Cafe seat build...

[TheCafeKid]

So n1elkyfan came by today. He's working on building a fibreglass tank. Me...i bought a cafe seat on ebay..exactly what i was looking for...One problem, it's way to wide for our GS frames. I mean this thing is simply massive.

Needless to say i was a little dissapointed, and the search continued for a different seat. While elkyfan was over we got to talking about possibly cutting the excess out of this seat i bought and 'glassing it back together.

Well, if i was going to do that, why not just build one exactly like i want, that fits, from scratch. Why not? Im no artist, never carved in my life. Screw it, lets try it.

Step one: Buy the supplies. Open cell foam from Michael's arts and crafts. I bought 4 5x5 blocks, a 2x24x12 block and and another block 1/4x24x12.

Here's what it started out as.

Glued together the blocks with the glue for this purpose (forgot to mention that i bought that also)
And after a bit of cuting and carving..it was starting to take shape..

 

[Ironriot]

n1elkyfan turned you to the dark side huh? Pretty cool so far..... I also see that your frame darkened up a bit. Looks nice. More bronzy and less golden.

BTW you have a PM

 

[TheCafeKid]

Lil more cutty cutty and shavey shavey..and we wanted to see how it looked on the bike so far

Here's our finished foam buck, ready for 'glass, and that will come tomorrow.

I'll post up some more pics tomorrow as we go...what do you guys think so far??

 

[Ironriot]

Dude the finished product looks F*ing awesome. Killer job man

 

[TheCafeKid]

Thanks man! Thanks to elky too for helping me so much with it. It was alot of "how the fvck are we gonna get it to look like that???" It went actually alot easier than i thought it would. We'll see how easily the 'glassing goes, as we found pretty quick it could turn into a bigger job than i thought. I figured that part would be easy, and making the buck would be hard...lol

 

[n1elkyfan]

Things never goes the way you think it will. can't wait to get this thing glassed so that we can start to see the final product.

 

[Ironriot]

Can't wait either. You two are brave souls. I think about fiberglass and shudder. Thinking about how I can screw it up or how big of a mess I can make turns me off of the whole thing.... BTW would either of you happen to know if fiberglass is impervious to heat? Like extreme heat lol

 

[n1elkyfan]

Look like the limit for fiberglass parts have a limit of 200-300 degrees depending on what resin you use.

 

[Ironriot]

Lol well that blows. Ok looks like that's out of the question for what I was thinking about using it for

 

[TheCafeKid]

The resin is the key i think. Most of the baffles we put on our bikes use fibreglass wadding i think, and that obviously can withstand heat.

 

[Ironriot]

Very true. Now that I think about it. Fiberglass is flame retardant after all. (Home insulation duh me )

 

[TheCafeKid]

Elky!!! We may have serious issues...check your PM....

 

[Ironriot]

If its about the resin eating the foam its no biggie

 

[TheCafeKid]

Ima try to cover it with alu foil and see how well that works. I dunno bout elmers glue..

 

[Ironriot]

Yeah I've never heard of using elmer's before. I know I've seen alu foil used and the end result is pretty good. Just got to be careful not to rip it when applying it. Also look online for a good release agent. I'd like to think petroleum jelly would work but that's just crazy thinking. Hell maybe KY would work lol. Either way something just to help keep that resin from sticking to the alum foil

 

[byrdman76]

Cover it with blue painters tape if you still can. This will keep the resin from eating the mold. The tail looks great BTW. Don't worry - where ever you get any sags you can fill with Dynaglass. I would recommend skim coating it with Dynaglass anyway and then a final light coat of Bondo (Bondo is easier to sand and finish). Also, use the fiberglass mat instead of the woven stuff on the bends and angles - it lays down better. Getting the woven stuff to conform to compound angles with out getting a wrinkle can be a pain.

That tail section is going to set that bike off man :-D

BTW if your worried about fumes igniting, watch out for when your sanding that thing in an enclosed area with flames present. It will look like a dust bomb went off if you use any kind of power tool to sand down the form. Dust can be flammable...:shock:

 

[Go Mifune]

I know of guys on other forums who have used PAM cooking spray as a release agent. They used it on fiberglass subwoofer enclosures they built. Also I saw Lou from Muscle Car tv on spike use aluminum foil for some custom fender flares they made for a mustang.

 

[Ironriot]

I know of guys on other forums who have used PAM cooking spray as a release agent. They used it on fiberglass subwoofer enclosures they built. Also I saw Lou from Muscle Car tv on spike use aluminum foil for some custom fender flares they made for a mustang.

Those fender flares looked horrible. That car was absolutely b!tchin' right up until they put those on. I think I prefered the look of the wheels sticking so far out past the rear quarters

 

[fat_sac]

Yeah I've never heard of using elmer's before. I know I've seen alu foil used and the end result is pretty good. Just got to be careful not to rip it when applying it. Also look online for a good release agent. I'd like to think petroleum jelly would work but that's just crazy thinking. Hell maybe KY would work lol. Either way something just to help keep that resin from sticking to the alum foil

I used foil a couple of weeks ago and it didn't even need a release agent. Once the resin cured the foil just peeled right off. Just don't wrinkle it and get that stuck in the resin. Won't be able to get that out. Just have to sand it down I guess.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Ok so she's glassed. Ok let me preface this with stating the obvious. This **** is MESSY. Not just messy, but nasty smelly sticky gooey god awfull. BUT its pretty easy to work with. A look at n1elkyfan's hands whilst dealing with this slop

First i covered the whole foam model in painters tape. Then waxed the tape multiple times with car paste, (couple of guys said this works just as good as anything else, so why not?) Next, we cut the fibre mat into 5 inch wide long strips, and started with the pan.

Then we cut some 5x5 squares. Had i to do over again, i would have used the squares from the start. It conforms much better to the complex curves.
After 3 layers (and some places have four, simply becausewe thought they'd need more structural stability, especially where there would be no frame to support it) we did one more layer in fibre woven cloth, and then a heavy over coat of resin, to give more sanding surface...
and here she is...

a thought occured to us. Why couldnt i leave the foam IN the form?? It could only help to add strength. Any thoughts??