Ideas for sliding/retractable tray

[bobblezard]

Hi,
I'm planning to make a large garden chair, more of a throne really! It's for my elderly mum and I want it to be v stable and comfortably loaded with cushions.
I plan to include a large tray which can be pulled/flipped into position to allow mum to do a bit of potting or have tea and cake in front of her.
Does anybody have any ideas as to design/hardware? I could of course just hinge it but that would be heavy and awkward for mum to operate herself. It could swing out to one side but might destabilise the chair. Thought maybe gas struts but have little experience using these and can't see the best orientation etc.
Just mulling this over so thought I'd ask those more experienced than I

 

[Seaside Donkey]

It could swing out to one side but might destabilise the chair.

I reckon this is your best bet. Remember using something similar at school about a thousand years ago.

If it's for light duty and attached to a throne it shouldn't be unstable.

Good luck with it.

 

[Richard_C]

Interesting question - got me thinking. You might get some good ideas from aircraft seating with in arm tables, and lecture theatre chairs/tables, 2 links below are a start.

Essentially they rotate around 2 planes so are vertical when stored. I can imagine a block (cube) fixed to the front of one arm, the table surface rotates around the cross-chair axis so hangs flat outside the arm, maybe a stop on the lower leg so it stays vertical, then you pull it up so its like a flag, then the block rotates around the longitudinal charir arm axis and it comes down to bridge the gap and rest on the arms. As the chair won't be used at 40,000 ft, the table can be wood not light alloy. I wonder if an inexpensive plastic tea tray could be used for the flat bit, much lighter, or framed thin ply to get the strength/weight balance OK.



https://www.fercoseating.com/products/education-seating/wrimatic-tablet_for_lecture_theatre_seats/
A simpler way would be to have a flat tray with 2 "U" brackets along one edge such that it can hang off the outside of an arm when not in use.

You could have a big tray one side and a much simpler little one (just for a cup of tea) the other - the best aircraft tables do by bi-folding that so at dinner time you end up 'boxed in' but the remaining 11 hours of the flight you can have a little side table for your drinks and nuts.

Having visted elderly relatives in care homes for many years, the real challenge of any chair is getting out of it. For comfort the base needs to be deep front to back and slightly angled down at the rear, but to get out it needs to be quite the opposite. The distance from front edge to the ground is important, and elderly people often push down on the arms to ease themselves up so arm height and shape might be critical.

This one will be custom made for one indiivdual so maybe watch them get up from their ordinary sitting room chairs and do a bit of measuring. There are dozens of adverts for "chairs for the elderly" - google search - and they are all a lot more upright than most of us would imagine. You might be able to find a few dimensions in the adverts.

Sounds like a great project, when you land on the right design and make it, update us - I might need one in a year or few