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hondaman
6th July 2007, 14:53
Can anyone fit a honda seat cover with stainless steel staples? How much would it cost? I had one quote from an upholsterer, $55+gst.
I just bought one off the internet for my cb750 fc restoration. I was going to attempt it myself by purchasing some vinyl, but these seat covers came up for auction. Seemed like the best way to go. The guy has seat covers for heaps of different models.

Cajun
6th July 2007, 14:54
$55+gst sounds about right to fit a seat cover mate.

amount father in law sorta charges in tga.

hondaman
6th July 2007, 14:59
I was going to have a go at fixing it myself but the 8mm staples (smallest the manufacturer makes) costs nearly forty bucks. Id have about 2400+ staples left. Do you know anyone who buys new used staples. LOL

xwhatsit
6th July 2007, 15:04
I was going to have a go at fixing it myself but the 8mm staples (smallest the manufacturer makes) costs nearly forty bucks. Id have about 2400+ staples left. Do you know anyone who buys new used staples. LOL

<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>That's crazy! I want to try and do my own upholstering for a fibreglass single seat, what's so special about these staples? I've seen those rivet things used as well. What gives?

vifferman
6th July 2007, 15:08
<hints id="hah_hints"></hints> What gives?
Well, hopefully, the padding in the seat.

Otherwise your arse would get pretty sore after a while... :yes:

Cajun
6th July 2007, 15:14
<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>That's crazy! I want to try and do my own upholstering for a fibreglass single seat, what's so special about these staples? I've seen those rivet things used as well. What gives?

Well its a fine art really, special foam so you don't get a sore ass.

and we use a wide range of size of staples for different jobs, nothing special about them, its just the time, to get set cover on and straight, etc etc

MotoGirl
6th July 2007, 15:44
<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>That's crazy! I want to try and do my own upholstering for a fibreglass single seat, what's so special about these staples? I've seen those rivet things used as well. What gives?
Whether you use rivets or staples will depend on the type of surface you're trying to attach the seat cover to. Obviously you won't be able to staple a seat cover to a metal seat base, so you'd need to use rivets. If your seat base is plastic, staples are fine.

xwhatsit
6th July 2007, 15:48
Whether you use rivets or staples will depend on the type of surface you're trying to attach the seat cover to. Obviously you won't be able to staple a seat cover to a metal seat base, so you'd need to use rivets. If you're seat base is plastic, staples are fine.

<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>I can see why upholsterers charge a lot, at first when I saw the price for a full upholstery job on a bare glass seat I was surprised, but thinking about it there is a lot of labour and skill in it.

One thing that confuses me; when you stick a staple through the material, isn't that now a point where water can enter and turn the whole thing soggy?

vifferman
6th July 2007, 15:53
<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>One thing that confuses me; when you stick a staple through the material, isn't that now a point where water can enter and turn the whole thing soggy?
The staples are underneath, and the soft plastic of the seat base effectively seals around each staple prong. Prolonged wetness might let a small amount of water in though.

MotoGirl
6th July 2007, 15:59
<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>I can see why upholsterers charge a lot, at first when I saw the price for a full upholstery job on a bare glass seat I was surprised, but thinking about it there is a lot of labour and skill in it.

One thing that confuses me; when you stick a staple through the material, isn't that now a point where water can enter and turn the whole thing soggy?

In theory, yes. The chances of the seat getting wet are unlikely because the seat cover is attached underneath the seat. Not only would the water have to get under the seat, it would need to get above the level where the cover is stapled, and then go around the plastic edge of the seat base to reach the foam. Does that make sense?

Here's a pic of my old VTR with its seat. The red lines represent the staples on the underside of the seat.

xwhatsit
6th July 2007, 17:29
In theory, yes. The chances of the seat getting wet are unlikely because the seat cover is attached underneath the seat. Not only would the water have to get under the seat, it would need to get above the level where the cover is stapled, and then go around the plastic edge of the seat base to reach the foam. Does that make sense?

Here's a pic of my old VTR with its seat. The red lines represent the staples on the underside of the seat.

Very interesting, guys. Upholstery to me seems to be sort of a lost art, like tailored suits and the like.

What about in the situation depicted in the attached image? Or do you just really nail the rivets down hard?

Thanks for letting me leach your trade secrets :first:<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>

MotoGirl
6th July 2007, 19:01
Very interesting, guys. Upholstery to me seems to be sort of a lost art, like tailored suits and the like.

What about in the situation depicted in the attached image? Or do you just really nail the rivets down hard?

Thanks for letting me leach your trade secrets :first:<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>
Well now you've shown us your project, we can't give away the trade secrets :rofl:

IamCornholio
7th July 2007, 11:38
Can anyone fit a honda seat cover with stainless steel staples? How much would it cost? I had one quote from an upholsterer, $55+gst.
I just bought one off the internet for my cb750 fc restoration. I was going to attempt it myself by purchasing some vinyl, but these seat covers came up for auction. Seemed like the best way to go. The guy has seat covers for heaps of different models.


This seat cover in the pic below was done by me... :yes:

It was made from two different colors of vinyl that were stitched together (by my mom because she has awesome sewing SKILLS which I do not...) and mostly held to the plastic part of the seat via the use of a regular, spring loaded type hand stapler using a heavy guage staples of a short length.

I used a 3M brand contact adhesive to help secure the vinyl to the foam as I was working it to fit the seat as well as a heat gun to help it fit the curves of the seat more naturally and with no wrinkles and such. :innocent:

When I started 'fitting' the vinyl, it was cut much larger than needed. I fit it to the top part of the seat (using the heatgun and contact adhesive to help hold and shape it to the form) and pulled the 'extra' around underneath the bottom of the seat and then stapled it in place. You want to make sure that the staples you use are long enough to go through the plastic but not so long as to go through the plastic AND the foam padding and mess up the vinyl on the outside... A 'regular' staple gun WILL do just fine here so long as the staples are not too long and do not poke through the foam and cover on the outside friend... :yes:

Once you get everything attached and fitting properly, then you can cut off any excess seat cover material that is left over and getting in the way underneath the seat...

Hope this helped you some friend as I was trying... :rockon:




IamCornholio (Lord of the Harvest)