foam seat construction

Foam Seat Construction

Here are some pictures of how I did my seat foam carving/setup. Not the only way to do it as you will see if you look at Larry McFarland's website.

He made a mockup of the seats while Wayne Beattie, Bill Nichelson, Fred Hulen and I just did it in the a/c. Making a mockup seems like a lot more work.

If doing it again I would not use the green layer in the bottom - just using one layer of blue and one of pink - thus giving a bit more latitude in seat height. You will still have a large margin of "butt compression" should the a/c came down hard in something unscheduled.

Use 3M Super 74 or 77 adhesive.

Use a serrated bread knife to cut the wedges and carve the the other pieces like the lumbar support. It's worthwhile to go out and buy a new one.

Go to your local auto upholsterer and see if they have some really soft white foam to use as a 1/2 inch layer atop all this - at least in the seat and back. I think it would fill out your finally choice of covering a bit more nicely than mine are. Some upholsterers might want to incorporate this soft foam in their covering process.

Doing this is really sort of fun. Make certain you get the foam from Wicks as it is much cheaper.

regards jeff

ADDENDUM TO ABOVE

This info really originated with Wayne Beattie,

HDS/912 N601WB, who was kind enough to pass along to

me.

The seatback clips (if you include them) are the

brainchild of Fred Hulen.

The seatbacks weigh only 11 ounces or less apiece.

Made of poster foamboard, the kind kids use in

projects and available in art supply stores, they

typically are a 3/16 inch white foam core with smooth posterboard on each side. Cut two for each seatback and smear epoxy on one, then weigh down overnight. To give excellent strength to them squeegee a coat of 30 minute epoxy on one side and apply a layer of about 8 ounce glass. Squeegee the epoxy up through the cloth. When dry do the other side and don't forget the edges where the strength is needed most. It doesn't have to look pretty.

The memory foam (handprint foam) that some talk about

has extreme compressibility and will allow part of

your anatomy to "bottom out" on the seatpan. In an

hour you will have "hot spots" where this happens.

Temperfoam has increasing resistance to compression

which makes for excellent protection of the spine.

Check flammability of memory foam because a 1/2 to 1

inch top layer might be the cat's meow.

Temperfoam (ConforFoam) is not soft in the sense that

memory foam is, in fact on a 25F day when you pull out

of the hangar and sit on it you'll think you're

sitting on a brick! In ten minutes however, it will

have warmed and conformed to your body. To truly test Temperfoam you need to ask the owner of an a/c that has it to allow you to spend at least half an hour "testing" the elastic properties of his selection.

Meanwhile you can be doing your best Walter Mitty

imitation.

I've spent three and a half hours in my seats on

x-country legs and never felt a hot spot or had the

need to twist around.

Jeff,

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