The gas lift

[Slarti]

on my son's office chair gas lift let him down, literally, so he ordered a new one, because they are only £19 delivered.

He watched a video on Youtube on how to replace it and decided, that's not hard.

This afternoon, after using 4lb lump hammer, WD40, Allen key, other hammers, chisel, various grips, circular saw, angle grinder and sundry other bits and pieces, 2.5 hours later we have removed the old gas lift

Easy

And it is only push fit!

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

This afternoon, after using 4lb lump hammer, WD40, Allen key, other hammers, chisel, various grips, circular saw, angle grinder and sundry other bits and pieces, 2.5 hours later we have removed the old gas lift

Easy

And it is only push fit!

Sounds like an excellent father/son team bonding exercise. There's nothing like a few shared expletives to unite the generations.

I remember when my father and I replaced the clutch on my sister's 1957 Standard 10. The gearbox housing was so close to the floorpan that the official instructions for getting at the bell housing nuts were to put the car on axle stands, drop the suspension by two inches, release the engine mounts, disconnect the diff and tilt the entire engine and gearbox unit at 45 degrees. And if anything went wrong you'd have to do it all over again.

My father was a mild-mannered sort of man, but by the end of the weekend (and three attempts) we had both uttered so much purple language that we'd discovered a common bond that neither of us had ever suspected. It did wonders for both of us.

BJ

[Slarti]

And now, 40 minutes later he has completed assembly with the new gas lift and got it back to his desk.

With no assistance from me

Slarti

[stewamax]

Several months ago I bought a replacement swivelling/reclining/etc office chair.
The seat mechanism - specifically the forward-and-back slide - has play such that the whole seat wobbled, so I asked for a replacement seat.
The replacement seat (which contained the slide - not the entire chair) was promptly delivered.
The next step was to remove the vertical strut (Cf in OP's case the gas-filled mechanism) linking it to the 'five-footed' castored feet.
But would it detach?
WD40 ? No
Stillson pipe-wrenches either end? No
Club hammet? No
Oil-filter removal tools either end? No

I concluded that once the chair was first assembled and sat on, the ends of the strut were an interference fit into the seat mechanism and feet respectively, and that short of having a purpose-made drift* they would not part. The supplier - who had been helpful up to this point - admitted this.
Since I can't disassemble the chair to return it in toto, and given that it does work, I have a wobbly chair and a spare seat!

* I even attempted to use a 3 ton hydraulic jack which I have previously used for all sorts of interesting projects including lifting my entire garage roof to install an RSJ, but I couldn't get sufficient purchase on the two ends of the strut

[bionichamster]

My experience of many office chairs is they are constructed in such a way as to make repairs impossible or at least very difficult. For the manufacturer this means they just sell more chairs to replace ones that can't be repaired or at least not economically.

Our place frequently throw out chairs and after a couple of attempts at repair I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

H

[Slarti]

My experience of many office chairs is they are constructed in such a way as to make repairs impossible or at least very difficult. For the manufacturer this means they just sell more chairs to replace ones that can't be repaired or at least not economically.

Our place frequently throw out chairs and after a couple of attempts at repair I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

H

When you had inserted the gas lift into the star base and then placed the seat unit onto the top of it, you could be forgiven for assuming that doing the opposite would be simple.

But as we were only 3 years into a 5 year guarantee, our normal first action would have been to claim on the guarantee. Unfortunately the company it was purchased from no longer exists and the appropriate phone numbers no longer work, so he sourced a new gas lift and then the fun started.

But it worked, eventually and was much cheaper than a new chair.

Slarti

[Urbandreamer]

Several months ago I bought a replacement swivelling/reclining/etc office chair.
The seat mechanism - specifically the forward-and-back slide - has play such that the whole seat wobbled, so I asked for a replacement seat.
The replacement seat (which contained the slide - not the entire chair) was promptly delivered.
The next step was to remove the vertical strut (Cf in OP's case the gas-filled mechanism) linking it to the 'five-footed' castored feet.
But would it detach?
WD40 ? No
Stillson pipe-wrenches either end? No
Club hammet? No
Oil-filter removal tools either end? No

I concluded that once the chair was first assembled and sat on, the ends of the strut were an interference fit into the seat mechanism and feet respectively, and that short of having a purpose-made drift* they would not part. The supplier - who had been helpful up to this point - admitted this.
Since I can't disassemble the chair to return it in toto, and given that it does work, I have a wobbly chair and a spare seat!

