Add Cup Holders to your Resin Adirondack Chair

Project of the Day, November 9, 2012

I made it at TechShop. http://www.techshop.ws

Several years ago, I saw resin adirandack chairs with integrated (molded) cup holders. When I went back to the store to buy them, they had stopped carrying them, and have not been able to find them since. You can purchase add-on cup holders, but at $25 + shipping, that's more than you'll pay for the entire chair!

Here's a super easy way of adding cup holders to your chairs, and may actually be free!

Materials needed:

Plastic container(s) from 16 ounce cake frosting (free if you're already making a cake)

Tools needed:

Marker, pencil, etc.
Drill
Jigsaw
File (optional)

Step 1: Mark your location

Place the plastic cup on the armrest. Be sure to center it left and right, as it will be a close fit.

Trace the bottom of the cup with a marker or pencil.

Step 2: Cutting the chair

Drill a pilot hole inside the circle you drew in the previous step.

Using a jigsaw, cut out the circle. You will want a relatively loose fit, so cut right on the line. Be careful to not cut outside the line, or your cup holder might fall through!

Test fit the container in the hole. If it is too tight, you can touch up the edges with a file.

Step 3: The container

Drill a drain hole (for rain) in the bottom of the container.

You can also remove the label. (We only left it on for the photos.)

Drop the container(s) in your chair and enjoy. And because the holders are not fastened in any way, they do not interfere with stacking.

Cheers!

UPDATE June 4, 2012:

As I was sitting in my chair this weekend, it occured to me that the containers are deep enough that you could fill them half way up with ice! As it melts, the water just drips out the drain hole.

UPDATE June 9, 2012:

The number of comments concerned about stacking the chairs is truely mind-boggling. So in response, I've added the last two photos. The cup holders are NOT permanently attached. So if you absolutely need to stack your chairs, take out the holders and stack them.

About lime3D:

I have been designing products in the automotive, aerospace, medical, defense and consumer products industries for over 30 years. I am an "Inventor for Hire", so if there is something you need designed or built, just send me a message, or stop by http://www.lime3D.net, and maybe we can do business!

Comments

[T_Albrecht]

I love this. VERY simple, yet very useful! Great instructions too - clear, concise, and still comprehensive. My dad is retiring to his farm soon, and he has these chairs on his back porch. I'm sending him these instructions - I'm sure he would love them.

[xnsxmanny]

if you use a template/jig to get the exact same position of the cup holders every time then you could stack them and the cup holders would stack as well

[lime3D]

No, because the cups do not have a taper.

[mrsthursday]

my husband will actually do this, I love him but handy he's not, so anything this simple is a God send.

[jrv411]

This is a brilliant mod! I love the ingenuity I see here on a daily basis!

[Etobic]

taking muskoka chair to next level ? :)

[tjesse]

This is great! I would love to do this but I'm afraid it will affect my ability to stack my chairs. Oh well. I love projects like these, I don't need a degree from MIT to do them.

[lime3D]

Once again, you can still stack your chairs.

[tjesse]

I was joking. I saw that you mentioned it a few times, so I thought it would be funny, I guess not. I see that you updated it after my post, now I feel dumb because I became "that guy".

[simplifiedbuilding]

How do the cup holder affect how the chairs stack? Looks like they would get in the way.

[lime3D]

The cup holders are not fastened in, so they 'pop up' a little, to allow for stacking.

[Madrigorne]

...and if they get really gunky you can toss them in the dishwasher.

[rancidbry]

Where can I get these chairs???

[lime3D]

Seriously?

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=f&oq=adirondack+stacking+chair&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGNI_enUS473US473&q=adirondack+stacking+chair&gs_upl=0l0l1l143443lllllllllll0

[omillerwny]

Last year I purchased several at Home Depot around $17 ea. They held up quite nicely to weather and weight thus far. Also picked up a few small matching tables. This year I noticed they have a few additional colors.

OCM

[lime3D]

Yep, and you could put cup holders in the tables too!

[wjbean]

Excellent. Adaptive reuse at its finest.

[thebeatonpath]

Brilliant! The simplest solutions are the best and you recycled the plastic icing container!

[Ione]

Oh, this is a monumental idea! The perfect idea: simple, fulls a need, executable by the average human. I didn't count though: how many times did you have to repeat that your stellar idea does NOT affect the stackability!

Thank you!

[lime3D]

Oh yeah, did I mention that you can still stack your chairs?

[Ione]

:)

[Varenberg]

Congratz,

Nice update that could be used in various circumstances like a computer desk, coffeetable and much more...

Just have to find a container in europe (Belgium) where a can or bottle will fit in...

Thanks for sharing,

Michael

[lime3D]

Yes. I of course don't know what type of packaging is available to you in Belgium, but I am sure you could just look around during your next grocery shopping trip.

[juz4kix]

I like it!

[Judith756]

Very Clever and extremely crafty. Thanks for the ible and for making it simple.
What a great idea. I use a half dozen cans of that stuff a year and never thought of this
Thanks.

[dorybob]

Brilliant, simple idea. I am building a boat and my sister's design criteria is cup holders for her adult beverages. Your idea solves the issue of the support needed in the hole. And I like the ice idea as well.

[razenhazen]

That's a sweet idea! I have several of these chairs around my fire pit. Does anyone have thoughts on how this might compromise the chair though? I wouldn't want anyone plopping down and back and possibly cracking the arms off sending them back on their noggin. Not a huge deal, but also might affect the stack ability which may be why they stopped making them as they are usually marketed as stack able resin chairs. Although with these you should be able to remove the cups and stack the chairs at the end of the season which would work for me. Thanks for the great idea.

[lime3D]

Did you notice how old the chairs look in the photos? That's because I finally got around to writing this instructable, so I installed the second set of cupholders on each chair. The first set have been in the chairs for three years, and we use them all summer long. Since the holders are not glued in, they stack just fine.

[l8nite]

they could save another .6400000 of a cent by leaving holes that cup holders would fit in ! this is a really cool idea, thank you for sharing

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Everybody wants a cupholder! Bravo!

[jessyratfink]

Very smart. Now I'm wondering why they don't all come this way. :D

[lime3D]

I've designed a LOT of plastic parts, and it comes down to the complexity of the tool (mold) and cycle time (how many parts you can spit out on an hour). My guess is that they can save a few pennies by not putting the detail in the part, and we'll buy them anyway.