Looking for ACES II seat measurements and tips

I've been looking around for used car seats hoping to kick-start my project but it's proving to be too much trouble to get a car seat and work around it, especially since I'm planning on a center-stick setup.

I'm now thinking of building an ACES II ejection seat and I was hoping someone could help me out with a couple of concerns:

1. Seat measurement - I'd like to get the seat dimensions right, even if I'm not going for the actual "like the real deal" build, but I'd like to get the "ergonomics" of it as accurately as possible.

2. Padding - this is the tricky bit for me. I've gone through 3 office chairs in the past year and so far, the foam on the bottom seems to disintegrate right under me. I wonder what foam is recommended for use and where to get it from. Also, what is the dimensions for the padding? And I assume this is separate from the actual seat dimensions, yes?

3. Comfort - I assume that since this is an aircraft seat, it is comfortable to sit in for hours at a time, yes? If not, what are the problems with this type of seat?

4. Materials - There are some curved parts of the seat, like on the bottom and the lumbar support... what materials are used in seat construction and how do you get them to curve?

Thanks in advance for the help!

I've been looking around for used car seats hoping to kick-start my project but it's proving to be too much trouble to get a car seat and work around it, especially since I'm planning on a center-stick setup.

 

I'm now thinking of building an ACES II ejection seat and I was hoping someone could help me out with a couple of concerns:

 

1. Seat measurement - I'd like to get the seat dimensions right, even if I'm not going for the actual "like the real deal" build, but I'd like to get the "ergonomics" of it as accurately as possible.

2. Padding - this is the tricky bit for me. I've gone through 3 office chairs in the past year and so far, the foam on the bottom seems to disintegrate right under me. I wonder what foam is recommended for use and where to get it from. Also, what is the dimensions for the padding? And I assume this is separate from the actual seat dimensions, yes?

3. Comfort - I assume that since this is an aircraft seat, it is comfortable to sit in for hours at a time, yes? If not, what are the problems with this type of seat?

4. Materials - There are some curved parts of the seat, like on the bottom and the lumbar support... what materials are used in seat construction and how do you get them to curve?

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hello.

This weekend I finished my ACES II. It was easy to make and fast.

First you must choose the material you want to build.

I have used wood 12 mm and 3 mm. You have several qualities of wood in the market, so, choose the best you can afford and it must be strong.

The seat foam is also easy to find in big markets where you sell even wood.

I can tell you that the seat is very comfortable and easy to do. It is clear that you can always change according to your height milimeters for be more ergonomic.I am 1.83 cm of high and I've only tweaked a few things.

Now i need just paint it and add step by step the side panels for switches etc..

Here I leave the link where I picked up the information. You have a PDF on the same site.

A greeting and enjoy the construction of the ACE II.

http://www.simpits.org/design/HowTo_AceIIseat/HowTo_Ace1.html

Here at the end of this page you have the pdf Link:

http://www.simpits.org/design/HowTo_AceIIseat/HowTo_Ace7.html

:pilotfly::thumbup:

Thanks for that link, but I wonder how "accurate" his ACES seat is.

Can you give me more details regarding the wood for the seat and the type of foam?

So so the seat pane is for the F-16 that reclines the seat to 30 deg in stead of 15

So so the seat pane is for the F-16 that reclines the seat to 30 deg in stead of 15

I'm sorry but you lost me there.

So so the seat pane is for the F-16 that reclines the seat to 30 deg in stead of 15

It does matter only for the mounting of the seat, but not to the seat as such.

Take a look on this material, its interesting.

http://www.xflight.de/pe_org_par_ace.htm

I'm building my A-10 version at the moment and use real aces ii cushions and replace the worn out foam with the blue yoga mat foam i found a wal-mart and it works perfect. I bought a seat kit from flim and modified it alittle with the seat angle of 15*

Well I have had both the f-16 seat cover or pan and the A-10 seat pan. The curvature and height of the front of pans are complexity different. The f-16 seat is much more comfortable if it is reclined to 30 to 34 degrees the A-10 seat is designed to sit in a more up right position. When I had the F-16 style seat pan in the ACES II. I would start to feel pressure on the backs of my thighs after 15 minutes or so. Changing the pan to the A-10 stile relieved all of that i will see if i have any pic of the old seat pan and the new.

