Trimming the doors

[UnPossible]

Hey - My finish kit was just delivered last week and it's time to get busy on the doors.

Looking at the plans, there are "minimum" trim dimensions listed. (ex. on the outer door, the minimum flange around the door opening is listed as 3/4" outside the scribe line.)

For those that have already finished these steps, am I same to cut the doors pretty much right up to the minimums, or should I leave an extra 1/16". 1/8", etc?

Between building my 7A and now this 10, there have been enough call outs in the plans that in hindsight I wish I had left a little more material than called out in the plans.

I don't want to have to go back and retrim this 100 times, but I really don't want to trim it too close and have to add back material!

Thanks,
Jason

[rocketman1988]

I don?t know if you have fit the cabin top yet but I wouldn?t fit the doors until the cabin top is fit.

That said, don?t use the scribe lines; mine weren?t even close. It is a tedious process to get a nice uniform gap. Go slowly and remove a little at a time...

[UnPossible]

I have the cabin top fitting pretty well and drilled to the fuselage. I have not trimmed the door openings in the cabin top yet, as the scribe lines were pretty crappy and I didn't want to regret trimming too much when I went to fit the doors.

[rocketman1988]

Yeah, my scribe lines were not even close...sounds like you are on the right track.

Are you doing the mcmaster door seals?

[UnPossible]

Originally Posted by rocketman1988

Yeah, my scribe lines were not even close...sounds like you are on the right track.

Are you doing the mcmaster door seals?

I haven't decided about the seals yet...... but will need to soon

[Bill Boyd]

Trim generously. When ready, cleco the door halves in a few corner spots, center in door opening (look at it from the inside) attach door to outside of cabin with clecos. This is how you can position the door for adhesive cure when you glue the halves together - pinned to the outside of the cabin at the correct curvature. Use a release agent like packing tape so you don't epoxy your door permanently to the cabin top! Pinned in that position, use a hole finder to scribe the only additional cut line you will need. From then on use scrap aluminum gussets to hold door in its original location in the doorway, since you will trim away the flange and with it the positioning holes that the clecos went through before. Sand the edges of the door bit by bit until it falls into the doorway snugly like a tapered cork. There's a learning curve - the second one will go really fast

[lr172]

Originally Posted by Bill Boyd

Trim generously. When ready, cleco the door halves in a few corner spots, center in door opening (look at it from the inside) attach door to outside of cabin with clecos. This is how you can position the door for adhesive cure when you glue the halves together - pinned to the outside of the cabin at the correct curvature. Use a release agent like packing tape so you don't epoxy your door permanently to the cabin top! Pinned in that position, use a hole finder to scribe the only additional cut line you will need. From then on use scrap aluminum gussets to hold door in its original location in the doorway, since you will trim away the flange and with it the positioning holes that the clecos went through before. Sand the edges of the door bit by bit until it falls into the doorway snugly like a tapered cork. There's a learning curve - the second one will go really fast

In addition to the other comments, be sure the door is sitting where it should be when drilling holes for clecos. The marks on my doors were off and one door ended up 1/4" - 1/2" off and it required more work with the hinges and struts than it should have.

Trim lines and marks should not be trusted.

Larry

[Bill Boyd]

Clecoed good and tight to the outside of the cabin




After trimming the flange, straps are used to keep the same alignment as when the edge finder was used to find the perfect scribe line. This is important for sanding down the door edges for a drop-in fit into the doorway without "creep."