Can It Be Done?

[bradp]

I have the sailrite and love it.  I first bought a clone off of eBay and it arrived in a state of relative disrepair (thank you eBay money back guarantee).  The sailrite is high quality on close inspection and tears through just about anything that can fit under the foot. 

For any of these portable walking foot models, consider what cliffy did to slow it down.  They are designed to run through 18 yards of sailcloth at a pass so they tend to run fast. 

[cliffy]

The Sailrite has what they call the "Monster Wheel" where they change out the driven wheel on the machine for a much larger diameter one so the sewing slows down. They also have a pin system to lock the driven wheel to the machine shaft in a positive manner to stop the possibility of slippage I(the normal way is a friction lock). Adds a little bit to the cost but it works well. That monster wheel can be added to most any clone machine also.

[Browncbr1]

I got a sweet rig yesterday.  It came with the table, motor, controller, extra parts, different feet, and all for $600.  the guy threw in 4 big spools also.. 

This thing is sweet.. It can go one stitch at a time...    

I'm just having trouble sourcing the exact leather or faux leather that I'm looking for...   I'm want to go for the vintage English pub distressed dark brown shine with champagne stitch...   I found one or two options, but not with a flame standard... I bought a half yard of marine vinyl to expierament with, but finding what I'm looking for may be the biggest challenge...   My backup plan is to go King Ranch with my interior...  I have a supplier who can sell me actual leather and vinyl from the Ford King Ranch dark brown interior..      

[cliffy]

Now that's a good buy. Congrats!

[carusoam]

A while ago, there was a thread regarding finding hides for Mooney interiors...  The Scott from Kansas, I believe had a couple...

 a search might find that thread. It's been a few years...

Best regards,

-a-

[KSMooniac]

I do have some nice hides that came from a local bizjet interior shop. I've got some neutral tan (on the lighter side) and a really nice olive green...which nobody would probably think of for an interior, but it is actually a great color that would pair nicely with the tan or a brown like the King Ranch interiors.

Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

[Yetti]

Try the leatherhidestore.com.   most all leather will pass the burn test. There are labs for testing.  There is also an FAA A/C that tells how to do the burn test

[Browncbr1]

15 hours ago, Yetti said:

Try the leatherhidestore.com.   most all leather will pass the burn test. There are labs for testing.  There is also an FAA A/C that tells how to do the burn test

great site.. I called and they confirmed they dont' have anything that has already had any kind of testing, so 3rd party testing would be required for any of these leathers.

[Browncbr1]

OK, now that I have my machine and all materials sourced with a game plan, I realized that I'm having trouble deciding on color...  I've also not completely settled on vinyl or full grain leather.  There is a huge difference in cost, but also that I would have to treat the leather and send to Skandia for burn testing.   Vinyls are readily available with flame test documentation that would comply with CAR 3.   This will end up just being an economic decision really... If the delta is less than $500, then I'm thinking I'll just go ahead and go for actual leather just for the hell SMELL of it!

Originally, I thought that I wanted to go vintage English pub style with dark brown distressed leather with some pull up and do some champagne diamond stitch.  I was thinking that the wall panels would be diamond stitched (quilted).

 

I would also use this same leather to wrap the yokes, door handle, Jbar, etc.. ...  

I really like these interiors, but I don't think I want to go as far as they did, so I have a simplified design in the line drawing... 

What do you guys think?  Remember, the wall panels and head liner would all be this same leather and diamond stitched...  Is it too much diamond stitching?  should some be non-contrasting diamond stitch?   I don't want to end up with too much of it..  All plastic in the plane is off white cream color that was recently painted.. 

I want this interior to be different from most everything else you see out there, but I want it to be classy and attractive if I should ever end up needing to sell this plane.  The paint job on the exterior is vintage and I like that, so I'm thinking this interior would be in harmony with that...   What do you guys think???   Any suggestions?  This is your chance to make your mark and spend someone else's money!

 

[Oldguy]

I like the double-thread diamonds on the SL 280 and the edge stitching on the Morgan.

But then I don't have to do all of the work. 

[Browncbr1]

3 minutes ago, Oldguy said:

I like the double-thread diamonds on the SL 280 and the edge stitching on the Morgan.

But then I don't have to do all of the work. 

I do too, but I dare not do that with my single needle machine.  It's impossible to keep them clean and straight looking without a double needle machine.   Of course, I know of one that I can lease rent for a day...  hmmmm

[Yetti]

If you are doing the work and effort don't do vinyl   you will kick yourself latter.

i would bet any leather you bought will pass the burn test without treatment.   My leather did not burn through even after 3 burn tests on the same sample.

Before I really paid attention the first 2 hides were a heavier weight (on sale)  and the last hide was car seat weight.

 

Edited June 15, 2017 by Yetti

[Bob_Belville]

Passing flame spread standards should not be a problem with any materials you choose. I worked with a local auto trim shop who had access to auto grade leather, carpet, and headliner fabrics all of which passed easily. From my log book:  "Replaced interior fabrics (headliner, carpet, leather) with materials tested by Skandia Inc. under w/o # 249481 dated 12-10-2012 and certified 14 CFR Part 23.853 and 23-49 app F (e) and certified by FAA DER on 12-12-2012. Said documents attached. Work was performed by Dave's Trim and Robert Belville, owner."

[bradp]

If you're CAR-3 the standards are different.  Burn tests are not necessarily required although they might be a good idea for piece of mind.  If your material has an auto certification it is likely sufficient for CAR-3 aircraft with no smoking placards. 

