Captain Kirks Star Trek Chair With Sound

I made a Captain Kirk Captains chair because well why not! I wanted it to be as realistic as possible including lights and sound.

• 3/4" Birch plywood
• 3/4" CDX construction grade plywood
• MDO plywood
• 2x3" spruce lumber
• 1/8" press board
• Maple for arm rest
• wood glue
• screws
• 1/2" pneumatic staples
• Black vinyl
• 1" foam cushion
• 4 minute voice recording module with 4 buttons
• LED lights
• Momentary contact switches
• Light Grey paint
• Gumball machine plastic caps
• Minwax Walnut stain
• Minwax semi gloss Polycrilic
• Spray paint

I looked at many original photos as well as the show and drew sketches. Looked at Star Trek blogs and tried to get as close to accurate as possible.

Unfortunately The pics of the pieces cut are missing. As you can see in the raw chair there are several different materials used. The arm boxes are constructed of MDO (medium density overlay) plywood. It has a smooth surface normally used for signs. The rest of painted surfaces are Birch and the bottom and interior parts you wont see are CDX plywood.

The base was constructed using 2x3" lumber in a circular pattern. The outside finished surface is 1/8" press board. its thin enough to bend without snapping as long as the curve is not to big. It was glued and stapled. The bottom platform ended up being 36"x36" otherwise it would have just been too big and intrusive. The cylinder is offset as the have a place for your feet. I welded up a simple 6" long 1/2" steel rod to a 6x6" plate and screwed into the bottom of the chair to create the swivel point.

For the sound module and lights I cut off the factory buttons that came with the sound module and soldered on momentary contact switches which I then connected to both the sound and lights. That way when you press the switch a particular light will will shine with a certain sound. I used MPEG files of Captain Kirks catch phrases and Star Trek theme and uploaded to the sound module. All this is hooked up to a replaceable 6Volt battery. This can be accessed by removing the button panel. The button panel has the momentary switch with corresponding light. As you can see the groove carved out using a small 1" hole saw bit. This groove fits the gumball plastic toy holder can perfectly. The caps were sprayed painted on the inside and glued in. The speaker panel was created with 1/8" press board and old metal screen door screen.

The chair is primed and painted light grey and Black. The seat area is prepped and fit with the CDX plywood that will be used to attach the foam cushion and black vinyl. The Maple arm rests were shaped and stained and ready for install. (sorry no pics of that step!)

This side is non functional and just for show. These pieces are all made with wood and the plastic gumball caps.

I added the labels to the buttons and the chair is complete! This is the finished Captain Kirk chair. It swivels and is very comfortable but most of all it's fun!