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Carbon fiber seat in aluminum plane

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12notes

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Messages
1,286
Location
Louisville, KY
I've had an idea to make a composite seat, although I know making it out of fiberglass would be easier and a lot cheaper, because of planned future projects, I'd like to make it out of carbon fiber so I can renew my decade-old experiences with it. I'd like some opinions from those with experience it this.

My plan is to put a plastic bag in the single seat cockpit, partially fill it with construction foam, and sit on the bag until it hardens. I would then remove the bag from the plane and use that as a mold for the seat. This will give me a seat molded exactly to me, which should be comfortable and not need padding. After curing, I would remove the foam filled bag from the seat, and add a thin foam and extra layers of CF to the back of the seat for strength, then a layer of Kevlar or Innegra on everywhere that would touch aluminum to prevent galvanic corrosion.

The sides of the cockpit would have 1/8" plastic spacers during the foam bag step to leave room for the side of the seat to fold back to meet the bulkhead. The floppiness of the seat would be limited by the seat having nowhere to deform to, as it would be trapped top and bottom by the cockpit bottom and turtledeck bow (basically an oval) , front to back by the rear bulkhead and spar cover, and on the sides by the cockpit sides and siderail, so it can be fairly thin and should be light.

Is this a reasonable plan? Has anyone else done anything similar?
 
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