The Ikea stool I was able to purchase is a simple modern design for self-assembly.
The materials used in the stool design include a painted mild steel frame. The seat section of the design is a pair of injection moulded parts which are designed to snap together.
The legs are cut to length and threaded slug is pushed into the pipe and is fused to the inside. Two holes are then drilled into the side and punched in.
The step and brace section of the stool is three lengths of steel cut to length the lengths are set into an ‘H’ shape and are welded at the joins. Threaded slugs are then fused into the open ends of the pipes.
The design is assembled using hex headed bolts.
The bottoms of the legs use a set of plugs which are pressed inside the legs and have an oscillating foot which helps the chair to feel planted on undulated surfaces.
The design is an Ikea product and is suitable for flat pack, the product is able to be produced and sold in high volumes due to its compact packaging and easy to construct design.
Due to the way in which the chair is constructed after a small amount of moving around on the chair the fixings loosen themselves and the chair begins to flex at these joints. The fixings fit into the holes in the legs but work more as pivot points then fixings and allow the seat of the chair to move about. This problem could have been solved but would the chair more expensive at the initial purchase.
