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| Grinder. 4-1/2 inch grinder, preferably with variable speed, is used to shape your foam. The variable speed is nice if you want to carefully feather the foam or remove small, incremental amounts. In these cases, you would simply set the grinder to a lower speed.
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Grinder sanding pad and discs. To use with the grinder, you'll need a sandpaper backing pad, along with low abrasive sandpaper (e.g., 120 grit). If you don't have, or can't find, the smoother grit sanding discs, take your coarser sanding discs and grind away on the pavement, bricks, or something similar until it's smoothed out. If the sanding disc is too course, the grinder will take off foam too quickly, making careful, smooth shaping more challenging.
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| Disc sander. May be used instead of a grinder to shape foam, though I'm not sure if you'll have as much control with it as the grinder.
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Carving knife. Some folks find these useful to cut foam into basic shapes before using the grinder. This tool is particularly helpful if youu intentionally cut a foam piece larger than you need, place it on the seat, and then do some basic shaping with the knife before using the grinder.
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| Commercial foam cutter. This Bosch foam cutter is a commercial grade foam cutter that makes quick, smooth work of cutting foam. Unless you're doing this all the time, however, it's hard to justify a price tag of about $400.
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Heavy duty electric staple gun and 1/4" long staples. This Arrow, 14 amp, heavy duty staple and nail gun takes a bit of muscle to drive staples into the seat pan, but it works. Unless you're using an unusually thick seat covering, 3/8" - 1/2" crown and 1/4" length staples will do the trick. Check out the picture above to understand staple crown and length.
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| Commercial grade pneumatic/air or electric stapler. A heavier duty electric or pneumatic stapler like this make driving staples into the seat pan easier, but they might not be worth the price unless you already have an air compressor and you'll be doing a lot of seat mods. A decent pneumatic upholstery staple gun can be had for less than $100.
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Spray adhesive.
Spray adhesive is used to bhond pieces of foam together before shaping them. Although the seat cover holds the seat foam firmly in place, you'll definitely need this if you use multiple pieces of foam in creating just the right seat for you. Higher quality products, such as 3M FoamFast 74, Rubber & Vinyl 80, and High-Strength 90 will give you quick, strong bonds. The less expensive hobbiest, all-purpose sprays will probably end up causing you more hassle than value in money saved. For some informative info on 3M spray adhesives, click here (pdf).
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| Tack puller. Simple tack puller is for taking out the staples that secure the seat cover to the seat pan.
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Needle nose pliers.
These can be helpful in removing stubborn staples from the seat pan.
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