Foam Recomendations

Hey guys,

I've seen a lot of good advice and methods for seat pan fabrication here but not so much when it comes to foam. I guess for the generic CB stuff it's pretty easy to just put a flat piece of foam on it and get it upholtered with a roll-tuck however I'm attempting something a little more tricky.

As you may know the XJ650 has a step-up on the frame between rider and pillion - I'm planning on taking an old seat pan and modifying it so that it has a flat rider seat and then a hump - something like the XS special seat in the picture however with the XJ pan the foam is going to have to do a lot of the work in making the shape look right. Does anyone have any advice on a foam that I could use that is able to be either sculpted or molded.



Also feel free to suggest another way to approach this. My goal is to have the stock seat for two-up and a more slim-line single seat with a hump for everyday thus I plan on using a stock pan for the other seat as to keep the stock mounts.

I'm probably crazy but I don't like to just copy what's been done 1000 times already.

I'm in. I was rattling a similar idea around in my head. I haven't looked into it much yet but I would think if you search for uhpolsterers foams you should find a lot of different densities for sculpting and support. Mix and match for your needs

Actually jist looked a little and http://www.foambymail.com/seats-and-cushions.html

Thanks man, will take a look.

I googled "foam" and my city and found a custom mattress shop (about a mile from me) and walked in there and the guy sold me a hunk of scrap high density foam for $8.49, big enough for two seats, he says it happens quite a bit (guys coming in for hunks of foam for custom seats).

Don't have a recommendation on the material - I seem to always have existing seat foam to mix and match for what I need. I am super picky about seat construction though, and demand a nice thick, deep, comfortable seat and find factory foam to generally be the right density. Plus it is already shaped similar to what I need.

However, I do have a couple of tips. Foam in general will contact cement together really well, so with a little care you can patch pieces together in oddball joints like you wouldn't with any other material.

You can rough out the shape you want with a hand hack saw blade very easily. Use it by itself and you can curve it for some tricky shapes.

To get the final perfect super smooth refined shape, make a rasp out of a steel lid from a glass jar. Take a common nail, most all have a square pyramid shaped point on them, and punch a hundred or so holes in the lid from the inside. Don't drive the nail all the way through, pierce the lid just enough to create 4 little barbs per punch. Makes the absolute best foam shaping tool I have ever seen - even in a pro trim shop. I may be cheap, but never with tools. This tool is the bomb! And it's free, and you probably have one in the trash right now! It won't make a smooth surface like a molded factory foam, but it will provide a uniform texture and flawless contours which is what really matters.

Use a piece of headliner material for a first layer over the foam base. The kind that glues on to a formed panel, not for a convertible. Just go to a trim shop and they will know what you want, and might even give you a big enough piece for a bike seat. Just glue it in place with spray contact adhesive. It is stretchy, and makes a perfect base for your upholstery. Plus, it will put a nice skin over any foam joints underneath and keep them from pulling apart. It's nice and uniform too, so you can wrap it around the edge of your pan and it will make a nice clean smooth edge for the cover.

And if you want to do the cover yourself, and don't need/want stitching or multiple pieces, get some "4 way stretch" vinyl and stretch it over and glue to the inside edge of the pan. Contact cement is the norm here too - just around the inside of the pan, not anywhere on the outside on the foam - you want it to be able to slide around a bit over the foam when you sit on it. If you have trouble with the contact cement, super glue can be a problem solver if you are careful.

Guy at a local furniture upholstery shop cut and glued high density foam to my fiberglass seat pan. Cost me 15 bucks all said and done. Talk to the furniture guys. Like mentioned above, they may have some scraps available for cheap

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

Memory foAm?

http://www.diymotorcycleseat.com

$10 yoga mat cut to shape and layered. Works great.