Pacman pouf

Browsing the Internet I found a link towards a Italian design site that creates hockers (pouf) in the shape of the so ever loved pacman creature!

When I saw the picture on the internet, I thought, well... that shouldn't be so hard to make it my self and dove into the adventure of designing, creating and (for the first time) doing upholstry. I hope you like it and comments/suggestions are welcome...

^{(please forgive me my poor choice of english words or typos in this instructable, but I think the general idea is there...)}

Step 1 Design

First thing I always do when I start a build or a project, I create some Autocad drawings on scale, so in later stage during the build, I can easily measure the angles and sizes of the woodwork I need.

The requirements for the design I constricted myself to:

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- low cost (was about €120)
- low weight
- easy to build
- sturdy (should be able to hold 2 people at least)
- in metrics (of course, it is the world standard!)

Then the following process was to determine the size of the pacman:

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- for the height I took my current couch as the best height (40 cm). Keep in mind that the foam/padding determines the height of the woodwork!
- the radius of the pacman was defined in proportion with the height. It looks quite large (d=80 cm) but proportionally the pacman will look strange if the height (40cm) was set to a 50 cm diameter.

Material list:

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- 15 mm MDF, depending on the size, you will need at least the C-shape to be created from one piece.
- 9 mm multiplex (plywood)
- 32mm*40mm timber (count number needed * height for total length needed)
- larger ones (for example 40mm*40mm) for the corners and block
- upholstry. I used sky to get that leather-look, but it is not so flexible. Mine had already some sliding-stuff on the inside, so it can slide over the foam. If you get other stuff, inform if you need additional stuff.
- cardboard strips. I had special ones, but you can cut some yourself
- staples.... lots!

Equipment needed

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- workmate / bench
- Jigsaw
- drill
- drill-bits
- countersink
- screws (about 30mm in length, 3,2*30mm would be ok)
- wood glue (read instructions!)
- needle (curved one special for this type of work) and thread (special stirdy one!)
- sewing machine [if available] (I don't know if a regular sewing machine is able to get through the upholstry)
- foam and other filling
- a stapler! (I had a pneumatic one, but an electrical or whatever is a must... I don't thing the manual ones will be able to enter the MDF deep enough).
- knive
- markers

! Tips / Remarks

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In the design the top (9mm multiplex/plywood) of the pacman was created seperately because I was not certain if the upholstry required a top that was not connected. Only when doing the upholstry I found out that it was better that the top was fixed but also for the weight reduction it is a good solution!

Comments

[hschönenberg-franz]

This is fabulous!
Loving it!

[Jaapio]

Hey, ziet er goed uit.

Ik heb een vraagje. Wat is die rode bekleding voor een materiaal?

[hcgiesbertz]

Die rode bekleding is 'skai', soort van nep-leer... http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skai
Heb het gehaald bij een stoffenhandel op de Albert Cuyp.
Het nadeel van skai is dat het niet heel rekbaar is, wat het moeilijker maakt om scherpere hoeken zonder 'kreukels' te krijgen. Met echt leer zou dat beter gaan...

[merchis]

amazing! great precision!! congrats!

[superMacaroni]

Wow, great job! At first, I thought this was the real one.

[kadeishasims]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yoyoman3333]

It looks cool but pac man is yellow dude

[kleinz]

 f u buddy it looks better than yellow.

[allesflex]

It all depends on the glasses you are looking through! ;-)

[Kryptonite]

^{I thought it was what ever you're smoking.}

What ever floats your boat!

[Mechaphoenix25]

 I salute your carpentry sir

[iPanickedTGG]

GENIUS! And it looks soo professional! These could totally be from a store they look that great!

[Kolovision]

 First things first....that looks f-ing awesome and i'll definitely be using this to make one, just the pacman part tho. 

second i thought id quickly change your picture in photoshop to see if it would look just as good in his actual colour, your comment about "depends what glasses your looking through" doesnt really make any sense but whatever...here it is if anyone wants to look...

[allesflex]

 :D Very nice... I should have added some of these photoshopped pictures!
If you Google for some of the original pics, you will see some other color combinations as well...
Good luck in creating! please link your project!

