Homebuilt seats and a question

[Mach7]

Good Morning Everyone.

There was not enough money in the budget this year for seats, so I decided to build my own out of MDF.

I basically downloaded the plans of the internet and used the drawings of another individuals seat build, with some modifications of my own.

The seats themselves are good but not great as they are not adjustable and fitted for basically one person...me.

The fore and aft adjustment was accomplished though the installation of parallel rails allowing the seats to slide back and forth on "sticky on one side" furniture felt, which was applied at the base of the seat. The base also  incorporates 1/2 inch runners to prevent the seat from moving sideways....acting like a "sort of" train track.

The seats are quite heavy, however they slide back and forth with some ease, while at the same time provide enough friction to prevent movement once weight is applied once the operator sits down.

The arm rest's have not yet been installed.....

I have purchased a bunch of 2 inch thick "fiber foam" that I am going to cut to spec and double up to provide 4 inches of support....however I need to eventually cover this as it has the tendency to fray and fall apart over time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on material to cover the foam with, and is this something I can do myself, or should I venture to a upholstery shop?

Thanks!

[Trevor Hale]

WOW!  That is some nice stuff right there.  I think you will find them to be much more comfortable than you think.  A good 4" foam, those babies will be comfy for the long haul.
You could go upholstery, but maybe even the sheepskin seat covers you can find online..
Either way, looks pretty amazing.  Thanks for sharing.

[Garys]

I have purchased a bunch of 2 inch thick "fiber foam" that I am going to cut to spec and double up to provide 4 inches of support....however I need to eventually cover this as it has the tendency to fray and fall apart over time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on material to cover the foam with, and is this something I can do myself, or should I venture to a upholstery shop?

Are you using this type of foam for the seat bottoms or just a lining on top of some proper high density foam? Foam used for seats in upholstery should never fray and can be bought cheap on Amazon and the like. I'm taking your worry about the "Fibre Foam"  fraying  to be the polyester type. A picture of the type of foam you intend to use would be good.

In any case a good idea is to cover the foam in a fabric called muslin or calico. This will protect the foam from deteriorating.

Nice job on the seats.

[jackpilot]

You may also use cheap car seat railing system at any junkyard.
Works fine and super easy to install,

[Mach7]

@Garys

Here is the type of foam I am using...cuts easy with an exacto knife, but does have a tendency to "fray" over time. I will definitely need to cover it with something...I was thinking of trying to get fabric that would look like real aircraft seat material.

Here are some pics of the foam...

[Garys]

Awesome, that's not the type of foam I was thinking of so that's good. If you cover the foam with muslin and it will protect it for years. Before Ipeco started using 2 part chemicals and molds to make the foam cushions, they used to just use high density foam covered in muslin. You would then put a seat cover over that. The other advantage of using muslin is that for the seat back cover, you can sew the vertical velcro strips on as well, so the cover fits snug and not tend to float in the middle around the bolstered sides.

Here is an example of what I mean

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BOEING-737-300-IPECO-Captain-Pilot-Seat-Chair-As-Removed-As-Is/264096461769?hash=item3d7d6033c9:g:YXIAAOSwa~FcG735

For the material look for a material I think is called grey honeycomb or something like that. There may have been a thread about it a few years ago as well that you can look for

[Mach7]

@Garys

I went to the local fabric shop and found Muslin...but it only comes in one color...white. I found some other material that closely matches the original 146 seat material...the original stock seats had a light blue material as opposed to the sheep skin. This material, although not exact, is more in line with the original color choice.

The covering is not perfect, but I have to admit the seats look pretty good!

So..here is a pic of the first seat...the second one is being upolstered shortly.

[jackpilot]

Good job !

[Mach7]

Just finished printing up the final Arm rest pieces, which consists of an adjustable tightener unit connected to a wooden arm with which the arm rest will be attached.

Since the arm rest needs to be adjustable, I had to construct the main body of the unit into three parts, outer, middle and inner.

The outer piece is meant to be rotated to loosen or tighten the unit, and consists of external "grips" and a through bolt which slides through the middle piece and connects with a nut located in the inner piece.

The middle piece contains the  extended armrest, and is allowed to move freely up and down.

The inner piece is fastened securely to the seat frame and contains the nut that connects the through bolt to engage for adjustment operation.

The unit is slightly more complicated than the text provides. In actuality friction alone would not prevent the extended arm to remain in place, even if tightened to the max, so my solution was to modify the inner piece, which is connected the frame, to have 12 number 8 wood screws with rounded heads that protruded out into the middle piece.

The middle piece was modified with 12 indents that formed to the exact dimensions of the screw head.

This arrangement allows the middle piece to still remain adjustable when the tension is backed off, and then locked into place, through the screw heads, once tension is re-applied.

The arm rest can now be adjusted factoring in the distance between the screw heads.

Hopefully the pics are self explanatory.

[Trevor Hale]

Looks awesome..  Can't wait to see it all finished..
Nice Job.

[bernard S]

why not gut car seats and do electric 😁  then you only  need add aircraft type housing ?  i pimped my ipecos    added air con heating and massage .. whist maintain the integrity of the orginals  i.e power etc  .. but you would only requirev12v power supply as you are not using aircraft power like mine do

[Mach7]

@Bernard S,

Although that sounds like a pretty nice upgrade, My thoughts are that sometimes simplicity is the best option.

[Mach7]

Seats finally finished and installed!

BTW each armrest took 24 hours and change to print!

[Garys]

Awesome work. They turned out great.

[bernard S]

rather sporty   I like

[Trevor Hale]

absolutely Fantastic!  Thanks for sharing.