Help needed: How to attach a padded seat to a dining chair

[Susumu Mori]

Hi all,

I need your help. I made my first-ever dining chair based on an article in Fine Woodworking. I also made a padded seat based on another article also in Fine Woodworking. Now, these two separate articles didn't show how to attached the padded seat to the chair....

The chair has 5/16 rabbet around the front and side rails so that the seat can snugly fit. Between the sides and the back rail, there are small "bridges", on which the seat can ride. So, the seat can sit on the chair. That's good, but I guess I somehow need to secure the seat.

The only way I can think of is, I can drill a hole in the bridges and screw down the seat from the bottom. However, the core of the padded seat is just 1/4 inch. Also, in this way, the screws are pointing toward the human being sitting on it. In addition, I'm not sure if two screws are enough.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

[Jerry Wright]

All of our chairs have machine thread screws goibg through corner bridges on the chair into threaded inserts in the 1/4" seat pad bases.

[Susumu Mori]

Thanks Jerry,

So, then, I guess I needed to prepare the seat base before I padded it?
Also, securing the seat to the two bridges is enough? Do you suggest to add two more bridges in the front?

[Jerome Stanek]

yes 4 bridges and you could use thread inserts on the one you have.

[Susumu Mori]

Oh, thread insert. I see, that makes sense.

Thanks! I'll try it.

Just for confirmation;

> I'll add two more bridges.
> Drill a hole in each bridge.
> Place the seat and mark the locations of the holes.
> Screw in the thread inserts to the base.
> Secure the seat to the bridges.

Does it sound right?

[Myk Rian]

For 1/4" base, I would use blind threads.
1/4" isn't going to hold much weight across the whole of the seat.
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[Susumu Mori]

Hi Myk,

Because my seat is already padded, it is too late to install these?

[Kent A Bathurst]

I would not get too carried away on this. Gravity and humans are going to encourage the seat to stay right where it is. I just fired four screws - I used SS for longevity, in the event that some day, the seats will be removed for re-upholstering.

[Ed Aumiller]

When I built our dining room chairs... cut 1/2" plywood to properly fit and had them upholstered... they just sit in the frame of the chair... no need to fasten them...

[Edward Oleen]

I think you are over-thinking the problem. As I see it - and I re-upholstered our DR chairs - the only reason for fastening the seat to the chair frame is to prevent the seat from moving when the chair is moved. A person sitting in the seat is going to hold it in just fine.

You say you have a 1/4" base to the seat. How think are the bridges in the corners? They are almost certainly 1/4" or thicker - maybe 3/8ths or something like that - they provide some of the support for the seat.

On my DR chairs the corner bridges were just about that: 3/8" thick. I drilled through the existing holes in the bridges and to provide a pilot hole in the seat base, and used 1/2" screws - #4 as I recall - to hold the seats to the chair. They have been in use for more than a decade and we've never had a problem.

Now I must admit that your chairs may be different. Mine had a ledge around the space where the seat fits in, so that the seat wasn't completely supported by the bridges. If yours are different you may need to do something else.

The only reason I didn't glue the seats into the frame is that I anticipated having to re-upholster the seats in the future. It hasn't happened yet, but you never know. SWMBO is showing signs of wanting to redecorate...

[Roger Davis]

I would use a heavy duty double stick carpet tape and stick to the rear bridges. Place the seat on it and you are done. If in the future you need to reupholster just pull up the seat from the tape.

[Myk Rian]

Or just use velcro.

[mike holden]

To the best of my knowledge, 18th century chairs did not have anything holding the slip seat in place. Ergo the name: slip seat. It slips into place. There is a rabbet around the front and sides that supports the frame of the upholstered seat. That is all there is. Don't overthink this.

[Edward Oleen]

Now WHY didn't I think of that?????

[Brian Tymchak]

Your post made me curious how our factory-made dining chairs are assembled. Here's a couple pics. There are decorative angle brackets screwed to the frame and seat bottom.

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[Brian Henderson]

Your post made me curious how our factory-made dining chairs are assembled. Here's a couple pics. There are decorative angle brackets screwed to the frame and seat bottom.

313047 313048

I've used those, I've also used z-clips usually used for tabletops but they work just fine for chairs. Mill a groove, screw it into the chair bottom, that thing isn't going anywhere.

[Susumu Mori]

Carpet tape. That's clever.

I too thought I could just place the seat on the chair frame and it was fine, until my wife tried. It was not that she was too heavy. When she leaned on the back rest, the seat sled forward a bit. Then, because the seat is narrower in the back, the seat dropped into the frame!

So I do need to fasten the seat. Maybe I should have dug a deeper rabbet to hold the seat....
Next time, I'll try the Myk's way before I upholst the seat.

For this particular seat, I'll do Jerry's way and see how I like it. I already added two more bridges and I'm ready to go.

Thank you all.

[Jim Matthews]

Cleats up front could be added for more 'purchase' with double sided tape.

Not all adhesives are created equally.
I get the version from autosupply stores
that keeps moldings in place at highway speeds.

http://www.autogeek.net/3m-auto-tape.html

[roger wiegand]

On old chairs I've had the seats are typically not fastened at all, just dropped in. (Makes it easy to pop them out to clean up crumbs from he cracks) Newer chairs either use screws at the corners or the brackets described above. All the cushion frames I've taken apart are ~3/4" though. How do you avoid splitting a 1/4" frame when tacking or stapling the upholstery (especially the 2nd or 3rd time around)?