I am getting ready to attempt a building of the famous Jake chair.
But, I need some help in interpreting the drawings that come with the
plans from the website. My problem is that I don't understand the
measurements that seem not to fit decimal equivalents. For example,
the "seat slat" drawing has dimensions listed as 27.00 by 1.55. What
does the 1.55 correspond to in fractions? Am I missing something?
One other item, each drawing has a scale at the bottom but some don't
seem to fit the drawing. Anyone know what that is all about?
Any advise is surely welcome.

"rile" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am getting ready to attempt a building of the famous Jake chair.
But, I need some help in interpreting the drawings that come with the
plans from the website. My problem is that I don't understand the
measurements that seem not to fit decimal equivalents. For example,
the "seat slat" drawing has dimensions listed as 27.00 by 1.55. What
does the 1.55 correspond to in fractions? Am I missing something?
One other item, each drawing has a scale at the bottom but some don't
seem to fit the drawing. Anyone know what that is all about?
Any advise is surely welcome.


1.55 is a "fat" 1 1/2 or a "shy" 1 9/16. There are other references in
common use which would make it a CH over 1 1/2 or an RCH under 1 9/16.

Measure the perimeters of the thing and make it fit. Following plans is a
theoretical exercise anyway. Practical is in making things that fit.

On 16 Aug 2005 23:17:24 -0700, "rile" wrote:

I am getting ready to attempt a building of the famous Jake chair.
But, I need some help in interpreting the drawings that come with the
plans from the website. My problem is that I don't understand the
measurements that seem not to fit decimal equivalents. For example,
the "seat slat" drawing has dimensions listed as 27.00 by 1.55. What
does the 1.55 correspond to in fractions? Am I missing something?
One other item, each drawing has a scale at the bottom but some don't
seem to fit the drawing. Anyone know what that is all about?
Any advise is surely welcome.

It looked to me as if the drawing had been originally dimensioned in
metric and then converted. In any case, none of the dimensions are
really critical.

To answer your question, 1.55 is slightly under 1-9/16". When I did
mine last year I just used 1-1/2" and all worked out fine.

Ignore the scale and use the listed dimensions. Knowing that 1/16" is
..0625 decimal should help you convert any problematic dimensions.

FWIW I didn't like this chair. It's huge, and the back of the seat
sits way too close to the ground for us old folks. A real chore to
get out of it. For kids and younger adults it'd probably be fine tho.

LP...since you built one last year, may I ask how you enlarged some of
the drawings that had several curves in them? Or did you just kind of
do it free-hand on a template and use that?
LP wrote:
On 16 Aug 2005 23:17:24 -0700, "rile" wrote:

I am getting ready to attempt a building of the famous Jake chair.
But, I need some help in interpreting the drawings that come with the
plans from the website. My problem is that I don't understand the
measurements that seem not to fit decimal equivalents. For example,
the "seat slat" drawing has dimensions listed as 27.00 by 1.55. What
does the 1.55 correspond to in fractions? Am I missing something?
One other item, each drawing has a scale at the bottom but some don't
seem to fit the drawing. Anyone know what that is all about?
Any advise is surely welcome.

It looked to me as if the drawing had been originally dimensioned in
metric and then converted. In any case, none of the dimensions are
really critical.

To answer your question, 1.55 is slightly under 1-9/16". When I did
mine last year I just used 1-1/2" and all worked out fine.

Ignore the scale and use the listed dimensions. Knowing that 1/16" is
.0625 decimal should help you convert any problematic dimensions.

FWIW I didn't like this chair. It's huge, and the back of the seat
sits way too close to the ground for us old folks. A real chore to
get out of it. For kids and younger adults it'd probably be fine tho.

On 17 Aug 2005 11:27:25 -0700, "rile" wrote:

LP...since you built one last year, may I ask how you enlarged some of
the drawings that had several curves in them? Or did you just kind of
do it free-hand on a template and use that?

I just drew the parts out from the dimensions on the plans, and for
radius' I used whatever was at hand, mostly various size tin cans. The
radius' were chosen so they would "look good" with no thought to the
actual dimension.

IIRC, the one thing that was very slightly critical was the curvature
on the top & bottom rear slat supports. I dont remember exactly how I
laid that out but I'm sure it involved taking dimensions off the plan
and drawing the radius with a pencil on a string.

Hope this helps