Seat base question.

[K6Thou]

Righto lads my thou has gone away for some surgery to fit the R6 tail section and subframe, it will shortened by about 70mm and the place it is getting shortened is between the front and rear mounts for the riders seat, so now I have to shorten the seat (it is huge anyway).

I am planning on taking a strip out of the base the same width as what is being removed from the sub frame, but my question is whats the best and strongest way to make the two halves one piece again ?

I have two thoughts, the first being fibreglass with some re-inforcing glassed in or plastic welding.

Anyone have any other options ?

[xa-mont]

would it be a lot more drama to remake the seat out of glass?

[Redmohawk]

Whats it made out of ? I'm guessing injection moulded high density polyethylene ? Its prob better to use the original to make a mould to make another in fiberglass, than try to join your two half's. HDP doesnt glue well, even the new fancy glues you can get for it are still pritty crap in high load/flex situations.

You could plastic weld it but the joint will be stiffer than the surounding area at the join, promoting cracking eather side of the weld. If you want to have a crack take the seat base to a farm irrigation pipe welder (i used to weld black brute pipe) they have teflon coated heater plates to heat the edges just right to weld it back together. And if there anything like the blokes I worked with would brob do it for a 6 pack.

[K6Thou]

Yeah kinda, it would require the front and rear monting points to be added, which would require a bit of bracing etc .....

[K6Thou]

Whats it made out of ? I'm guessing injection moulded high density polyethylene ? Its prob better to use the original to make a mould to make another in fiberglass, than try to join your two half's. HDP doesnt glue well, even the new fancy glues you can get for it are still pritty crap in high load/flex situations.

You could plastic weld it but the joint will be stiffer than the surounding area at the join, promoting cracking eather side of the weld. If you want to have a crack take the seat base to a farm irrigation pipe welder (i used to weld black brute pipe) they have teflon coated heater plates to heat the edges just right to weld it back together. And if there anything like the blokes I worked with would brob do it for a 6 pack. Thanks Red. I have a mate that works in irrigation I'll get him to ask around. The only reason I am asking is because the front mount for the seat is for want of a better term a tongue, and the rear is a bolt in scenario so making a base would require a fair amount of bracing to incorporate the bits that need to be there, that said I know that all the load will be in a downward direction so maybe I'll try to get it welded first and if that fails miserably I'll have to do the custom fibreglass thing....

[Redmohawk]

You could weld the plastic, then put some bracing (couple of strips of 3mm ali ) on the foam side bolted on with countersunk screws and Upholstrey T nuts on base side for a relitivly flat finish.

[K6Thou]

You could weld the plastic, then put some bracing (couple of strips of 3mm ali ) on the foam side bolted on with countersunk screws and Upholstrey T nuts on base side for a relitivly flat finish.
Great minds think alike mate I thought the same thing. Hopefully I'll have the bike back about this time next week then I'll be looking to butcher, ummm modify the seat to suit.

[Chase]

Haven't got a friendly wreckers near you that will let you rummage through their seats? You might be able to get a smaller seat that'll do the job from a 250 or 400..

[K6Thou]

Haven't got a friendly wreckers near you that will let you rummage through their seats? You might be able to get a smaller seat that'll do the job from a 250 or 400..

The local wrecker isn't too friendly, but it might be worth askin'.

Thanks mate.

[Redmohawk]

If you want to have a go at welding it yourself , plastic needs to be real clean (wipe with isopropal alcohol, get it from chemist) and use a cleaned (with same alc) non stick electric frypan set to 220 degC . Mark where you want the join then Cut both bits with extra overhang to the same length as the plastics width. Press both bits at the same time onto the cleaned frypan once its up to temp when plastic has a bead melted to the join line shove em together n hold in the right postion till temp is back down cool enough to hold in your hand (prob take 5 min) Once joined you can remove beads to make it flatter.

[kev@vcm]

you could ask an upholster ??

[Chase]

If you want to have a go at welding it yourself , plastic needs to be real clean (wipe with isopropal alcohol, get it from chemist) and use a cleaned (with same alc) non stick electric frypan .....


lol... cook much at home??

[K6Thou]

you could ask an upholster ??Where would I find one of those Kev ? lol
Any ideas on what I need done mate ?

[Chase]

Actually Kev's a champ at working with "modified" seats... just look at the bottom of the 1100 seat :cool:

[Redmohawk]

lol... cook much at home??

I do a bit , used to cook for a living many moons ago (no chef, just a cook for a few dozen people 4 to 5 times a week).

I own a electric frypan just dont use it for food lol

[kev@vcm]

Where would I find one of those Kev ? lol
Any ideas on what I need done mate ?



your a cheeky bugger hahahahaha shoot me ya mobile number and we can have a chin wag about it ,