Type of metal in seat

Supercat · Jun 23, 2020

Hey there,

Does anyone know what type of metal the base of an original S-Type seat is made out of? It's on a 1972 750, and as far as I know it is the original seat for the bike. I need to get one of the tabs that holds the seat to the frame welded. The tab has cracked away from the base and is barely holding on. Thanks!

J

ashman · Jun 23, 2020

If its all metal then its steel or panel steel, easy to weld with a mig welder I run a interstate seat on my Wideline Featherbed and had to move the lugs to fit my mounts, but to weld you have to remove the cover and foam but that's not hard to do and gives you a chance to repaint the base as well and fix up any other problems.

Ashley

concours · Jun 23, 2020

Steel.
I sheared strips of 18ga 1/2” wide and recreated the flange that was rusted away.

robs ss · Jun 23, 2020

It's thin though - I would probably TIG rather than MIG (sorry Ash!)
Reduce the risk of blowing a hole.
Cheers
Rob

ashman · Jun 24, 2020

Rob I had no problems with MIG welding mine and didn't blow any holes in it, the base might be thin but its very strong and easy to weld.

Ashley

Supercat · Jun 24, 2020

Thanks Ashman, Concours and Robs SS

!!

Mike40M · Jun 24, 2020

A good medium size MIG is fine for welding sheet metal. TIG also good. Being old school, oxy acetylene works well too, done it on sheet metal for half century.
Proverb says that a poor craftsman blames his tools, so I try to get the best tools I can afford to compensate.

concours · Jun 24, 2020

I MIG’d it. By choice. A thousand tiny spits.
Perfect.
I have images somewhere.

Supercat · Jun 24, 2020

Thanks Mike40M and Concours!!

Bernhard · Jun 24, 2020

Supercat said:
Thanks Mike40M and Concours!!

Just don't attempt to MIG weld rusty sections that have thinned the metal, you need good clean metal, spot weld a small section at a time on thin metal allowing it to cool to avoid blowholes.

ashman · Jun 24, 2020

If you blow a hole its easy to slowly fill the hole with short spot welds as Bernhard has said and the metal well be stronger where you weld it, I was MIG welding a table frame yesterday welding a self frame under the table top the metal was so tin and spot welds was the only way to go, blew a few holes but after each spot weld let it cool then respot, takes a bit longer but does the job, but the seat base is very strong, well it has to as it does carry some heavy weights that sit on it.

Ashley

Ron L · Jun 24, 2020

Supercat said:
Hey there,

Does anyone know what type of metal the base of an original S-Type seat is made out of? It's on a 1972 750, and as far as I know it is the original seat for the bike. .......

Just to be clear, the S-type seat was only used in 1969-70. If the seat is a 1972, it will have either a pleated or a "basket-weave" cover. The 'S' seat is much flatter than the '71-'74.

As to the type of metal, it is just mild steel (if it is not fiberglass!).

Mike40M · Jun 25, 2020

Did much car rust repair in my youth. Cut out rusty metal and made pieces of sheet metal to fit. Then gas weld together. Often had to fill holes. Easily done when gas welding. Better than TIG or MIG on rust. Just use little less oxygen for a reducing flame.. Main problem is that heat spreads more. When joining different thick pieces, I find it easier to heat the thicker part. Maybe will learn to do it better with the TIG.

cliffa · Jun 25, 2020

It would be great it somebody made an ABS base like modern stuff has. No rot, no cracks & no sharp edges which means the cover lasts a lot longer.

Supercat · Jun 26, 2020

Ron L said:
Just to be clear, the S-type seat was only used in 1969-70. If the seat is a 1972, it will have either a pleated or a "basket-weave" cover. The 'S' seat is much flatter than the '71-'74.

As to the type of metal, it is just mild steel (if it is not fiberglass!).

Thanks Ron, yeah I was aware that the S-Type seat was not supposed to have been used in 1972, but I am sure it's an S-Type seat. I'm not sure how to account for this, unless a PO put a different seat on it at some point. It also sounds like some Commandos were built using whatever parts happened to be available and nearby at the time, which could also account for it. The fellow I got it from gave it to me with a bunch of other parts that were apparantly original to the bike. He had 'chopperized' it, but thankfully he kept all the original parts and didn't cut the frame. It's definitely metal

.

Bernhard · Jun 26, 2020

cliffa said:
It would be great it somebody made an ABS base like modern stuff has. No rot, no cracks & no sharp edges which means the cover lasts a lot longer.

Yes and no, for one thing, it would be twice, nay, four times more expensive than steel, impossible for a ham fisted back street mechanic to repair if it got broken when a 22 stone gorilla dumped his/ her ass on there trying to bump start their bike because it has a flat battery.

Type of metal in seat

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