If I need to fill small holes I've used a penny clamped to the metal behind the hole then rosetta weld. When you're done the penny will come off and leave a welded shut hole in its place. Good when doing auto body stuff and filling screw holes where chrome or parts were attached to the body.lap joints are a good trick , heres another 1 you can try if butt welding to light gauge metal an I can get behind it I will clamp a peice of 1/4 inch thick copper plate behind the weld you can weld all day on that copper an it will never stick or burn through.
Whizzerdude,What would be a good guage metal to make a seat pan from. It will have no springs and will be pretty close to the rear fender.
Carpentry skills can be an asset, JMO. Let us know how this turns out when you've finally decided on a metal or wooden or fiberglass designed seat pan. It all sounds very interesting to me.A big thank you to you Crazy Horse! It's been so long since I posted this I forgot that I did. I never did get an answer until now. I'm new to metal working and this really helps. Flexing is my problem.
My first attemp resulted in the seat pan pushing the back fender onto the tire and a 100% lock up at a good speed. The little tabs for the wires under the fender caught up on the tread of the tire and locked it up solid. I never knew I could swivel my hips like that but I didn't go down. I was running WFO at the time so that was a good thing.
I've been watching some YouTube vides on making fiberglass pans but I'm new to that too. I may wind up with the only wooden seat in town. I'm a retired carpenter. lol.
I can't use a conventional bike seat because in my attemp to gat a bobber look for it, I lopped off the top of the seat post on the frame to lower it. You can cut it off but you can't cut it on. Big mistake.