Eames lounge disaster and revival  

Inventive repair, unlikely to last long. New Shock Mounts worse than old
(edited by DA - no advertising on the forum, please)

Peter
Your message scares me. My Eames L+O is probably around 5-6 yeears old. Should we just sell our damn design flawed chairs and opt for another choice instead?

You know how I feel, Jake...
But Peter is not one to take too seriously. He's merely a salesman.

Not to worry, Peter
The fiberglass isn't reliant on the end grain for adhesion. The channel is routered at a taper, so that as it rounds the back side, it gets more shallow. At the end of the channel, it's only about 1/16" deep. This allows the load to be gradually transferred from the fiberglass to the wood, across a significant distance. It also means that there is no reliance on the end grain for adhesion or structure.
Peter, I'm absolutely persuaded that yours is the superior repair technique. I thank both you and Alfie for offering these competing options when disaster strikes. I just couldn't justify spending $900-2500 for a repair on a chair that cost me only $1500.
Yes, collecting in West Michigan skews my perception of pricing on Herman Miller furniture. But even outside of West Michigan, your repair pricing is something close to half the value of the chair. Alfie's is nearly the price of a complete replacement chair. For some, these repairs may be worth the price. I'm not in that camp.

Just shameless self promotion(yet again) on their part,Poach
You did a fine job,and contrary to Triestman's expert opinion,there is NO WAY the fiberglass has compromised the durability of the wood.I have a friend who works with fiberglass and I mentioned your project and he commented that you probably made it even stronger than before! You have resurrected an otherwise hopeless pile of wood.And I believe your alternative DIY repair irks the nay saying professionals who rely on people's Eames chairs to break,so they can make a pretty good living at repairing them.Don't let em put rats in your head.Once again,bravo on a job well done for "pennies on the dollar" in comparison.

I would like to note to all l...
I would like to note to all lounge repairers that there is nothing to gain by misleading people to believe that the new 670s are likely to blow at any moment. If I sell it for inferior craftmanship /design you'll never get my business. So I hope everyone is truthful.
Alfie, I would like to hear your opinion on this. How many of you have heard of new chairs ending with the same disaster? I would hate to know HM is selling chairs at almost 4K that are faulty.

Eames Lounge Chair repairs
(edited by DA - no advertising on the forum, please)

This gives me hope...
My Eames lounge chair failed similarly, three years ago. I bought it well-used ten years ago for $650. I contacted Peter's company (and others) after the failure, but could not afford (or justify, on my salary) paying them double or triple what I'd paid for the chair itself. I've been scouring eBay and Craigslist and other places, hoping to find a differently-ruined Eames lounge chair with a salvageable back shell. Or just disposing of mine, which is gathering dust in the garage. This DIY account gives me some hope of saving it... I have most of the tools, some cabinetry experience, and I used to work with composite structures in aerospace. Granted, I know Kevlar and carbon fiber better than fiberglass...

It struck me as I was reading...
It struck me as I was reading this. Before this I've been ruminating on the importance of preventive medicine instead of cost intensive higher medicine
Perhaps like preventive medicine, a person could reinforce their Eames chair with fiberglass or carbon fiber strips before any breaks occur. The idea being that breaks will be eliminated or minimized.... Thoughts??

chair repair
Congratulations on your use of 3M epoxy. Their two part expoxies are the best in the business and specific to any application. Using the 3M EXP dispenser with mixing nozzels will elinimnate all the guess work. For critical wood repair and lamination Resorcinol is nearly fool proof.

preventive medicine
Woof Woof,
I don't think reinforcements would help. If one of the shock mounts breaks free, all of the weight and moment of the chair back is being held across that narrow area of the "ear". It's enough force that even fiberglass or carbon fiber would splinter and flex, ultimately resulting in the same fate for the wood.
The best preventive medicine for this type of failure is to re-glue the shock mounts before the glue joint fails. That also means meticulous surface preparation of both the wood and shock mount, as well as use of the proper adhesive.
Peter T. suggests another method that trades off the rubber shock mount for a wooden one with rubber inserts. This allows the shear forces to be on a wood-to-wood joint, instead of a wood-to-rubber joint. While the reasoning is sound, many of us are skeptical that such a system would behave in the same manner as the original.

Is this chair unusually fragile?
I never bought one, but I've sure seen many horror stories about broken chairs.

My fellow
furniture modernists will be shocked to hear that I have never even sat in one of these loungers -- but it's the truth, so I must ask: how much does the side shock mount contribute to the comfort of the chair ?
Would the back feel remarkably different if it did not flex up and down, relative to the seat shell ? Can anyone venture a guess (at least) ? Could this joint have been more the result of a ideological intent -- and use of a currently-in-vogue technology, one which seems not to have had "legs" for the long haul ?

I don't have two to compare...
Just the faint memory and horror of the break.
Bolted now. It is firm with plenty of flex. I don't think another
chair compares to its comfort and design.
I'd like another for my studio. I'm in no hurry and it will be covered
in paint in no time, so i'm looking for a broken or repaired one.
Ekornes was a second choice. The tulip base i think called Pampas...
Well designed for comfort but just a wee bit ugly. And the arm rests
are a bit low. I raised the arms for a friend last spring. It solved that
little flaw.
I missed one on e-bay last summer while on holiday.
If i could only take one chair to a desert island...
If i was tossed in a small cell, (mistaken identity of course) i could
survive a while if i had my eames lounge...with foot rest...and bolted.
Silly and dramatic of me.
I'm sitting in mine now. Watched a crisp fall NewEngland sunrise.
Read the NY times, probably nap, breakfast will be delivered soon.
I may be here all day. Any minute now i'll hear, 'damn, you beat me
to it'. With all the chairs in the house, i need two of these...
When is your birthday Steven?

Hysterics.
It's threads like this that contribute to the rumor that this chair is fragile. It is not. I have known many many people who own this chair- both old and new versions. I own one myself. There is one in our office at work. Lots of people sit in it. Lots of HEAVY people sit in it.
Just like any product there will be a few defective peices in any product run. Automobiles, clothing, food - all products. That doesn't imply that the product is inherently poorly designed.
People like Peter Triesten, Alfie Hume, and even Graham Mancha profit from repairing these chairs: naturally they see worst case scenarios, and naturally they like to encourage people to have the chairs repaired. Just like your auto mechanic encourages you to have your engine overhauled. This is how they make their living.
Which is not to imply that some sensible precautions are a bad idea. Quite the contrary - and just like an automobile - knowing the warning signs are a good thing. Everyone should unscrew the armrests once in a while to make sure the mounts are solid. And not flopping into the chair every time you sit in it is probably a good idea as well. I don't flop into any of my chairs because I know thats probably bad for them. Just like I know driving fast over potholes is probably bad for my car. It's just common sense.