When we bought our house, there was a swing set in the back yard. The swings themselves were nasty - dirty plastic strap seats that weren't large enough to be comfortable for an adult hanging from rusty worn chains. The structure from which they hung was a passable, sturdy wooden affair.
For years, we have had a couple of Hanging Cradle Chairs (aka Air Chairs) that I had purchased from Overstock.com
sitting in their bags wishing we would use them. Well today, they got their wish, although it took a bit of work - and some of my skin and blood, and three trips to Lowes - to get them up.
The loss of skin and shedding of blood occurred during the removal of the old swings. The swing's chains were attached to eye bolts at the top of the structure via quick links. The quick links were extremely rusted, so I decided to sever them with bolt cutters. Unfortunately, while cutting the last one, the backs of both of my hands slid across the edge of the aluminum ladder upon which I was standing and quicker than you can say "Ginsu..." Fortunately, the damage to the left pinky and ring fingers and right middle finger was relatively minor - no gushing blood, just some "flapage" and "seepage."
The Air Chairs hang from two ropes that are designed to affix to a central point above the chair. The foot rest hangs from a single rope also intended to attach to the same central point. I had decided that I would attach a length of chain slightly longer than the distance between the two eye bolts previously used to suspend each swing, and then attach the Air Chair to the center of the chain. As with the old setup, I would use quick links to connect the chain to the eye bolt. I then would use a quick link to go from the middle of each chain to a swivel, to which I would then tie the ropes.
So, we drove to Lowes to purchase the required hardware. The old quick links were 3/8" and when I looked at the working load, they were more than adequate. So, I bought two 36" lengths of 2/0 chain, two swivels, and four 3/8" quick links. I only needed four quick links rather than six since I was able to salvage two, which I believe are stainless, from the old swings. I decided to go with galvanized rather than stainless because the stainless steel hardware would have been three times as expensive.
When we got home and I tried to attach the first quick link to the eye bolt, the gap in the quick link was just too small to go over the eye bolt.
So, back we went to Lowes to exchange the four 3/8" eye bolts for four 1/4" eye bolts (the next size up).
We got home and things seemed to be going fine - the quick link fit over the eye bolt, and the chain fit over the quick link. At least, that's how it was for the first three quick links. Unfortunately, the threads on the fourth quick link had a just slightly larger diameter than the other three, and the chain would not fit over them. So, back to Lowes we went to exchange that quick link.
I must admit that by the time we got the chairs hung - which required quite a bit of adjusting to get them just the right height - high enough to be able to swing, but low enough to be able to get in - I was a bit grumpy. Sometimes it just seems that even what should be the simplest things end up being a hassle.
Anyway, Jeanie really likes her new Air Chairs, so that makes me happy.
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Posted by David at September 23, 2007 09:58 PM