Office chair gas lifter replacement

[Stinky The Clown]

I have a pretty expensive office chair. Very similar in style and function to a Herman Miller Aeron. As I sit in it, it slowly sinks closer to the floor. Don't give me any crap about losing weight. The lithe Sparkly sinks it, too and she's less than half my weight.

Seriously .... the gas cylinder has a lek and needs to be replaced. The issue is how to remove the damned thing. It simople to assemble ...... a tapered male part fits into 2aa matching tapered hole.

[NMDemDist2]

1. does the manufacturor have a website?

that's the first place to start I would think.

I've put together a lot of office chairs and it never seemed a big deal

the worst case scenario is that you'll have to buy the legs and lifter part intact and attach to the seat of the chair, but I doubt that will be the case.

good luck

:hi:

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Dont know the manufacturer. I can't find it anywhere on the chair

It came from Office Depot. I'll check with them. But they're pretty worthless with discontinued products.

[Warpy]

3. Unless you can find a manufacturer mark

which is usually in an insanely inaccessible place, you're screwed.

My own chair has a press fit assembly, meaning there is no way to take it apart and replace it without specialized tools. The chair, when the gas cylinder finally craps out, will be the right height for sitting at the spinning wheel until the leatherette parts company with the underpinnings. I'll have to get something else for a computer chair, though. Shame, this one has been the most comfortable chair I've ever had.

Unfortunately, too many things aren't meant to be repaired, just discarded and replaced. Your mongrel chair might be one of them if you can't find that manufacturer's mark somewhere.

Mine is on the underside of the wheel assembly on the bottom and under one arm. I noted them when I put the thing together.

If you can get it out and measure it accurately, this might be of help: http://www.swivel-chair-parts.com/GasCylinder.html

[politicat]

4. Try this:

http://www.swivel-chair-parts.com/GasCylinder.html

We've used them twice, on DH's chair and mine. The replacements work fine, given that you can disassemble the chair. (Mine's easy. His... not so much, but despite being "not meant to be repaired" (and his isn't inexpensive) it can be done, given patience and figuring the technique, even for "disposable".)

As for disassembling the chair to remove the cylinder -- two techniques: use a long piece of duct tape, sticky side up. Everything you take off, stick to the tape, from left to right. Second, use a digital camera -- take a picture every time you take pieces off (so make sure you've got GREAT light, and a good flash.) That way, you have a record of what goes were.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. So .... my flabby ass is once again united with its favorite chair

I went to a different Office Depot. There I observed a chair that was pretty much the same as mine. The carton had an 800 number on it. I called the number from right there at the Office Depot store in front of the store manager who said he couldn't help me.

"Yes," she said on the other end of the line, "we still make that chair. Yes, we're the sole supplier to Office Depot for that type of chair (Herman Miller Aeron Cheap Chinese Copy). It is called the Quantum Chair." I had observed this on the carton from which I got the phone number.

"No sir, we can't provide this under our 10 year, very limited warranty without your proof of purchase."

"I bought the chair at least two or three years ago."

"I'm sorry sir, we can't help you without that proof of purchase. But we can sell you a replacement strut for $17.50, shipping included."

For those of you who may have repaired a chair or replaced a strut, that's essentially free. Most places want just south of a century for the strut.

She also told me how to remove it (VERY high tech): "Extend the strut all the way. Lay the chair on its side. Put a pipe wrench on the shiny part of the column, hold the chair, firmly, and turn the pipe wrench to break the suction set up by the taper fit."

Bingo! It let go **that** simple!

"Now use the wrench or a hammer to bang the strut up out of the spider base."

Two whacks and it let go.

Another 30 seconds to install the new strut.

And the result is this post's title .... my flabby ass in its favorite chair!

Easy!!

on edit, here's the chair:



http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/234750/Realspace-PRO-Quantum-Recycled-Mesh-Mid/?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-NexTag-_-Chairs-_-234750&mr:referralID=d817a93e-b213-11de-989b-000423bb4e79

[NMDemDist2]

6. well done stinky!!!

It's amazing what you can do when you find the right person with the right answer eh?

now go write that phone number down out of your cell memory in case you need it again

:rofl:

[eleny]

7. Congrats!

Now, go get a manila folder, label it "office furniture" and put it in a drawer. If there was any paperwork with the chair part, stick it in the folder along with your hand written instructions on what you did to replace the part.

I've got manila folders galore with receipts, instructions and manuals going back to the old floor furnace that came with this house when we bought it in 1979. Every few years I go through my folders and toss what goes with something we've gotten rid of. All except the floor furnace papers which are too vintage to pitch.

You'll never regret doing this. Your sanity will thank you and next time you need something and can find it, you'll feel like a million bucks.

Congrats again on your repair. I'm glad your ass is happy in its favorite chair!

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Funny you mention that ......

A while ago, we were clearing out some old stuff in a store room we have down in the basement. It is a bedroom sized room with the walls lined with shelves and every square inch of shelf and floor full of "stuff".

We came across lots of such papers. Instructions, warranties, small appliance recipe booklets. Etc., etc., etc.

How does one efficiently store paper? On a computer!

We have three scanners in the house. Two of them are autofeed. All scan direct to pdf.

We had a scanning party. All that stuff now lives in its original paper form (who knows why :shrug: ) but it all also lives on a disk on one of the computers and on portable hard drive with names such as "Mom's Oster Blender", "Antique Vacuum Coffee Maker" "Comfort Aire Dehumdifier", and so forth. The catch-up scanning was a pain in the ass (and still isn't all done), but the scanning for new stuff is easy.

We also have discussed (but not yet done) a video tour of the house to put on a CD and store in the safe deposit box. This would helpful in the event of a total loss of the house. I imagine the video going so far as to look inside dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets and boxes of various goodies ...... just to prove to an insurance adjuster what we own.

[eleny]

9. Nice scanning job - and major

I didn't know you could scan directly to pdf. That's something I want to look into. And the video of the house is prudent. Even photographing it would be a big step around here. Thanks for the ideas and nudge. I need it.

About keeping the paper, I guess vintage collectors of the future would be happy to find your stash. Sometimes I get that thrill of the hunt when I find an ancient receipt of my own. "Did we really only pay this much for our first fridge?" But the paperwork and diagrams of the old floor furnace are a trip. The yellowed cardboard with the drawings is a little treasure.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Scanning to pdf is a software, not hardware, function

Check your scanner software. Do you have an option to save the scan in various formats? That's what you need to look for.

We have one scanner that is part of our big network machine (giant all-in-one that prints to 11x17, but all only in BW)



One is our smaller color printer:



And one is an older flatbed scanner.

Each came with its own software. In each case, the choice of the output format is there.

[eleny]

11. I found it in the settings

Mine is just an Epson printer with flatbed scanner built in on the top. I didn't realize that pdf was one of the file type choices. Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'm sure the scanner software is what Epson supplied, right?

They all generally allow for jpg and pdf .... some also do tif files.

[eleny]

13. Yes, it's in the Epson software