PatDoody
smoke tires, not drugs.
Okay so out of boredom and lack of money to buy a pre-made one I decided to tackle the project my self. I am not really into fiberglass at all, and didnt want to use it to make my own seat. I hate sanding. I like metal. Something about hand made parts formed completely out of metal always garnered [for me]a higher level of respect for the owner/fabricator.
Ive never made one of these before so this is going to be the most simple version of this seat pan imaginable. My lack of being able to find any diys that didn't involve using half of an old hockey helmet is why I am making this post.
I started off with a drop piece of 18g steel left over from another project. 18g is prob way over kill for this but its what I had. 20g would have been easier to shape and probably just as strong. Hell 22g would probably still be fine after it was shaped.
Its hard to see my layout in the photo I am a sheet metal worker by trade so I am used to just scratching the layout into the metal then cutting it out. I started off at 8"wide in the front and it tapers to 9" wide at the back with a 4.5" radius for the bump. Seems to work well for my xs650 w/xs750 tank.
next step is to bend it up... I have a finger brake that makes this easy, with light metal you can get pretty creative to make bends if you dont have a brake of any kind.
industry tip: put the pan back into the brake upside down, and clamp it down then use a hammer to make the bend that goes in the opposite direction.
I formed the rear piece out of cardboard to get a rough template. You can draw this out in cad or go old skool and draw it out using polar coordinates and stuff to get the stretch out but this is fast and easy.
I like to use my disc sander to knock off all the burs from cutting it with a grinder/cut off wheel
next step is to bend up the "bump" part of the seat. I have a super old slip roll that I use for making ductwork but it managed to bend the 18g with some muscle. You can bend this over a piece of large diameter pipe or anything sturdy that is close to what ever radius you use. I will probably make myself a small english wheel this winter, and remake this seat so the bump will have a more desirable compound curved rear bump. But for now it should last me the rest of the riding season.
check for fit. It will take alot of trial and error to get it just right. I cut the piece a little big becasue I knew I was going to want extra material for when I weld and grind later.
I started to weld it here. I eventually tacked it all the way around until it was a solid bead. Welding it this way and going slow helps to keep it from warping the metal.
Finally I ground down all the welds and smoothed everything out with a pneumatic die grinder.
Now all that is left is to make a padded top for it, spray bomb it black, and go riding.
I also just saw someone made one similar to this in another post but covered the entire thing in fabric, I guess you could do that as well if you didnt want to take the time to completely smooth the welds.
Ive never made one of these before so this is going to be the most simple version of this seat pan imaginable. My lack of being able to find any diys that didn't involve using half of an old hockey helmet is why I am making this post.
I started off with a drop piece of 18g steel left over from another project. 18g is prob way over kill for this but its what I had. 20g would have been easier to shape and probably just as strong. Hell 22g would probably still be fine after it was shaped.
Its hard to see my layout in the photo I am a sheet metal worker by trade so I am used to just scratching the layout into the metal then cutting it out. I started off at 8"wide in the front and it tapers to 9" wide at the back with a 4.5" radius for the bump. Seems to work well for my xs650 w/xs750 tank.
next step is to bend it up... I have a finger brake that makes this easy, with light metal you can get pretty creative to make bends if you dont have a brake of any kind.
industry tip: put the pan back into the brake upside down, and clamp it down then use a hammer to make the bend that goes in the opposite direction.
I formed the rear piece out of cardboard to get a rough template. You can draw this out in cad or go old skool and draw it out using polar coordinates and stuff to get the stretch out but this is fast and easy.
I like to use my disc sander to knock off all the burs from cutting it with a grinder/cut off wheel
next step is to bend up the "bump" part of the seat. I have a super old slip roll that I use for making ductwork but it managed to bend the 18g with some muscle. You can bend this over a piece of large diameter pipe or anything sturdy that is close to what ever radius you use. I will probably make myself a small english wheel this winter, and remake this seat so the bump will have a more desirable compound curved rear bump. But for now it should last me the rest of the riding season.
check for fit. It will take alot of trial and error to get it just right. I cut the piece a little big becasue I knew I was going to want extra material for when I weld and grind later.
I started to weld it here. I eventually tacked it all the way around until it was a solid bead. Welding it this way and going slow helps to keep it from warping the metal.
Finally I ground down all the welds and smoothed everything out with a pneumatic die grinder.
Now all that is left is to make a padded top for it, spray bomb it black, and go riding.
I also just saw someone made one similar to this in another post but covered the entire thing in fabric, I guess you could do that as well if you didnt want to take the time to completely smooth the welds.