It does matter only for the mounting of the seat, but not to the seat as such.

 

Take a look on this material, its interesting.

http://www.xflight.de/pe_org_par_ace.htm

Hi Ice,

I'm currently in the same boat looking for a nice and ergonomic ACES II.

While looking for some plans I found Brenda's which look like the most accurate to me:

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php?topic=7133.0

I'm also looking for the correct seat angle. Actually, I'm looking for the angle between the surface of the side instrument panels (which should be parallel to the waterline of the A-10) and the guide rails of the seat (e.g.the eject angle). I'm going for the eject angle as it is more clearly defined as the seat back angle.

Judging from the "armrests" of the ACES II I'd say the eject angle is about 18 degrees. However, it would be nice to have a value from an official source.

Cheers,

Stefan

PS: Brenda's plans include the F-16 seat pan. So you'd have to replace it with the less tapered A-10 version which should be no big deal.

The A-10 Ejection seat does not have arm rests http://www.ejectionsite.com/a10seat.htm

The Bi seat does http://www.ejectionsite.com/b1seat.htm

Deadman,

you got me there! I wasn't even aware that there is an ACES II with real arm rests.

In my post I was actually refering to the top of the seat base side walls - therefore the quotation marks.

According to the plans I know, the angle between the top of the side walls and the eject rails is 107 deg (or 73 depending how you measure the angle).

So if the top of the side walls is parallel to the top of the side consoles, the ejection angle would be 107-90=17deg (see MIL-S-18471G Figure 2).

However, the top of the seat side wall seems to tilt slightly down toward the rear which would make the ejection angle even larger than 17deg (maybe about 20 deg).

I'm not sure how to measure the seat back angle on the ACES II. So it's well possible that the seat back angle is the often quoted 15deg.

I hope I'm making sense here....

Cheers,

Stefan

PS: It would be great, if you could post some dimensions of the A-10 seat pan (like it's done here for the F-16 seat pan).

Sense not a bit my bvro from Ireland is in town slaging my ass off send a pic and may be i can help any way to ****ed up for this bye

As given by the plans by Brenda and others the angle between the top of seat sides (red line) and the ejection rail (blue bar) is 107degrees.

From the picture you can see that the top of the seat sides is not exacly parallel to the top of the side consoles but tilted slightly to the back.

If I assume an angle of 3degrees here we will get an ejection angle (which is measured to a vertical plane) of 3+107-90=20 degress.

The problem is that the 3degrees/20degrees are only a guess based on pictures. I'd love to get some solid values for these.

Cheers,

Stefan

Well I have had both the f-16 seat cover or pan and the A-10 seat pan. The curvature and height of the front of pans are complexity different. The f-16 seat is much more comfortable if it is reclined to 30 to 34 degrees the A-10 seat is designed to sit in a more up right position. When I had the F-16 style seat pan in the ACES II. I would start to feel pressure on the backs of my thighs after 15 minutes or so. Changing the pan to the A-10 stile relieved all of that i will see if i have any pic of the old seat pan and the new.

Hmm..interesting... ACES II seat is not adjustable. What I leaned from the article that I posted in my thread the seat design gets simplified from the first versions and its for all aircrafts, including Viper and Eagle. If I am not mistaken the rails mounting matters. Take a look, same seat, but for F-15, not 30 degrees at all:

Vitabutch,

that dokument you found is really great! Especially the CAD side view of the F-15 makes my day.

It clearly shows that the top of the F-16 seat sides were modified from the F-15 design (both seats shown with the same ejection angle of 17degrees).

So while a lot of the dimensions will be the same, I'll base my A-10 seat on the F-15 seat view shown on the left.

Thanks a lot!

Stefan

You are welcome, Stefan!

Btw, I have seen the picture that you posted on the right side with dimensions. Comparing some reference points IMHO dims looks too small. I spend the whole day yesterday with the CAD checking some dimensions that I found in the web (mostly from real seats). I found that SpeedOne's design surprisingly is very very accurate. So I will post my findings hopefully later today - too many pictures to draw :)

Btw note that in the new design of F-15 seat the cutions are pretty much on the same level and angle, but seatsides are different.

