A few years ago a seating system was introduced called Indi-Seat that consisted of a bag filled with polymer beads that were coated in resin. The driver than sat on it and a vacuum sucked the air out making the bag rigid. After a while the resin cured and the bag was removed, hey presto! racing seat!
Could anyone help me with the following:
1. What were the beads made of (polystyrene?)
2. What was the resin system used?
Before you all point out that you can still buy Indi-Seats, we're an FStudent team and have a strong aversion to spending money we don't have :-)
Ben
Indi-Seat
Started by
Ben
, May 21 2003 17:04
4 replies to this topic
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#2
ferrarifan2000
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Posted 21 May 2003 - 18:04
I am not sure if you are rigid about using that system, but you could use A-B foam and a plastic bag to make the seat. Many teams use it for their seats and/or the nose. Carroll smith talks about the process in Tune to Win, or Drive to win. I'm not sure how the weight would compare to an indi-seat though. That's all i got.
#3
Greg Locock
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Posted 22 May 2003 - 00:23
If you use polystyrene beads you can't use polyester resin. I'd use epoxy resin with a lot of microballoons, or maybe even pva (wood glue) again with a lot of microballoons, if the seat is going to be relatively thin, and won't get wet (experiment first, I don't think this is a great idea, but if it works it is cheap, and you could even rehydrate the thing to modify it). Remember to wear a face mask when handling the microballoons, and buy the light ones, at least they are made of uncracked balloons that won't absorb glue.
The other option is not to stick the beads together but to lay a conformable layer over them which sets. Kind of like a bean bag with a stiff outer layer. might be lighter.
The other option is not to stick the beads together but to lay a conformable layer over them which sets. Kind of like a bean bag with a stiff outer layer. might be lighter.
#4
Ross Stonefeld
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Posted 22 May 2003 - 02:18
Is the seat going to get you extra points if its spiffy, otherwise id say its not worth spending time on.
#5
Ben
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Posted 22 May 2003 - 12:01
For next year's car we're looking at a carbon monocoque (cut and fold method) and there are regs specifying equivilant energy absorption in a side impact. We are looking at using the seat itself to meet this reg in conjunction with the chassis sides rather than building a heavier tub. Remember we have no minimum weight and never hit anything when we spin anyway.
I have an advert from a 1998 edition of Racecar that has graphs of energy absorption of the Indi-Seat vs. conventional 2-part foam (which we currently use). It claims that the Indi-Seat is 30% better in this respect.
We'd like to replicate the Indi-Seat material and do our own tests.
Ben
I have an advert from a 1998 edition of Racecar that has graphs of energy absorption of the Indi-Seat vs. conventional 2-part foam (which we currently use). It claims that the Indi-Seat is 30% better in this respect.
We'd like to replicate the Indi-Seat material and do our own tests.
Ben