* I even attempted to use a 3 ton hydraulic jack which I have previously used for all sorts of interesting projects including lifting my entire garage roof to install an RSJ, but I couldn't get sufficient purchase on the two ends of the strut

For those who are not engineers, a drift is simply a rod of the correct diameter that you insert and hit with a lump hammer (or use a press upon).
It's also common to use heat to help. For example applying heat to the surround expands it. cooling the object in the middle makes it shrink. This can be done with a blow torch to apply the heat, cooling (if you are willing to go that far can be done with plumbers equipment or even a veruca treatment can).

While we are on the subject of engineering terms a pull hammer is simply a rod (crudely with a hook on one end) and a stop on the other upon which a lump can slide up and down. The hook goes over the head of a screw (or better a screw goes into a propper ball joint at the end of the rod). The lump is then hammered against the other end of the rod to pull the object.

[bungeejumper]

For those who are not engineers, a drift is simply a rod of the correct diameter that you insert and hit with a lump hammer (or use a press upon). It's also common to use heat to help.

A lump hammer? Also known as a brummagem screwdriver, of course. Mind you, in my Birmingham decade it was also common to resort to beer. Failing even that, there was always the power of prayer.

I was recently going through my old dad's box of tools in the garage, and the array of specialist tools which he used on his car was somewhat sobering. The ball joint splitter (a cross between a cold chisel and a catapult) would come out every two years when he replaced the suspension joints on his Triumph Toledo; the timing light and the Colortune, without which nothing would ever work properly; the Wanner grease gun, which I still use occasionally; the suspension spring clamps, which it seemed were needed every other time the Cortina hit a pothole; and of course the repair plates for when your McPherson struts rusted their way through your wheel arches.

Oh, and the Whitworth socket sets, and the brake spanners, and the piston ring compressors, and the huge buckets of bitumen underseal which could turn a small electrical fault into a blazing inferno. Life just wouldn't have been the same without them. Happy days.

Finally, and well off topic, how many of us can identify one of these?



BJ

[ReformedCharacter]

I was recently going through my old dad's box of tools in the garage, and the array of specialist tools which he used on his car was somewhat sobering. The ball joint splitter (a cross between a cold chisel and a catapult) would come out every two years when he replaced the suspension joints on his Triumph Toledo; the timing light and the Colortune, without which nothing would ever work properly; the Wanner grease gun, which I still use occasionally; the suspension spring clamps, which it seemed were needed every other time the Cortina hit a pothole; and of course the repair plates for when your McPherson struts rusted their way through your wheel arches.

Oh, and the Whitworth socket sets, and the brake spanners, and the piston ring compressors, and the huge buckets of bitumen underseal which could turn a small electrical fault into a blazing inferno. Life just wouldn't have been the same without them. Happy days.

BJ

Still have a Whitworth socket set. I used to have a Colourtune but I was never convinced they were anything more than a gimic. I suppose the days of tuning a car by ear are long gone. As a youngster I remember being impressed by the vacuum gauge on a friend's father's TR4, I don't suppose they're used anymore either

RC

[stewamax]

Finally, and well off topic, how many of us can identify one of these?

"Ah ... Mr Bond. I have something very interesting to show you. Allow me to demonstrate ..."

[Urbandreamer]

Finally, and well off topic, how many of us can identify one of these?



BJ

I think that it's a thickness guage (oo-er).

Here is a modern vesion.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32669082914.html

The less said about its throat depth the better I think.

[PinkDalek]

Online retailers include a variety of descriptions. Including "vintage" saw setting tool.

[bungeejumper]

Online retailers include a variety of descriptions. Including "vintage" saw setting tool.

Spot on, PD. Back in the days when saws didn't cost a fiver each from China, people used to use these things to tweak the teeth of their ageing implements. One tooth bent slightly to the left, the next to the right, and so on. It all helped to create the illusion that the saw was still sharp, although in practice of course all the points had been worn down and were actually as blunt as hell.

Unless, of course, you were poor enough to sit there with a file for day after day, getting them properly hungry. I don't think I ever met a builder who was that poor.

BJ