Bomber Seat Plans - The seat can be made any width to fit your car or your butt, depending on what is essential. Even an unmatched pair is no problem. The ones pictured are 18 inches wide. The height of the back of the seat is 600 mm, the length of the base is 380 mm. Standard widths are 14 to 20 inches in 1 inch increments. Feel free to ask about wider seats and seats.

There is now a drainage hole in each rear corner of the base. Just in case your passenger gets wet.

Bomber Seat Plans

Bomber Seat Plans

It should be noted that aluminum is quite soft, and although there is some stiffness, they must be supported both under and across the back by a bulkhead or roll cage. You don't want them falling apart when you dive into them, no matter how beautiful your headline is.

Amazon.com: Lightened Aluminum Hot Rod Bomber Seat

Our chairs are made by hand and in a hurry (and sometimes under fire) for an authentic WWII look, so they may need sanding if you finish the show, as scratches will inevitably remain from bending and folding.

Due to an increase in overseas orders and the high cost of shipping such a large box, we now offer the option to order Flat Pack chairs, Ikea style (although you will need a rivet gun (not included), not an allen key) . Rivets included. We haven't noticed that what you save by buying them flat pack buys you a rivet gun!

Options and prices are listed below. Please select your option and then contact us with your desired width (width over 20 inches/50 cm) will incur additional costs.

Bomber seats are only shipped abroad in self-assembling flat packs. If we try to send them all, the box will be so big that the shipping cost will be huge! Rivets are included and most holes are pre-drilled so they are easy to assemble with basic tools. Bomber style seats have been used in street rods since the 40's and "back in the day" most came from military surplus yards. These seats have become extremely popular recently, and we're now seeing a lot of new bomber seats in cars (like this one from Frank Wallick, resident writer

Aluminium Bucket Seat, Slotted Bomber Seat

). They have always been considered bullets, and for good reason; they are practical, lightweight and give the car a custom built look with aero flavor.

I have loved the bomber seats for years and recently decided to build a pair for my aluminum roadster. I took a closer look at the different designs I saw and identified a few features that I would like to incorporate into my own chairs. While many real airplane seats have flat backs, I prefer a rounded back. Most real airplane seats are riveted together, but some seats that have many curved components are welded. I wanted a lot of curves so I designed a bottom that can be welded in place, but I really like the look of the rivets so I decided to use rivets to attach the reinforcing edge of the seat. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I liked the look of the seats with lots of holes. Of course, in the airplane world where these seats were designed, holes were used to reduce valuable weight from each part. The weight issue isn't that important for a street car, but I like the look of the holes. So in the beginning my plan was to create a seat that had as many holes as possible.

I recently received a set of Mittler Brothers Punch and Flare tools. Made in seven sizes, from 1 inch to 3 inches in diameter, they are cleverly designed to both punch a hole and widen an edge in one operation. I wanted to use all sizes for my seat and my design is based on how these progressive hole sizes can be used in a nice pattern.

Bomber Seat Plans

I hate spending a lot of time on a project without knowing for sure if I'll like the look of the finished product, so I took the time to do a quick full-size mock-up of one half of the seat. on my original design. When I saw this layout I knew I wanted to make a lot of small adjustments to the size and placement of the holes and I saw the opportunity to use even more holes. I made a second layout with these changes and that layout looked good, so I used it to make the main chipboard pattern for the seat. I line up this template along the center line of the backrest metal blank so I can flip it over to mark each side. This simplifies the pattern and ensures symmetry in the backrest.

Dowty's Plan To Support The Heavy Bomber Programme

Next, I cut a rectangle of 0.063 inch thick 3003 H-14 aluminum sheet to the desired size. I put a center line on the panel and using my chipboard template I laid out the edges of the seat and center for each hole. Next, I drilled 1/8 inch holes in the center of each hole.

Although the backrest could be bent by hand, since I plan to make at least two of these seats, I decided to make a simple bending fixture to ensure that the bends on each side are identical and will be identical for all future seats I make. The fixture was made from 3/4" MFD, and since the plate has a lot of "spring" to it, I had to experiment a bit to find the right shape of the mold that would allow the aluminum to be bent tightly against it and then back to the mold, which I wanted I also had to pre-plan the shape of the bracket so that the first bend wouldn't collide preventing the second bend.

1. I designed this seat from scratch using design elements I liked on several other seats I had seen. One of the first steps is to make a rough layout of the general shape and placement of the holes on the aluminum sheet.

2. Next I made a full size mock-up of one half of the seat. After seeing this layout, I decided that more holes would be better, so I made a second layout (see left).

Bomber Style Seats

3. Once I was happy with the design, I made an exact half cut of chipboard and laid out both sides of the seat from the center line. This ensures the symmetry of the seat.

4. I could have bent the back of the seat by hand, but I made a simple MDF bending fixture so I could make as many seats as I wanted and know they would all be the same shape.

5. The fixture is designed to over bend the metal so it snaps back into the shape I want. It took some trial and error, but now I can replicate the bends with precision.

Bomber Seat Plans

6. The second fold is made in the same way. My fixture is set so the first bend doesn't interfere with the second. Again, this took some trial and error.

This Bomber Hunter Was Like A Flying Anti Aircraft Battery

7. The sequence of operations is very important. First, bending is performed. Second, beads are made. Third, holes are punched and expanded. Finally, the edges are trimmed.

8. I used a 3/4 inch bead mold for the backrest. Notice the layout lines that I used to guide the molds so that the beads line up and end up in the right place.

10. This is a Mittler Brothers Punch and Flare Tool. This clever device punches a hole and expands the rim in one operation. They come in seven sizes, from 1 inch to 3 inches, and I've used them all.

For such a complex detail, it is important to think through the sequence of actions. If I had placed the beads and flared holes in the sheet first, the curve would not have been smooth.

Jegs 702272 Bomber Seat 18 In. Black Aluminum

So with the backrest bent I was ready to put the balls on the panel. The beads were designed in curved lines to fit neatly between the curved rows of flared holes and my pattern showed the exact placement of each bead. Again, consistency is important; if I had made the holes first, the flared edges would have interfered with the dies used for beading.

For a panel this size, you will need a beading machine with a deep neck. I used my 18" Lazze machine for the neck, and even with a machine that size I had to approach the panel from two different directions to keep the edge of the piece from hitting the machine frame.

Once the beads were done I was ready to make the holes. Punch and flare tools work by tightening the 1/2" bolt that connects the two halves, so 1/2" holes are made for each hole. I used a Rotabroach for this, but a step drill works too. Next I started making all the flared holes. With dozens of holes, I decided to use a 1/2 inch air gun to speed things up

Bomber Seat Plans

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