Dash of Personality Task Chair Hack to Gridfinity and Beyond

A pathway to self expression, creativity, re-use, upcycling, and organization all in the same project?

Take your broken task chair from curb-side trash, to a rainbow inspired boutique bounty with these multi-mounting gridfinity compatible, maker made steps.

For this you'll need a Task Chair, preferably one with an arm rest which requires restoration.

Also consider the following:

1. PPE. Eye protection and a mask
2. Calipers / measuring device
3. Computing device for CAD software (I'm using Fusion 360 hobby license)
4. 3D scanner (maybe a fancy phone and scanning app will do the job)
5. 3D printer + filament (the more colours the better, PLA/PETG for the bases, and TPU [optional for the cushion])
6. (optional) Magnets for Gridfinity bin snappy snappy
7. An internet connection
8. Power (green energy preferred)
9. A Messy desk / workstation

Get a feel for the location of the armrest, and take some rough measurements on the cushion location.

My chair used two bolts, so I took the opportunity to use a thread gauge tool to match and re-used these.

If you do not have a thread tool, check out some other resources on gauging this.

Measurements done, we can start to get creative.

I have a BambuLabs P1S Printer, so have a limited build area of ~256mm³. I did not want to make this multipart, so I set appropriate construction lines to stay within this boundary.

I then began with my two circles at the measured offset, which are the foundation of my base to attach to the chair arm.

I then used the Gridfinity Fusion360 Plugin (free), to generate a base plate.

With the baseplate in place, We then extrude appropriate threads, to match our receiver measurements taken from the bolts.

Cut these, and then export the STL to send to the 3D printer.

I was lucky, bit of warping near the corner (remember to wash that build plate kids). Otherwise, the measurements were dead on and the base was perfect first try.

After removing the tape, I remembered why it was there (big RRRRRIP). Thankfully, the other side armrest was quite nice (posture), so I elected to scan that side, and later will mirror the result for use on the left side.

Once outside (and after applying PPE), I am spraying this with some foot powder (as the scanner does not work well with black objects, the powder applies as a white chalk and is easily and safely removed later).

Back inside, the tuns will table, and a relatively usable scan is extracted.

Back in Fusion 360, I have some minor clean up to do on the scan (typically filling in the base, and reducing purging some polygons. I also use the same Gridfinity plugin, to create a bin that is 6 units long and 3 units wide, which nicely frames the cushion. I then move the cushion and join this to the bin bottom grid with a solid section to fill the object.

I then draw break up each grid bin with sketch lines that are used to split the object (this allows our personalizations by colour)

In the Bambu slicer (any slicer software that supports multi-material should handle this), I'm now taking all the sliced objects and painting them to use my choice of filament . I ended up making a bit of a pattern. The sky is the limit here tho, so far as material (TPU for better cushioning), maybe even some secret compartments?

Now that we have the cushion printed, it's a fun little puzzle to put together. Run a search for Gridfinity, and find all the organizational bins and adaptors you could possibly need. piece them and colourize them to suit your mood. Unhappy with the way your creation looks? mix and match until your arrangement brings joy. Don't like clutter? Print a lid for each bin and be in harmony with the smooth Zen like environment.