DIY seat cushions

Way back when, I made a set of seat cushions for my RV-3. Flew with them for a year, then ordered a set from DJ. Flew with those, then threw mine away. Fast forward to the Sept Kitplanes and the article on seat foam. Read that and started thinking about making a seat for the Panther. Did a bit of Google searching, and up popped an article written by Tony Bingelis way back in 1990. Very specific info on how to make seats for an RV-6. In the article he mentioned a product called SunMate. A quick search found this. The website is loaded with good info, like this. SunMate is available in nine densities. Fill out the request for a sample pack on the website and they'll send a 1" x 2" x 4" sample of each of the densities. Free. And fast. Here's a bit of the card that accompanied the samples:

"Welcome to Dynamic Systems, Inc. We specialize in manufacturing high-performance orthopedic cushion material primarily for the medical and aerospace industries. We have been in business for nearly 45 years, and during that time, have grown the company almost entirely from word-of-mouth recommendations, repeat business from satisfied customers, and from positive reviews and accolades we have received from NASA and the US Space foundation..."

YouTube turned up a few helpful videos here and here. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Thank you, Tony Bingelis!

Tony Spicer

PS- I have a one PSI butt.

Received a PM asking about the Panther cushions. Here's the link to the finished product. $100 in materials and $300 to the local auto upholstery shop.

Tony

Thanks for posting this. I am practicing my upholstery work with the hopes of doing my seats. What are some good ways to do the floors so as to work around the floor ribs. I would like to put heel plates in mine on carpet.

lotsa ways to do it....

this is just what I did....a layer of fire retardant, I think fibrefrax, then a layer of black soundproofing foam, enveloped in 2 layers of foil ( which extended the ignition time from seconds to minutes) and that made it about level with the ribs.
Then just store bought carpet, soaked with Flame-Out fire retardant liquid. Pop-reveted skid plates to the carpet, after mocking up the actual heel contact zone ( you may be surprised!)

apparently most automotive carpet is at least fire resistant, search fire tests by Dan Horton on VAF for lots of good info.

amazing, all these years later, Tony Bingelis is still showing us the way!

Nice job Tony - glad to see that the Panther is coming along! The question is whether Katies will have Tony Boy II flying before you get the Panther in the air!

upholstery tips

Charles
Kitplanes did a series of upholstery articles in 2010. Starting in the April 2010 edition with "Cover Story-designing men". There were articles in May (Building a Custom Cushion), June (Seat Cover Conventions), and July (Carpets and Panels).
All were written by Mike Manning. I clipped them all at the time. They are great articles to get you started.
One tip of advice I just discovered after doing interiors on 8 aircraft. The walking foot. I did not know I could get one for my industrial machine and just tried it on leather and the stitches are perfect. It enables even feeding when using thick material.

Thanks, my machine has a walking foot. I have an old Ford van that is going to be one of my practice projects.