How to make headrests?

[kevinh]

Hi ya'll.

My wife is a 'delicate flower' and has informed me that she would like a headrest for her seat. Something so she doesn't have to lean sideways against the canopy when she falls asleep.

I'm thinking something based on angle aluminum (with padding/upholstery) that is mounted to the aft top two inches of the seat. However, before I go reinventing the wheel I was wondering - does anyone have something they are happy with. Preferably with pics

[dan]

My wife Jen has been asking for a headrest since day one. It's on my list for a rainy day. My plan is to fabricate a lightweight frame that slips into the seatback brace slots on top of F-705 and attaches at the top to the back of the roll bar (tip-up canopy, I know you have a slider...sucka!). Just kidding.

Obviously the bottom will release quickly by virtue of slipping into the slot, and the top will be easy to release as well since it will have a knurled knob on the bolt. Unscrew that, slip the thing right out, and you can load bags.

On the slider I assume you'd want to run "legs" down into the seat back for support.

)_( Dan
RV-7 N714D
http://www.rvproject.com

[Bob Axsom]

My approach was to sit my wife in the seat and measure the distance from the back of the seat to her neck and vertically from a line from the top of the seat back to the bottom of the back of her head to determine the shape and position of the horizontal and vertical neck and head support. I then determined how wide the support would be. I cut an end pattern (template)out of file folder material that was a constant height from the rear to a semicircle (simple radius) at the front. I drew the the pattern with chalk on the inside of the upholstery material and then cut the cloth approximately 1/2" outside of the pattern on all sides. Next I drew the rectangular pattern necessary to cover the the distance between the two end plates and extend all the way around the perimeter of the end plates and overlap at the back. I cut the cloth 1/2" outside of the drawn rectangle. I left the back open but sewed the three peices together inside out with the excess material extending to what would later be the inside of the headrest using the pattern chalk marks as point where I sewed. When finished I had the shell of the head rest. I went to a fabric shop and bought a sheet of foam rubber that was a little thicker than 1/2 of the height of the headrest. I cut a rectangle that was essentially twice the length of the distance from the back of the seat to the front of the headrest and the width of the headrest. I doubled the foam rubber over and stuffed it into the headrest "pocket" with the folded end filling the radius at the front of the headrest giving it a natural smooth curved shape. I took the thickest sheet 2024T6 aluminum I had (.040 something I believe) and cut out two pieces. The main support piece is shaped kind of like a capital "I". The vertical member is about 3" wide and the vertical dimension is the distance from the back of the cross cockpit seat brace to the top of the seat back. The top of the "I" cross bar is a rectangle with rounded corners. Originally it was the size of the rectangle at the rear of the headrest but I found that in use that the aluminum edges were just too hard on the upholstery material and I cut it down somewhat. The bottom cross bar of the aluminum "I" is the height necessary to form a lap mounting interface with the cross cockpit seat brace (about 1" I believe) and about 6" wide. The other piece of aluminum is a rounded corner rectangle conforming to the top mounting "I" crossbar. I clamped the two pieces of aluminum together with the two retangular parts at the top properly aligned and drilled four mating holes. On the inside of the rectangular piece I went throught the tedious process necessary for perfect alignment and installed four platenuts. The "I" mounting piece was bent forward from the lower crossbar so the lower mount was flat against the cross cockpit seat brace and the vertical member extended to the top of the seatback. The top of the "I" was bent back so it aligned with the angle of the seatback. I cut a piece of cardboard from a large writing tablet to the shape of the rectangular opening at the rear of the headrest "pocket" to hold its shape. I drilled four holes in the cardboard to give proper headrest alignment with the seatback when mated with the headrest mount. I didn't because of the evolutionary process of my design but it would be a good idea to glue the cardboard to the side of the aluminum rectangle without the plate nuts. I put the aluminum and cardboard inside the headrest opening, tucked in and sewed the flaps at the rear of the headrest producing the finished pad. Then I probed for the mounting holes inside the pad and once located opened them enough to insert screws through. I then mounted the pad to the top of the "I" with the four screws and washers. Then I clamped the assembly to the cross cockpit seat brace and drilled three holes for AN3 bolts. I later upholstered the top of the "I" mount but gluing upholstery to it usingt Supper 77 upholstery adhesive from 3M. Once bolted in place the the headrest provides great comfort support that is springy enough to rotate back out of the way when my wife gets out of the plane allowing her to sit on the top of the seatback as she lifts her leg out of the cockpit onto the wing. A couple of photos are included below.

Bob Axsom

[N941WR]

Great looking headrest Bob!

I was thinking of heading to the junk yard and buying a pair from some non-descript Japanese car, along with the seat backs so I can pilfer the mechanism to raise and lower them. After they are fitted I would have them recovered to match whatever interior I decide on.

That is if Nora still wants them.

[fred]

I took one of the rear headrests from our Toyota minivan to homedepot and bought some aluminum tube that was a snug fit over the two shafts coming down out of the headrest. then cut some straps out of scrap sheet aluminum and strapped these tubes in place on the seat back under the back cushion. put some holes in the tubes to run screws in that would hold the headrest shafts in desired position. can put holes in various positions in shafts to adjust headrest height. works fine. fred