Pallet Swing Chair

We AKA my friend Emma and I Decided were given the task of creating outdoor furniture from a total of 4 wooden pallets. After some many days in the lab and couple brief starbucks runs we decided to do something out of the ordinary and create a pallet swing and designed from the ground up based on a picture we found online. In the next couple of steps we show you a brief step by step run down of how to get to the finished item.
Items you will need.....
jig saw
chop saw
nail remover
hammer
screw gun
4 wooden pallets
sufficient amount of screws
patience
metal chain and u-bolts
carriage bolts and nuts
and finally!! a bearded lanky gouchy engineering teacher who doesnt give you enough time!! (JOKESS!! DONT FAIL ME MR Shultz) but like seriously having this will help get your lazy butt in gear

Step 1: The Tear Down

the first step to any project using pallets is the actual breakdown of the wooden pallets. for our project we found it more simple to cut the pallets apart using a jig saw, it was quicker and easier and there was less of a chance of split wood vs using a pry bar to pry the wooden pallets apart...... the down side is we lost a lot of longer pieces of usable wood that we could have gotten if we attempted to pry apart the pallets. in the end its what ever you feel most comfortable doing. the photo below is how we deconstructed our pallets

Step 2: The Seat Bottom

so for the business end of of chair we took two of the pallet sides which a shaped like compressed m's and attached them together by the 1x4 pallet wood we had collected we had our seat bottom to about 14.5 inches but you may size it as you wish to fit the many different sized bottoms as there are in the world

Step 3: The Seat Back

for the back on which you rest your body we expanded on what we had created on the bottom instead of using 2 of the pallets sides we used 3 and connected the again by 1x6 planks that we collected for this we had ours to about 22 in but again it can be varied from spec to what you would feel comfortable with.

Step 4: Seat Back Part Two

the picture below should be what you finished seat back should appear to look like from the rear

Step 5: Connecting the Seat Bottom and Back

here is where it begins to get tricky..... to attach the bottom and back we engineered a system by fitting two more pallet sides to both the bottom and back perpendicular to the ones already there. from there we attached to the bottom and back by connecting the two with carriage bolts allowing us to create a hinge and allowing us to create an angle we were looking for.

Step 6: Almost Done!

because we ended up running out of time we ended up finding the angle we wanted and securing it using extra pieces of wood but at this point if you would like, armrests are a very nice touch and can also provide structural support for the swing. the last step is to sand and stain the chain and last attach the chain. depending on how large you made the chair attach the chain using bolts so that is balances correctly for how you would like it to look.

Step 7: Finally Finished

at this point you should have a finished project worthy of accepting your hind quarters. congratulations!!!

Comments

[countryboy031216]

Would you happen to have any more pics of you swing from the side and top to see how you made the armrests and how u secured them to the swing please?

[DebbieS228]

Why do you show a picture of the swing that is clearly not the same swing you show being built?

[محمدا12]

goood

[cosmicslop]

Lose the purple cushions but I want that! Is it actually stable?

[Will rock]

Not bad...though as mentioned, need to show the finished product. On a side note, I build a ton of repurposed "stuff" from pallets. To not lose the extra lengths, and have a much quicker breakdown, simply use a reciprocating saw (sawzall), with a metal blade and simply run down the gaps between the planks and the frame. No splintering or breaking. I can get a pallet apart, all usable pieces, in about 3-4 minutes. Just a tip!

[tmfitzhugh]

Not to mention they used a copyrighted photo in the first picture that they must of copied from someone's photogrophy portfolio. Very bad form on this...

[matt.garrity.7]

Pallets are 30-45 pounds per, 4 of them? Not a chance . Instructions and finished product photo are 2 completely different things. Jerks

[Susitna]

I'm currently living in South Carolina. One of the big things here day bed porch swings ( for thousands of dollars). I can see this modified, probably using new lumber. Would be wonderful on an upstairs screened porch.

[rrrickets]

going through all the steps, you left out lots of information and the finished pictures don't look anything like the seat you made.....face palm....how could this be posted?

[sbrown9578]

all in all this isn't a good instructable, why? why would you post it and think we would accept this as the real thing? what a let down. putting you on the do not bother with list

[JasonE]

Yeah, the finished picture is definitely not the chair you made. I was hoping to see the actual finished project.

[vlemp]

This is really creative! Thank you for sharing the idea :)

[nlejet-morton]

I love this idea... But you instructions were quite Vague!! Especially for a new builder like myself! I'm exited to try this and have pallets all ready to go but I have to decipher between steps all the small cuts and angles. :(.

[Foo_Plinger]

The swing in the picture does not resemble the one they built in the instructions...look at the back, the first one has thin strips of wood, set horizontally, theirs has wider pieces of wood set vertically. The bottom has the same inconsistencies. Why not show us what your swing actually turned out like?

[hms1018]

Sweet!

[rwill53]

You mentioned using a jig saw in your text, but I didn't see one or read how you used it.

???

[klincecum]

They meant circular saw.