[LOCOLJ]

I struggled with many of the decisions discussed, but ended up choosing vinyl, because I was a novice at interiors and from my experience to get things to look like the pictures you have shown takes quite a lot of skill.  My thought process was learn on the cheaper (not really that cheap) stuff and eventually try again with the leather.    Perhaps, you have more sewing experience, but  I simply decided that the first few seats was  a learning experience and vinyl was a lot cheaper to mess up or miss cut.  

[Browncbr1]

11 hours ago, LOCOLJ said:

I struggled with many of the decisions discussed, but ended up choosing vinyl, because I was a novice at interiors and from my experience to get things to look like the pictures you have shown takes quite a lot of skill.  My thought process was learn on the cheaper (not really that cheap) stuff and eventually try again with the leather.    Perhaps, you have more sewing experience, but  I simply decided that the first few seats was  a learning experience and vinyl was a lot cheaper to mess up or miss cut.  

That is a good point.  I could make them in vinyl and if later want to do it differently with leather, I suppose I could get my cost back out of them if someone here wants them.   I was planning on making card stock patterns anyhow. 

my F is CAR 3, so using vinyl with auto burn cert saves about $100 in cost in getting cert from skandia.  $25 for chem treatment, $50 test, $25 shipping back and forth.  The delta between leather and vinyl is about $600 and that is if without any perforation on any leather. Perforation adds another $100 or so to leather just for the spots where I want to use it.  

The other consideration is that vinyl is much lighter weight compared to leather for this much material.    

[bradp]

When considering perforated leather - do you buy a hide and have it perforated or do they come pre-perforated ? I imagine color matching might be an issue for the later ?

[Browncbr1]

2 minutes ago, bradp said:

When considering perforated leather - do you buy a hide and have it perforated or do they come pre-perforated ? I imagine color matching might be an issue for the later ?

You have to buy the hides and then send them to a perforation factory.  The hides have to be cut in half to fit through their machine.  Some places that sell hides at higher prices do perforation at a lower cost, but the places that sell hides at lower prices have higher cost to perforate.  The place where I have sourced the leather in the image above sells the hide at $4/ft2, but perforation adds $2/ft2 in half hide increments only and charges $5 to cut the hide in half.  That means the cost of perforating one hide would be about $100.  The places that sell hides at $5-6/ft2 will do perforation for $10...  so..........      color matching is not an issue because it is the same hide.  but there are different hole patterns to choose from..       

[Tom]

18 hours ago, LOCOLJ said:

I struggled with many of the decisions discussed, but ended up choosing vinyl, because I was a novice at interiors and from my experience to get things to look like the pictures you have shown takes quite a lot of skill.  My thought process was learn on the cheaper (not really that cheap) stuff and eventually try again with the leather.    Perhaps, you have more sewing experience, but  I simply decided that the first few seats was  a learning experience and vinyl was a lot cheaper to mess up or miss cut.  

I had a '75 Mercedes 300D with an original MB-Tex interior.  There's no comparing leather with a high-quality vinyl--the vinyl wins hands down unless one is a purist.  Vinyl is less expensive, easier to maintain, generally holds up better in the long-term. 

[steingar]

Were I doing this I would do leather.  My time is worth way more than a few hundred bucks.

By the way, I am in total awe. 

Edited June 16, 2017 by steingar

[Browncbr1]

I'm starting to think that I want to do a first proto vinyl of maybe just one seat to see what styling and pattern changes I might want and I could test the function as well.   I've ordered up a lot of materials other, but still haven't pulled the trigger on any vinyl because I just can't find one that I really like... one that looks vintage, yet durable and comes with MSVV302 or similar..   I did buy a half yard of some MSVV302 vinyl to mockup the aft kick panel.

I also have my cnc laser machine set back up after having moved my office, so I'll be able to etch once design is done.

[LOCOLJ]

That is sort of what I did.  I took an auto upholstery class at the Jr college and learned to sew and some basics.  I bought a seat off ebay and did the first one on that in the class.  Then I used that seat in the airplane while I did seat 2 etc.  Yep, time is money, but I wanted to learn a skill.  It would likely be more cost effective to simply have an experienced upholster do them for you, but that wouldn't be as fun.  I used spirit Millennium vinyl, it is not as nice as what you showed, but it does come with burn certs and costs about 20-25?yrd.  I used about 7 yrds.  You will also need foam, and other supplies so to keep it simple I ordered everything from Scandia.  Hope this helps

[LOCOLJ]

I have been meaning to post my semi- completed interior for quit a while, and will also post some before pics. Wow, what a lot of work, but I feel that this interior is far better than what I had previously and looks pretty good for DIY and a ton cheaper than hiring someone (but you get what you pay for).  Cliffy, you were correct by adding a larger heavier wheel made the portable walking foot machine much better.  

 

[cliffy]

Lookin' better!  :-)  I've been working on my baggage compartment walls. Practicing edging on scrap carpet until I get good enough to do the final piece (the back wall). I have the side walls next to the rear seats done. Next is the sidewalls up front. I figure if I just do the sidewalls I'm way ahead $$$$$$ with what I've spent so far. I'll try to get a picture of the sidewalls I've done sometime today or tomorrow. 

 

[Yetti]

Pockets.  I have gone back and put pockets on the front of the pilot/co pilot seat,   Shock cord and a loop sewed into the top of the pocket.  Pens and batteries and pilot stuff goes in those.  

Also added the pocket on the piece that goes below the rear seat.   The handheld back up GPS goes there. One day I will add the pockets to the seat backs and to the sidewalls

2 years later, the seams are holding up well and really glad I invested the time

Edited April 2, 2018 by Yetti