I am trying to make a 3D sheetmetal model for my ACESII. Anyway will post here what will be the result.

Take care!

Cheers, Vitaly

@Dropship Pilot I have never used the tops of the side plates to figure out the angle the ejection seat is mounted in the aircraft there are to many veritables including distortion in a picture.

The fact that the wheels are not mounted on the seat parallel with the back of the seat. and so on. there are sites listed with reference to the mounting angles of ejection seats

vitabutch there are some of your points I do not understand I have addressed below. I have tried to answer Dropship Pilot's question as i understand it as what angle is the ejection seat mounted at in the aircraft not what are the angles of the seat it self.

A-10 ACES II Pictures

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/acesiiss_1.htm

Hmm..interesting... ACES II seat is not adjustable.I have not said the seat was adjustable, but the seat is adjustable for height in the cockpit. What I leaned from the article that I posted in my thread the seat design gets simplified from the first versions and its for all air crafts, including Viper and Eagle." If I am not mistaken the rails mounting matters".I am not sure what you mean by this,The 15 deg and 30 deg I have been addressing are the degrees of mounting the seat in the cockpit or you could say the degrees of recline of the ejection seat rails Take a look, same seat, but for F-15,not 30 degrees at all ( no Idea what you mean here) The ACES II seat in all the aircraft are built on the same base with minor difference. :

Here is a diagram showing The F-16 rail system actual 34 degree to compensate for the ejection seat wheels not being parallel with the seat back but on a 4 deg angel, The A-10 and f-15 seat are mounted in the aircraft on rails at 15 degree recline

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/NigelTufnel11/f1cb6e47.jpg

F-16 F-15, and A-10 seat information

http://www.ejectionsite.com/frame_sg.htm

check the page for the YF-22 , information in the second paragraph you will find mention of the typical seat back angle witch refers to the angle the seat is mounted at. This angle is typical for the F-15 and A-10 there are other source but this is all on one site

Here are a few pics of areal seat If all you have been talking about is the angles in the sat it self send me a drawing marked with the angles or area you have questions about were talking about different things \.

Deadman,

those images are great (especially the one showing the mechanism of the ejection handle)! :)

However, the confirmation that the ACESII has a difference of 4° between the seat back angle and the ejection angle helped even more! :D

So under the assumption that the 15° seat back angle are correct (I still haven't found an official source for the A-10) we'll have these angles:

Note that the 2° angle is the angle of the seat pan supports (e.g. the actual seat pan angle is probably larger, but again I haven't been able to come up with anything for the A-10).

Cheers,

Stefan

PS: Did I read you correct and you have (access to) the seat in your pictures?

You have misunderstood what I have written. I Have not confirmed a difference of 4° between the seat back angle and the ejection handle.

:doh: - that was a typo - ejection angle was what I wanted to say.

Error fixed.

Thanks, :thumbup:

Stefan

Deadman,

 

those images are great (especially the one showing the mechanism of the ejection handle)! :)

However, the confirmation that the ACESII has a difference of 4° between the seat back angle and the ejection angle helped even more! :D

So under the assumption that the 15° seat back angle are correct (I still haven't found an official source for the A-10) we'll have these angles:

 

Note that the 2° angle is the angle of the seat pan supports (e.g. the actual seat pan angle is probably larger, but again I haven't been able to come up with anything for the A-10).

 

Cheers,

Stefan

 

PS: Did I read you correct and you have (access to) the seat in your pictures?

This exactly how i setup my seat.

Yes the A-10 ACES II Ejection seat pictured is mine :smilewink:

Deadman,

would you be so kind to measure the following dimensions on your seat:

I found several, contradicting values for most of these dimensions - so it would be nice to have some first hand from someone with the real deal. :smilewink:

Thanks a lot in advance,

Stefan

I'd love to get it, but shipping to Germany combined with the custom fees will be a small fortune..... :(

A parachute container would be more in my price range, but I couldn't locate one yet.

Cheers,

Stefan