Chuck in your 2 cents, new seat design.
- Thread starter keeweenz
- Start date
Hi guys, merry xmas and thanks for the kind words! Sorry i havent replied for so long, there has actually been quite a bit of progress just with xmas familly travels i haven't been able to load it up. I will post a propper update with pics soon.
@ Rich ard, I could easilly design the brackets for another bike, I would have to have the right bike to measure. Saying that, being 5 mm stainless I would hate to know how expensive they would be if I was actually paying for them. I could create mild steel versions much cheaper but they would require passivating or powder coating.
@ 01 Mark, the seat will be hollow when it's finished, the grey part you have seen so far is just the plug from which I have taken a mould. To make the final seat i will gelcoat the inside of the mould and lay in fibreglass, so the final part will be hollow yet strong. The last step will be to glass in some mounting points, probably wood, so the seat can be attached to the bracket to allow it to hinge open.
Ill post up the most recent progress with pics as soon as I can.
Im heading home today for 2 days then away again for another 2 weeks so it may be a little while.
@ Rich ard, I could easilly design the brackets for another bike, I would have to have the right bike to measure. Saying that, being 5 mm stainless I would hate to know how expensive they would be if I was actually paying for them. I could create mild steel versions much cheaper but they would require passivating or powder coating.
@ 01 Mark, the seat will be hollow when it's finished, the grey part you have seen so far is just the plug from which I have taken a mould. To make the final seat i will gelcoat the inside of the mould and lay in fibreglass, so the final part will be hollow yet strong. The last step will be to glass in some mounting points, probably wood, so the seat can be attached to the bracket to allow it to hinge open.
Ill post up the most recent progress with pics as soon as I can.
Im heading home today for 2 days then away again for another 2 weeks so it may be a little while.
o1marc
Over 1,000 Posts
Thanks, didn't realize that was a plug and not the final seat. Makes sense. Most of the seats I see done here are only the seat and not done properly, in my mind, of making a plug/mold first and then making the seat from that. Don't see the sense in sending all the time to do a one off without the capability to make more. I've seen a recent build where the foam was encased (gas tank) and then a solvent was poured into it to dissolve it.
Yeah i know what you mean regarding the required effort! the gb's arent so rare here in NZ so since i have 2 more brackets im hoping to make a few more of the seat and sell them to recoup a bit of my investment. I have used the styrene based foam and epoxy method then melted out the foam with acetone for one of my university design projects. it works quite well, messy as all hell though and you definitely need a good organic vapour mask. The amount of acetone needed is quite amazing.
A larger reason for me to do the mould then parts method is just to give it a go and test myself i guess.
I've done it before but with average results, if i can get some nice parts that require little to no finishing ill be stoked, also its been a chance for me to try out some new materials ie, first time in about 12 years that ive worked with polyester resin. Epoxy is my usual go to, and its the first time ive ever used gelcoat, which i am finding out it awesome stuff.
A larger reason for me to do the mould then parts method is just to give it a go and test myself i guess.
I've done it before but with average results, if i can get some nice parts that require little to no finishing ill be stoked, also its been a chance for me to try out some new materials ie, first time in about 12 years that ive worked with polyester resin. Epoxy is my usual go to, and its the first time ive ever used gelcoat, which i am finding out it awesome stuff.
Re: Chuck in your 2 cents, new seat design. UPDATE: FINISHED SEAT/TAIL
Guess i should give some closure to this thread even though its been almost two years since i last posted. basically I spent a year doing up the bike and finished it 3 days before leaving the country for an unknown length of time on a travel and working adventure to see some of the world. Its currently tucked away in a shed on a family members farm. I didn't even get to start it, let alone take it for a ride.
If people are interested I can create a bit of a build thread as I ended up redoing the entire bike and designing a number of custom parts.
from these photos you can hopefully see how the tail turned out, I'm stoked with it and the tailight that I designed and injection moulded turned out just the way I wanted.
I'll try find more photos of just the tail and the reinforcing and post in another post
Guess i should give some closure to this thread even though its been almost two years since i last posted. basically I spent a year doing up the bike and finished it 3 days before leaving the country for an unknown length of time on a travel and working adventure to see some of the world. Its currently tucked away in a shed on a family members farm. I didn't even get to start it, let alone take it for a ride.
If people are interested I can create a bit of a build thread as I ended up redoing the entire bike and designing a number of custom parts.
from these photos you can hopefully see how the tail turned out, I'm stoked with it and the tailight that I designed and injection moulded turned out just the way I wanted.
I'll try find more photos of just the tail and the reinforcing and post in another post
