seat and floor

[carmaxxx]

can someone please tell me what the seat is made of? do you mould a seat to fit a driver perfectly or just put a butt and back rest?

and what about the flooring? the brake pedals and rack need to be mounted on something very secure and stiff.. and chassis pipes cant be used to mount the pedals or rack because theyre circular (wud rectangular pipes at those sections be worth it?)

i was thinking of a fibreglass moulded seat or a sheet metal one, and using wood mounted to the chassis to mount the pedals.

[carmaxxx]

can someone please tell me what the seat is made of? do you mould a seat to fit a driver perfectly or just put a butt and back rest?

and what about the flooring? the brake pedals and rack need to be mounted on something very secure and stiff.. and chassis pipes cant be used to mount the pedals or rack because theyre circular (wud rectangular pipes at those sections be worth it?)

i was thinking of a fibreglass moulded seat or a sheet metal one, and using wood mounted to the chassis to mount the pedals.

[Mike Cook]

Mr. Carmaxxxxx,

Unless your last name starts with Z, most would agree that using wud is not the optimal way to mount things.

Also, try re reading your post. It makes no god damn sense. I think the best thing for you to do is to look at what other teams have done. Many make a composite seat. This would require making a mold. Others make it out of some kind of sheetmetal. This is more simple. Either way, a single seat won't fit all the drivers, so using a foam insert of some sort will be necessary.

Oh, and last time I checked circular things can be welded too.

[fade]

why stop there? make the whole thing out of wood.
http://xb1.xanga.com/6a3a90146223765976597/b44266850.bmp

[Jersey Tom]

I suggest rich mahogany.

[Boston]

Does anybody else think we have a troll on the forum? These posts seem so similar in wording... I wouldnt be suprised if it was the same person trying to irritate us.

[carmaxxx]

thanks so much for the kind words!

true, circular things can be welded, but theres not enough surface to get a strong and rigid fix.

i dont get why wood cant be used.. its cheap, light and stiff. and easy to use and mount.

and ive seen many (good) cars without any sort or bucket seats. they just had some kind of backrest thing which in no way could support the drivers from the sides.

our budget is kind of tight thats y we have to think of stuff like wood and fibreglass.

[Jersey Tom]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">true, circular things can be welded, but theres not enough surface to get a strong and rigid fix. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I highly disagree. Then again I'm not entirely sure what youre invisioning.

[carmaxxx]

so u wanna help me out then?
what was your floor made from? composites?

[Kenny T Cornett]

As far as floor material, I've seen a couple options that I was satisfied with. My favorite has got to be a fiber-board... kinda like a fiberglass version of corragated cardboard. I've also seen aluminum and even aircraft skin (high strength fabric)... the problem with super-thin floors is that you have to be real ginger getting in and out... at TTU they had a problem with the thin floor... it was difficult to get in and out without the posibility of stepping through the floor!


As for a seat, you can do any number of things. We're making a sheetmetal seat and then making foam inserts for our drivers to ensure everyone is snuggly fit (we wrap the seat in plastic, then pour in 2 part expanding foam, then make the driver sit down in it wearing a disposable plastic painter's suit... let the foam cure to a stiff stage, remove the person, let foam fully cure, then trim excess and smooth out/remove weight where possible)


I think a lot of your questions that you've been asking so far aren't very becoming for your team. You'd think if you were going to engage into an engineering competition that you'd have some idea of problem-solving and common sense. Not thinking you can mount your pedal box to round tubing means you haven't thought about it... there are even brackets and mounting solutions to accomplish this that professional racers use all the time, plus FSAE teams have been doing it for years and years...


http://www.chassisshop.com/

read the entire catalog all the way through and maybe lots of these kind of questions will be answered... whether it be you purchase a component or material, or you come up with a better design for your application

[carmaxxx]

i did think of brackets welded to the chassis to mount the pedals but i felt wood would be a better option since it wud be lighter.

ive seen ppl using brackets which flexed.

[Matt Gignac]

Wood would most definitely end up being heavier. To get a properly stiff arrangement, you'd need a rather thick sheet of wood, as well as some long-ish fasteners to attach them. Figure a 1/2" sheet of wood with 1/4" thick bolt heads underneath, and your CG will be about 3/4" higher than it should be.

Also, when you consider the amount of required tubes in the vicinity of where the pedals (or equivalent monocoque structure) there are a variety of options to have a stiff and light pedal setup.

If you're dead set on wood though, look into a balsa core with either carbon, fibreglass or aluminum skins. You'll surely save some weight.

Matt Gignac
McGill Racing Team

[John Valerio]

i agree, in the right application wood can be used with these cars. before we started doing carbon cars ('05) all of our monocoques going back to about '97 were all made of aluminum-balsa composite panels. alot of those cars also had rear boxes made the same way. if your interested, check out the pics & movies page on our website. the 2001 section also has some pictures from the cutting of the panels.
i, however, would not agree that using wood to mount anything on a steel frame car is the right way to go.

[TG]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Valerio:
i agree, in the right application wood can be used with these cars. before we started doing carbon cars ('05) all of our monocoques going back to about '97 were all made of aluminum-balsa composite panels. alot of those cars also had rear boxes made the same way. if your interested, check out the pics & movies page on our website. the 2001 section also has some pictures from the cutting of the panels.
i, however, would not agree that using wood to mount anything on a steel frame car is the right way to go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was thinking about this as I read down the thread. And I would choose end-grain balsa over high density foam any day. Just take a look at the data sheets for these materials and you will see why. Granted there are more possiblities with foam, a floor application I reckon would be well suited for reinforced balsa.

[John Valerio]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TG:
I was thinking about this as I read down the thread. And I would choose end-grain balsa over high density foam any day. Just take a look at the data sheets for these materials and you will see why. Granted there are more possiblities with foam, a floor application I reckon would be well suited for reinforced balsa. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i'm not sure why you would be choosing between balsa and high density foam for any application, in our cars the wood replaced the steel frame members, but we definately still needed foam seats to keep our drivers from destroying their spines.