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  #1  
Old 02-02-2017, 01:45 PM
scorwin scorwin is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: South DFW, Texas
Posts: 62
Default Baggage door fit

Searched through archives and kit log, but couldn't find an answer to this. And it seems common.

Finished the baggage door, and at the top left corner (near the hinge), there is a significant gap between the door and fuse when closed. All other sides of the door fit great. Gaps are symmetric. I used the seaming pliers at the corner but I'm not happy with how it turns out.

I've already had to fix the door hinge (i used the fatter one accidentally) and get new parts. Trying to avoid drilling everything out and starting over again with the door.

Any hints/tips on how to make it fit better or try it again?

I can attach pix, but those that have run into this, know exactly what I'm talking about
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  #2  
Old 02-02-2017, 02:08 PM
N427EF N427EF is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,516
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I remember not being happy with the door fit and ended up fabricating a new
inner skin to make a perfect custom fit.
Your problem seems to be slightly different from what I can tell. Having a gap near the hinge line would tell me that the hinge needs to be re-positioned.
It has been a while but I remember installing nut plates on the door jamb
so the hinge could be adjusted and positioned perfectly to make the door flush with the fuselage side skin. There cannot be any tweaking on the hinge side, all adjustments need to be made on the rear side where the door closes.
However, the consequence of adjusting any door on one side usually shows up
in the form of another gap elsewhere.
Is your inner skin riveted yet?
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  #3  
Old 02-02-2017, 02:14 PM
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aturner aturner is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Clarion, Pennsylvania
Posts: 550
Default

Mine doesn't sit quite flush at the top either. The pre-punched parts of the baggage door take on a curve across the top when assembled. I think what is going on is that this curve doesn't match the curve we hammer into the longerons. Because it seems to happen to just about everyone, I suspect that the pattern in the plans for the longeron just doesn't quite match what is needed to make the door fit flush. I used seaming pliers to pull the top of the door in just a bit, it is acceptable.

Late one night, past the time I should have been working, I was playing with the door, and it bugged me so I tried to tweak the curve of the door just a bit, with clamps. Of course, I put a small crease in it, and didn't change the curve a bit. Don't do that. Any attempt to change the curvature has to be done before riveting.
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  #4  
Old 02-02-2017, 03:05 PM
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ERushing ERushing is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Underwood, WA
Posts: 413
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I've thought of trying to build a fiberglass baggage door. I've had two tries and wasn't happy with either. The current door has a small (a little less than 1/8") gap at the bottom at the hinge but the rest of the door seems to fit fine.
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  #5  
Old 02-02-2017, 06:17 PM
Kyle Boatright Kyle Boatright is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 4,218
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Was this a QB kit? I had a baggage door misfit on mine and know of another builder who had the exact same problem.

Upon investigation, it turned out that the longeron in that area of the fuselage was not bent according to the longeron template supplied by Van's. It was bent a little too sharply in front of the baggage area, and to make it fit, the bend in the baggage area was too shallow. That all stacked up to the longeron in that area being up to 3/16" or 1/4" inboard of where it needed to be.

I identified the problem, spoke with Van's about it, and the solution I came up with (and they concurred) was to drill out the 15 or 20 rivets in the longeron area and fabricate a shim to shim the skin out to where it needed to be. They suggested either a poured shim (made of flox and epoxy) or a fabricated metal shim. I made a metal shim that tapered from nothing to 3/16" and back to nothing over a foot or 18", riveted that in place, and moved on. The baggage door fits well now.
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  #6  
Old 02-02-2017, 08:21 PM
AviatorJ AviatorJ is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Oklahoma City
Posts: 913
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I have a QB and I am also less than impressed with my work on the baggage door. I've moved on and will deal with it later, it's not horrible but there's about an 1/8 gap between the skin and the top.
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  #7  
Old 02-03-2017, 12:18 AM
denbobp denbobp is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: California
Posts: 98
Default Baggage door fit

I noticed my outer skin was not square, I had a better fit if I flipped the skin over. I just got to the clecoing the new drilled frames into the top skin. The part near the lock seems like I need to put a little roll into the little bit of overhang as opposed to a bend with a brake, prior to riveting on the frames.
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  #8  
Old 02-03-2017, 03:30 PM
scorwin scorwin is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: South DFW, Texas
Posts: 62
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Not a QB kit. From what I've read from this thread and others, I agree its likely from the longeron bend.

The inner skin is riveted on (pop rivets).

I took a couple days off and looked at it again. It's not horrible. I thought about trying another door, since I could just pull the pin out, leave the hinge attached to the fuse and work with that, but i don't want to fall into the "perfection is the enemy of completion" game.

With paint and a seal, it should be ok (and not make it more pronounced!). Prob only one of those things that the builder would ever notice or see.
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  #9  
Old 02-03-2017, 06:42 PM
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Bill Boyd Bill Boyd is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Landing field "12VA"
Posts: 1,530
Default more input

Jack Phillips and I both ran into this same thing on our builds, and talked it over. He built two doors and still had the issue, I settled on my first effort. The door has more curvature across the top edge than the fuselage longeron does across the opening. The middle of the door is proud about 1/8" from the fuselage side. It looks like the easiest fix is to build up the fuse between the cabin top and the door with composite, probably epoxy/flox, and blend it in. That's what we both plan to do, FWIW.
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  #10  
Old 02-03-2017, 06:45 PM
Tom Martin Tom Martin is online now
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,544
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Build the door on the fuselage. Start with the hinge and work out from there, lining up the parts to match the fuse as you drill and clecoe them in place. This will custom fit the door to the fuse.
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