Cracked Steel (?) Seat on Aluminum Chair

[chrisjr761]

Here's the problem:



This image shows the underside of a thin metal (probably steel) seat on an old aluminum straight-backed chair. The three yellow arrows indicate cracks in the seat. The cracks have broken through the thin (disintegrating) Best Portable Chairs padding layer on top, so now they pinch whatever pants/padding weighs down on them. No doubt the cracks will continue to spread until the seat eventually fails.

The brownish-yellow dots are the thin top padding, visible through holes in the seat created by the manufacturer.

I think the metal must be too thin to weld. It is not even as thick as the cardstock at the back of a pad of notepaper. I could try laying on a layer of resin and fiberglass cloth, on top and/or on the bottom, but I'm afraid the metal will continue to flex under load, eventually breaking the resin and severing the cloth.

I could replace the seat with something fabricated from plywood, but I'd like to preserve the original parts of the chair if possible. Wood also wouldn't have the contoured shape of the metal seat, and it would make the lightweight chair heavier. It would require a lot more effort (and expense, no doubt, given the price of lumber these days) compared to something like fiberglass. Depending on how I made it, it might also raise the seat height, which is not desirable.

I was looking at paint-on rubber treatments. They would be more flexible than fiberglass, but wouldn't do anything to stabilize the steel seat.

I'm wondering if there's a kind of steel tape or strapping that would stay attached for years or some other paint-on treatment that would preserve the existing seat and its contoured shape. If not, is there some material that would function at least as well as plywood? My tools are basically a drill, a hand jigsaw, and a sanding block.

[steven100]

what image   ?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

what image   ?

You can't see it, how come?!

[Gsxrnz]

This is like having read the book and waiting for the movie to come out!!

[steven100]

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You can't see it, how come?!

not sure  ... nothing shown 

[Ralf001]

Bit of steel strapping and some pop rivets wil sort that.

 

give it a lick of paint after and it will last years.

[Gsxrnz]

[bbko]

Epoxy Putty.  

[Liverpool Lou]

40 minutes ago, steven100 said:

43 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You can't see it, how come?!

not sure  ... nothing shown 

You need to click harder on the blank space under or alongside the last sentence of his OP.

[sometimewoodworker]

6 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You can't see it, how come?!

Probably because it’s not there!

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Probably because it’s not there!

No?   Really?   Amazing.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/18/2021 at 4:23 AM, Liverpool Lou said:

No?   Really?   Amazing.

No image in your quote.

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, heightshare said:

Has anybody made anything like this,

A picture is worth 1,000 words! Without pictures of what you are talking about, while you understand what you are talking about, I certainly don’t 

[Yellowtail]

Drilling a small hole at the very end of a crack in sheet steel or aluminum will generally stop it from getting longer.

 

The duct tape is a good idea after you drill the hole.