I needed a buddy seat for my moped and I thought it would b e fun to make one. The bike it's going on is pretty crusty, so I'm not all that concerned about how it looks, plus I don't want to spend much money building this thing either. Here's what I did....

Step 1: Tools and Materials...

A carbboard box, a sharpee, a tape measure, scissors, scrap plywood, a bandsaw, a belt/disc sander, vinyl upholstery fabric, foam, staplegun and staples, spray adhesive, a drill and bit, 4 wood screws... dang, that's a lot of stuff just to make a moped buddy seat! Oh well.

Step 2: Gettin' Dirty...

so, I took the handy dandy tape measure and measured the rack on the back. It was approximately 6 inches by 13 inches. That was easy...

Step 3: Plan of Attack

Then I took a cardboard box (I used a Coke box, but you could use a Pepsi box, if that's all you had) and opened it up. I sketched a rectangle 6 inches by 13 inches. Then I folded it in half and drew a butt shaped seat. actually, half of a butt shaped seat. Just look at the pictures, you'll know what I'm talking about. Then, with the cardboard box still folded in half, I cut around the butt shaped seat. When I unfolded it, it was beautiful!

Step 4: I Got Wood...

Next, I found a piece of scrap plywood in the scrap wood box at Techshop. There's always lotsa nice scrap wood in that scrap wood box, and I found a real nice one. so, I took my butt shaped seat cardboard template and traced it onto the scrap plywood with my sharpee marker. It was pretty easy, because the sharpee hadn't gone dry yet. Then I simply cut it out on the bandsaw. That's a fun tool, if you like working with wood. I heard the bandsaw was originally invented for the meat industry. Funny, it also cuts wood really well. Anyways, after I had roughly cut it out, I took it over to the belt sander/disc sander. That's a pretty fun tool also, but it makes a mess in a split second. Actually, all wood projects make a mess real fast. You spend more time cleaning the shop than you do working in it.

Step 5: Glue'n

Okay. Use that same cardboard template to mark your foamy stuff. I found my foam on the side of the road, so I knew it had to be good stuff! It wasn't very thick, maybe 7/16 of an inch, so I made 3, to stack on top of each other. Nice cushion for the gludious maximus. I used spray adhesive of some sort to glue the foam cushions together and to the seat pan. I used a whole lot of glue, to be sure that it was glued real good. I even stood on it, just to be certain that I was doing the best possible glue job that I could!

Step 6: Fine Craftsmanship

Finally, it was time to put on the vinyl upholstery stuff. I applied liberal amounts of glue, and just kinda pulled and stretched. No real technique. Just wrap it. Oh yeah, at some point I folded over the edges, so that when I stapled it together, the fabric wouldn'e tear. That's the idea, anyways. So, yeah. Glue, pull, trim, staple. Something like that....

Step 7: Thee Grande Finalley...

Okay almost done now. almost. Grab your centerpunch (the one I forgot to mention that you were going to need at the beginning of this lesson...) and punch 4 spots... or more if you feel like it. Drill, drill drill your life away and screw it! Ta dah! there you have it! Custom. Truly pimpin' stuff! You'll have tail chasing you for a ride up and down the streets all day, every day!

I made it at Techshop. You can too. Check out their website...

http://www.techshop.ws/

Word!!!!