[deofthedead]

friggin' wicked. We were just recently talking about how we needed -something- to occupy the center of our living room.... heheh.

[Warlrosity]

OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!!OH MY GOD!! -has heart attack-

[bethmwl]

I think you did a great job. The photos really show the detail required to upolster well.

[creative zen]

The first picture looks like it would be a cool coffee table :)

[Kryptonite]

Some glass would look really nice on that, good spotting I must say.

[zack247]

wow! i am definitely trying this

[Danny09]

what website did you find it on?

[Ward_Nox]

2 questions 1 why red and not yellow? 2 why a square for the companion piece instead of either a pac pellet of one of the fruit?

[allesflex]

1) because yellow would never match my interior 2) round would be a nice one for the next 'pouf', but the square piece just fits the C-shape way better, especially when I would build a next one :D

[Ward_Nox]

i figured there had to be reasons for it

[firefliie]

what exactly is a pouf?

[nodnol]

in the US we typically call this an ottoman

[allesflex]

Great! finally I found the english word... tried Google and Wiki's but couldn't find the right word for it :D

[Gorfram]

Ottoman, hassock, footstool¹, tuffet², pouffe³... finding the right word in English can be a real pain in the patoot^a.

¹ "Footstools" are usually smaller than ottomans.
² Archaic. Found mosty in poetry & traditional rhymes.
³ Most commonly accepted English spelling.

^a Informal slang for "buttocks." (See also: patootey, kiester, duff, hiney, hind end, backside, butt, bum, bottom, posterior, sit-upon... there are many more.)
Example use: "I parked my patoot on that really gorgeous Pacman pouffe." :)

(Sorry if this is more than you wanted to know - I have way too much fun with the complexities of English, and can get carried away sometimes.)

[allesflex]

Well, in Dutch it is called a 'poef' or in French 'pouf' and it is often translated as a 'hocker' but that is probably German.
(see http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poef&sl=nl&tl=en&history_state0=)

[jongscx]

...isn't that one of those light airy pastries with creme inside it?

[stranoster]

That's a puff, as in puff pastry.

[nodnol]

I completely <3 this project!! I'm thinking about doing it with a removable top for storage

[jongscx]

I think that's what the author was talking about, but it would have increased the overall cost and weight of the project as well as complexity. It would definitely be doable, but you'd have to double the plywood, add hinges (or something, add some fabric to finish, then you'd need a floor... plus, it'd be heavy with stuff inside it,... etc.

[nodnol]

Hm, I'd probably skip the hinges so the top would be completely removable, but add an interior flange so the top wouldn't slip off. I have 3 cats, so heavy would be a plus. They're almost guaranteed to see this as a new toy to launch from. Now that I think about it, I might try finding a flexible laminate (rather than fabric) for the sides - to protect from kitty claws!

[dilg]

Excellent Instructable with great pictures! There needs to be more upholstery projects here! I'm curious, why did you blind-stitch the side of the block instead of sew the length of the whole "tube" of white fabric and roll it over the bottom edge? Again, great job!

[allesflex]

I had 2 or 3 possible solutions in mind: 1) stitch on one side 2) stitch on all four sides 3) create like a sock that goes over it and attach to the bottom. Option 3 was a bit difficult, as the sky does not stretch very good and it would have to be created so precise to have the sides nice and straight. I checked how the four side stitch would look, but the one side stitch just looked best and can be put on the inside of the C-Shape ;-)

[dilg]

Ah, Option 3 was what I had in mind.. Well very nice work there blind-stitching! I had to blind-stitch an ottoman cover the other night and it was quite tedious.

[jongscx]

You used pegboard MDF, didn't you?

[allesflex]

I use normal 'softboard' and drilled holes (see my comment to PMjbrecken - Sep 17, 2009. 1:34). Could have used foldable plywood I found in the store, but was too flexible (had to use lots more vertical timber) and way too expensive here (wood is like the new gold if you look at the prices). You can get thin MDF and use a circular saw to make slices in the back and then fold it, but softboard (or maybe pegboard) will be ok.

[druster]

I think turning the square part yellow is a fantastic Idea