Benchcrafted Swing Away Seat Instruction sheet

BENCHCRAFTED
SWING AWAY SEAT
Installation guidelines
October 2017
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Package contents:
(1) Swing Away Seat mount (the large casting)
(1) Swing Away Seat bracket (the small casting)
(2) Swing Away Seat pivot pin
Optional equipment:
(1) Quartered White Oak seat
Not included: mounting hardware
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Thanks for purchasing the Benchcrafted Swing Away Seat.
Originally designed for use on woodworking benches and shop
furniture, the seat can be used in a wide variety of applications like
restaurants, kitchens, craft rooms, garages, and the like.
The seat itself is quite simple. It pivots a bit more than 180 degrees so
one can swing the seat under a table top when not in use, and also
allow some range of movement while seated. The castings are

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powder-coated gray iron and require no maintenance other than a
wipe down with a soft cloth when they become dusty. The seat can be
used outdoors, but being made of iron, any exposed areas or worn
areas (like the bosses the mount rides on and the steel pivot pins) will
eventually rust. That’s not to say the seat will become non-functional,
just be aware of a visual change once exposed to the elements. A
drop or two of oil under the heads of the pivot pins will help keep the
mount swinging free.
Weight Capacity
The iron components are overbuilt and will support even the largest
humans. There is no weight limit. The mechanical connection with
your bench or table is another matter, and again, up to the final
installer.
Balance
If you’re mounting the seat to a freestanding table or bench with
straight legs, and the bench doesn’t weigh a lot, you may find it easy
to tip the bench over once you put your body weight on the seat.
Again, this depends on the weight of the bench or table, the weight of
the sitter, and the leg arrangement. If your table has a base where the
legs or feet extend past the top (in effect, going under the seat as in a
trestle table) you’ll have some extra support underneath and will find
the arrangement more stable. If you find your arrangement unstable,
you may need to add weight to your bench or fasten it to the ground.
Also keep in mind if you’re mounting more than one seat to a
structure, and two people on one side sit down, you may get some
tipping.

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Overhang
The seat can be mounted to a table or bench who’s top is flush, or
protruding from the leg on which the seat is mounted. For
woodworking benches, you’ll want to mount the bracket on the side
of the leg, so as to not interrupt the front plane of the bench. Mount it
as close to the front of the bench as you can, on the side of the leg.
This places the top of your bench away from your torso to allow free
movement when working from a seated position. For other
applications, like writing, typing or eating, the top of the table can be
closer to your torso, so you can mount the bracket further in from the
edge of the top, or to a leg or surface that’s recessed from the edge of
the top, up to 6”.

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Height
To get a feel for the ideal height to mount the seat, you can
temporarily clamp the bracket to your bench or table leg to test
different heights. 20” is a good starting point for average people. The
top of the bracket is about 1” below the final height of a 1” thick
wood seat. So if you want your final height to be 20”, mount the
bracket so the top of the casting is 19” off the floor. For bars or
higher applications, you may want to install a footrest for support.
Mounting the seat
Disclaimer
Benchcrafted will not be held responsible for your mounting situation
or damage or injury incurred as a result of faulty mounting of the
Swing Away Seat. The installer is entirely responsible for the
outcome of each mounting situation.
Because of the wide variety of mounting situations, we don’t include
any mounting fasteners with the seat. Here are some guidelines to
help you choose fasteners.
For mounting to hardwoods at least 3” thick (like a workbench leg)
you can use good quality 1/2” lag bolts. Good quality means deep
and sharp threads. Some of the big box stores carry really lousy
quality bolts with shallow, blunt threads. Don’t use these! If you’re
mounting to softwood like pine or fir, you’ll want at least 4” of thread
engagement in the material, so 5” lag bolts.

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If your mounting surface is thinner than what we describe above, it’s
best to use a 1/2” machine bolt, nut and washer for maximum
strength. Place the bolt head on the bracket side and the nut and
washer on the opposite side of the mounting surface.
Orient the bracket so the thicker pair of bosses is on the bottom.
You can use any standard hex head fastener to mount the seat, but we
like the look of the square head lags and bolts in the black finish
available from www.blacksmithbolt.com. We have no affiliation with
the company, but we’ve been happy customers for a number of years.
Your local hardware store will most likely have the fasteners you
need.

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Assemble the Seat
Once the bracket is attached to your structure you can attach the
mount to the bracket. Before you do that you should attach the wood
seat. If you’re making your own wood seat, the dimensions are 7/8”
thick (at least, thicker is fine) x 11” diameter at least (a little larger is
fine.) Three wood screws are included for attaching the wood seat.
Grain direction is not critical. When attaching the seat, make sure you
position it so the seat covers the single rectangular boss in the middle
of the mount.
To assemble the mount to the bracket, place the mount between the
bracket’s bosses and insert the two pivot pins. They are simply held
in place by gravity. If you find them difficult to insert, check for a
buildup of powder coating in the holes. If you find some, run a ½”
drill bit (slowly now) or file through the holes to clean them up.

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As with all Benchcrafted products, feel free to contact us for
technical help should you need it at [e-mail]