Hello. I have two PAW's at home, one of them has clearly had work done, there are 4 small bolts where the spotwelds used to be and it has been rewelded in those four areas too. On top of this the center of the disk looks rewelded and the swivel contains many many ball bearings - but this chair feels very sturdy.The other PAW I have only has 6 ball bearings, with what looks to be like little thin spacers that keep the ball bearings in position at an equal distance of each other at all times, no matter how much you swivel. It also looks like this base has no rewelds. Does anyone know the specifics of the base at the time of shipping? Do the 6 ball bearings and spacers sound familiar - or could this still be a base that has been refurbished? By the way, this second chair feels a lot less sturdy than the original.Thanks for any clarity you can give me, I hope my description makes sense.
I have a Seng base like the one you describe. It has a bearing race disk made of what appears to be masonite, with holes drilled in it to space the bearings. The image below illustrates the general idea. The bearings appear to be fairly large in diameter, maybe around 1/4", but it is hard to say for sure.
I have seen other Seng bases that are not like this, and have many more bearings that I believe are smaller in diameter. I think these are the type where the smaller bearings manage to work their way out, and get lost.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com