Started January 7, 2006
I decided to go ahead and buy the front and rear seat frames from Avipro. It was a really good deal and I couldn't resist.
The front seats are adjustable fore and aft. The design is a good one, in that as you slide the seat forward, the seat also rises up. So, in theory, a shorter person will slide forward to reach the rudder pedals and as a bonus they will also be sitting higher so they can see over the instrument panel. A taller person slides the seat aft and as a bonus they get more headroom.
The aft end of the seats ride on (actually "in") some slide tracks welded to the fuselage diagonals. I suppose that you could rig up some kind of bearings or rollers to roll in the rear seat tracks, but on the prototypes its just a piece of tube sliding in there.
The front of the seats have a flat channel that slides in a seat track guide with a locking mechanism. The seat tracks and the seat control slide mechanisms do not come with seats, so I had to make those parts first.
Here is a picture all of the seat hardware as mounted in the fuselage:
Here is how all of the above was made:
Front Seat Controls
The front seats slide back and forth and are locked into position with the front seat control pins. These pins retract to let the seat slide backward or forward and then lock into holes in the bottom of the forward seat track.
Here are the parts to make the locking mechanism:
The smaller tube is the locking pin and slides inside the larger one. The locking pin is threaded to receive the turnbuckle fork shown in the picture. The larger tube has a flat plate welded on one end. A small hole, just large enough for the threaded portion of the turnbuckle fork to slide through, was then drilled in the center of the plate as shown above. The "U" shaped plate was made from some .063" 4130 steel plate and had a hole drilled the same size as inside diameter of the larger tube, as shown above.
The "U" shaped bracket needs some "L" shaped pieces welded on either side
of it. These create the area where the seat channel will slide and
prevent the seat from moving side-to-side. Since the seat channel plate
is .100" thick, some scrap pieces of .100" were used as spacers. Here
are the "L" shaped pieces clamped in place and ready for welding:
They were spaced so the scrap piece of .100 would slide back and forth easily.
Here is how it all comes together:
The larger tube gets welded to the bottom side of the U channel as
shown in the above picture. The U channel has a hole the same size
diameter as the inside diameter of the larger tube and the tube is aligned
with this hole before welding.
The threaded pin and spring go inside the larger tube, then the turnbuckle
fork slides in through the bottom and then threads into the pin from the
other side. Here it is all assembled:
Notice that the pin has been rounded somewhat so it can find the hole in
the seat channel easier. When you pull down on the fork, the pin slides down
and disengages from the hole in seat channel, allowing the seat to slide.
When you release it, the spring pushes the pin back out so it can engage
in a hole in the seat channel, locking the seat in place.
Here is the seat bottom showing the .100" thick slide rail (channel) that
the above piece works with:
As you slide the seat forward, the pin goes into one of the holes. To
release the seat, pull the fork and the pin retracts allowing the seat to
slide again.