WCFM Tour in Manchester - Burgess Beds

Just came back from a very exciting trip to Manchester visiting industrial factories in furniture making.
On the second day we went to visit Burgess Beds - handmade mattresses and beds manufacturer, we learnt a lot of things about mattresses that we never even thought of before, although we sleep on one for almost half our lives.

A sample of all the fillings inside a mattress - something we always see but never pay much attention to.

I was fascinated by this machine made specially to stitch the seam on mattresses. It was attached the a table with a track for the machine to go around the perimeter of the mattress laid onto the table.

The 'pom poms' used to string through all the layers within the mattress, to keep all the fillings inside in place.

Another special machine made just for the making of mattresses - to compress it to put the pom poms through.

Pocket strings - comes in a row(?!) so it springs open uncontrollably when you open it so be careful.

All the organic materials that goes into the mattress for different levels of firmness. (Never knew what actually goes into the mattress, always thought it would just be some sort of foam.)

And ending it with a very nice illustration in their showroom.

Rivea

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Experiment into Human Intimacy

Experiment looking into human comfort and intimacy. Our group decided to investigate how humans of different degrees of familiarity interact with each other.

Work in Progress: Intelligent Making 2

Now, how I ever managed to go all this time without using this machine I don't know, but I'm slowly discovering the wonders of the hidden gems in the workshop that we were not inducted on at the beginning.

At the first stage of assembly - I was overjoyed to see it starting to take shape, as I imagined...

... also expected the back of the head rest was really troublesome because it was the only part that I found difficult to imagine and calculate, as it curves around and bends upwards at the same time

After all the welding was done, it was time for some angle-grinding and on the dremel (both of which I have never used before) so it was a good learning experience! My chair is finally taking shape so it's getting a bit nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time!

Work in Progress

At the start of the new term, we were only given 8-9 days to make our final design as a full-size working prototype. Despite having ordered the materials before we broke up for Christmas, there was a mistake with my order so my materials weren't there when we got back on the Monday, it was a nightmare. But luckily they have some lengths of my 25mm tubular steel in the material store in the workshop so I managed to get started anyway but it was only half of what I ordered. 

Bending tubular steel at this diameter was very different - a lot more difficult - than I imagined, having only worked with thinner tubes before. but I managed to get the bulk of it done quite quickly, having done my full-size drawing to line up the metal with and calculated all the lengths that I would need to bend in sections as my final design was too complex in form. 

Fresh start

New start of term, new apron! I wonder what kind of work I would be producing this year... Last year was full of fun making in the workshop, hopefully this year is the same.