Electric carving knife for seat foam?

[Korr]

Do you guys think an electric carving knife would be pretty good at cutting seat foam? I really need to cut 2" off the seat. I also read that i should use rubber cement to glue the seat cover back on? Anything i should be on the lookout for while removing the seat cover?

[JRocket]

I had bought the fancy King/Queen seat cover and foam, which fit nicely over the original seat pan. The problem is, the passenger would get pushed forward into me, and the seat was higher than stock. I just put the original seat cover and foam back on, and have the like new K/Q seat just sitting in my shed. I made the transformation in a couple hours.

As for removing foam padding, it's real simple. Unhook the cover from the seat pan, use some large scissors, trim the padding to your liking, and replace the vinyl. You don't have to cut the vinyl, because you can pull it tight and put the hooks in a new spot on the seat cover. I certainly would not try to cut and glue the seat cover together, since it has to bear all kinds of heat, cold, twisting of your body, etc.

[Korr]

oh thanks for the tips. I'll do it TONIGHT wahooooo!! Half a foot on the ground here i come!

[Dennyz]

I used an electric kitchen knife to modify the foam of my seat. Worked very well.

[XSPastor]

Electric carving knives work GREAT on foam!

[HobbyMan]

I use nichrome wire. you can get it at hobby stores usually. I use a car battery charger. It works on many types of foam.

[tinman905]

I used a mini grinder on my seat .I used a soft disc and it worked great .I was able to contour the seat cushion very quickly. You might want to do that outside and stand up wind ,a lesson learned I might add .

[Winterhawk]

That is how Bob Jones modified his seats, using an electric carving knife.

[fredintoon]

Another safety bleat

OK, a sanding disk on an angle grinder works great for re-shaping foam; quick, leaves a nice finish and it's easy to do.
But if you look at the sanding debris under a microscope they are like little razor blades. Wear a good breathing mask while power-sanding foam, you do not want that stuff in your lungs.

[skids]

Bob must have bought his carving knif from NAPA, because mine did not cut the foam fast enough!

Originally posted by Winterhawk
That is how Bob Jones modified his seats, using an electric carving knife.

[Korr]

Gonna go pick up the elctric carving knife. i think that would work out better since i have to pace myself lol. I'll do a better job
if it's good enough for Bob then it's good enough for everyone

[AlanB]

Hi Korr,

Electric knife is the way to go; I use a ton uf lube while cutting..... WD/40 works but silicon spray polish is better!

AlanB

[Korr]

wow this is a pain. already got a cut on my finger from opening up those little metal flanges that hook the seat cover onto the seat pan. this is going to take awhile heheheheh. It's gonna be worse when i have to make new holes to re-attatch the seat cover.

[fredintoon]

Hi Korr,
what's even worse is when most of those little spikes snap off when you try to bend them back down again. Anyone got a better fix for that than large-head pop rivets?

[Korr]

All done! I just put it back using the same hooks and then pulled in the extra fabric and put new holes in there for the hooks. Easy to do, but very time consuming. The electric carving knife was cutting really fast! I can now put the hole half of my foot down instead of just the tip of my toes. Thanks for all the tips guys! You really helped this go along smoothly.