : --rubber head hammer or regular hammer wrapped in a cloth so as not to damage the chair --measuring tape or other measuring tool for measuring the optimal length of the tube --a marker for marking where to cut --a cutting tool for cutting the PP pipe with; --optionally, a 4*mm hexagonal key or 10*mm hexagonal socket for removing the seat and backrest ensemble in order to make handling easier.*my seat uses hexagonal screws that require the 4mm key, yours may require a different size so take a look at it first.

Step 1: optional step – Remove seat and backrest ensemble 0-unscrew the 4(in my case) screws connecting the seat to the metal support, using a 4mm hexagonal key (if you have ever assembled a furniture kit from Ikea or another company then use the hex key supplied in that kit, see if it fits) or a 10mm hexagonal socket wrench; this operation is not mandatory but it makes easier the handling of the parts we are working on: the strut and its housing.