How To: Make Nesting Stools Made With 99% Trash

How I Built this tri-nesting stool from design to fabrication:

1. Design
2. Template cutting & Leg Fabrication
3. Plastic process
4. Collect
5. Shred
6. Melt
7. Cast
8. Assembly
9. Next Version

The stool is something that's been designed, iterated, replicated, and made for as long as human civilization has been around so why do we need another stool design?

It can still be improved and functional!

Stools from Ethan Allen, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel tend to get priced from $100 - $2000 varying due to finish and design. I wanted to design & make a stool that would be unique, versatile, and in the price range for your local eco-conscious consumer. I have noticed a lot of bad news about plastic waste lately, and could only find a little information and tutorials on how to recycled plastic.

I thought I'd try to add to some information out there and share my findings for a novel way to use recycled plastic.

1. Sketchup for Design and Layout. (See SVG file for the design)
2. For education and design review: I used twitter, Instagram and my Architect Uncle
3. Materials Used everything made from trash or scraps:
4. Plastic tops: Polypropylene (Following Arrows #5: take out containers, yogurt containers, broken children toys. etc...)
5. Legs: Scrap plywood for prototype, and Scrap poplar trim found at jobsites
6. Templates: scrap baltic birch plywood
7. T-nuts from Pallets (10-24)
8. 10-24 x 1 3/4"black oxide bolts (Only thing I had to buy)
9. Tools:
10. Old Delta Bandsaw 14" and 10" (Use a jig saw if you dont have one)
11. Walker Delta Drill Press (unnecessary, I'm just fancy)
12. 1 HP Trim Router (1/4" flush trim and 45 degree chamfer bits)
13. Shaper Origin for the template (Print out the file and
14. Amazon Basics Induction stove top (1800 W)
15. Used Cast Iron Dutch Oven 10 1/2"
16. 12" Cast Iron pan for Seat Mold
17. Gorilla Grip Silicone Oven Mitts
18. Sharp Chisels
19. Mallet
20. Respirator with Vapor/Fume Cartridges

I am not a professional designer, but I'd like to be.

Designing a stool sounds futile because it's a common item, but when you take a dive into the different ways a stool can be used, it can made it more functional, stylish, and an inspirational part of your daily life to bring you joy.

Stools don't need to stack, Be able to flat pack, they don't even need to be aesthetically pleasing. It's just Something to sit on or sit stuff on.

My Constraints for the Design of the stool was based on below:

1. Made from scraps & trash
2. Include and Feature Recycled Plastic
3. Stackable
4. Look like something I'd want in my dwelling

This is my current process to help my iterations. These are bullet points because it's not sequential:

• Use the internet: search on google images, pinterest, instagram (#stool). Save Images. Write down what I like and what I don't like.
• Start Simple: Boxy & basic, barely or not meeting my design constraints.
• Make Changes and hit SAVE AS with every day a change is made. (I start with version 01.1...) This removes the fear of losing the original and I can compare and keep what I like vs Dislike.
• I'll post a Design out on social media and ask for feedback from random people and message people to ask what they think. It's easy to ask for people about a physical object with a picture, so I try to take advantage of this.
• Taking my time on design seems to help. I try to be patient and critical. Getting a night of sleep, waking up and making a decision after a cup of coffee seems to help me. My goal is to make at least 10 iterations before I start cutting anything.

1. From Sketchup, I exported and SVG file so it could be used on the Shaper Origin. Also, so I could share this file with anyone who wants to make the base of the stool themselves.
2. Import the Legs, Middle plate, & Top plate files. This is my current work flow with the Shaper Origin and a 1/2" plywood template:
3. I cut ~0.15" depth with a 0.25" bit on the outside and a 0.05" offset on the first pass.
4. Follow with a 0.3" depth keeping the 0.05" offset.
5. Follow with a 0.45" depth keeping the 0.05" offset.
6. and then finish with a 0.45" depth and a 0" offset.
7. Knife off the onion skin of the plywood
8. Finish the template with a flush trim router bit
9. I'll layout the template on the piece of wood I want to cut and give a rough trace so I can bandsaw out rough pieces.
10. Cut the pieces out on the bandsaw or jigsaw.
11. Clamp template to the pieces and cut using a router and flush trim bit.
12. Chisel off sharp corners and test fit. Clean up with the chisel if required.

The stool structure is done and could be used as stacking stools but I think it needs a top to look nice.

I used recycled Polypropylene Plastic for the stool top because I collected a lot. It's common but tends to be brittle. For a seat top, it's durable enough. You can collect polypropylene:

• Yogurt container
• Take-out food containers
• Kids toy

After cleaning out the food containers, I'll manually shred the plastic. I could also cut with metal shears or power tools, but it's a lot easier to use a shredder or find someone to shred the plastic for you. See below Youtube video of my current process:

https://youtu.be/OVLxsMbxI3E

MELTING & CASTING PLASTIC

From the shredded plastic, it's easier to get a homogenous melt with less air bubbles. I tried the Toaster Oven and panini press melting methods, but I found and induction hot plate with a cast iron Pan works best with my power setup (single garage with 120v and 20 amp circuit). I Wear a 100% Vapor Respirator while melting, probably one of the more important things to have while doing this. This is my basic process:

1. Weigh Shredded plastic for each 1/3 of a stool top: ~305 grams
2. Heat up (360 - 400 degrees F) Cast Iron pan and add ~ 50 - 100 grams of shredded plastic. Cover, and let it heat up.
3. While waiting, clamp down the mold (another cast iron pan) for the plastic to go into and any prep work necessary.
4. Uncover the Melting Pan and compress with scrap metal using silicon oven mitts (Improtant!). Add more plastic, Cover for wait 3-5 minutes)
5. Repeat above until all 305 grams of polypropylene is consistently melted and mixed.
6. Get ready to work fast! Polypropylene Hardens Fast.
7. Pour in the molten polypropylene into the mold (I'll talk about that next...) ASAP.
8. Clamp down and let cool while heating up the next melt.
9. Unclamp, Remove plastic from mold, clean edges with sharp tool.

MAKING THE MOLD

The cast iron mold I fabricated is more complex than I want, but I don't want fasteners shown on the seat top so as part of my mold process:

• I made a plywood insert with T-nuts so I can secure the tops in from the top plate of the stool structure.
• This is unnecessary and it took me a while to figure out and fabricate... but I think it's worth it to hide hardware
• I'm still trying to figure out a better way to make this part.

1. I attached the seat tops to the top plate then placed the seat upisde down so the top plate is facing up.
2. Using a mallet, I set the 3 legs into the middle plate.
3. Place the top tabs of the legs into the slot of the top plate, and mallet the legs home till tight.

Stools are done!

With a mallet, these tools also come apart easy and can be stored away if not being used.

The center hole is to allow a closet rod to hold up my ipad stand (see picture) you can also use to hold an umbrella if you need shade but will most likely have to weigh down the bottom.

I like this first version of stools, but I want to make another 3 legged stool with turned (on a lathe) that will fold up and be able to ship/store easier and more compact.

Let me know what you think about the design in the comments and if you have any questions with the SVG file.