Monday, December 17, 2007
building a foldable step stool for Alex
I built a folding step stool for alex so she could reach the bathroom sink to brush her teeth and wash her hands.
alex brushing her teeth
You can buy a simple stool at Target for $20. Instead of doing it the easy way, I decided to design and build one with the following constraints, which are heavy on the functionality.
i) it should fold up easily and fit betwixt the toilet and the wall in our tiny downstairs bathroom (see pic below)
ii) it should have rails on either side so that she can easily climb up it and so she doesn't fall when she is up there for a long time (this will come in handy when she wants to use it to help us in the kitchen)
iii) it should be cheap
iv) it shouldn't take long to build.
v) It should be overbuilt enough to support Daddy's weight.
The best thing about it is that it folds up flat. I came up with a simple 2-step box that skewed (or sheared or whatever) sideways and becomes flat. I created a working model out of cardboard and duct tape to make sure it would work.
When the treads of the steps are in place, it keeps it from skewing on accident. the corners of the box are held together with continous hinges (aka piano hinges).
The pictures below take you through how it folds up:
1) before folding
2) fold up the treads (thanks Alex!)
3) hold the back in place and push the front to the left (skew the footprint (think parallelogram))
4) folds up flat! (or the thickness of 3 sheets of plywood (3.25")
Here it is stashed in the tiny space between the toilet and the wall in the tiny bathroom. Take that Target!
I won't take you through the building techniques. I'll save that for my furniture page.
I know it isn't a work of art, but I am very happy with the way it turned out. It does exactly what I wanted it to do (according to the above requirements) and she loves to use it! It is very handy to store away, which is the primary reason I went to the trouble of making it.
Life is about small victories, people.
# posted by fooiemcgoo : 6:59 PM
Comments:
<< Home
yeah, i guess it is pretty cool. in all honesty, I didn't come up with this all by myself. I took queues from other stuff.
here is one called learning tower, which is similar (in terms of it's rails to keep the babes from falling), but doens't fold up.
http://www.mylearningtower.com/
it may be that this design is completely unique, but if there is something similar out there, i wouldn't be surprised.
i could probably make 3-4 of these babies for about $100. I'll make them if you sell them on ebay (or: fooiestools.com).
Post a Comment
here is one called learning tower, which is similar (in terms of it's rails to keep the babes from falling), but doens't fold up.
http://www.mylearningtower.com/
it may be that this design is completely unique, but if there is something similar out there, i wouldn't be surprised.
i could probably make 3-4 of these babies for about $100. I'll make them if you sell them on ebay (or: fooiestools.com).
<< Home
