M

Megaulf

Member
I remember seeing a carbon fiber baggage door available for sale.
Does anyone know how to get one? How does it fit?

I have had enough of Van's solution.



Ulf RV8A
 
Finished

Since the Carbon door is no longer an option I went to work and finished the bagage door. Not to hard. I used epoxy to keep the shape and it worked.

Ulf
 
Good for you Ulf - Another bogeyman down the tubes!

The baggage door is like any other part - understand it, ask for other's experiences, and build on....
 
Except for working upside down with a seatbelt attachment squarely in my back (twice), I found the door assembly to be uneventful. It took about 18 hours (remember, I'm an accountant) The final assembly is strong and locks cleanly every time.
 
Expoxy

It is not part of he instructions. I read it on a post and it made sense. It is farily easy, you basically follow the instuctions just add the epoxy to help keep the parts together after drilling but before riveting.:

I spent some time on shaping the top skin of the baggage door to fit the contour or the opening. I drilled and clecoed the rib to the top skin while on the airplane. Mixed epoxy ( flox and micro-balloons) added a thin coat to the top of the rib. Clecoed the rib and skin back together and installed on the fuselage. Used straps to make sure it lay down just right. Waited for it to dry for 24 hours and then riveted the skin and rib together on a work bench.

I did the same with the bottom skin. I still drilled and riveted from the inside of the fuselage, which I think is necessary but darn uncomfortable for a 240 lbs guy.

The key is to make sure all pieces fit properly before drilling and riveting. The epoxy just prevents things from moving around before you rivet.

The Van instuctions are good just take your time fitting the parts :) .

Good Luck


Ulf
 
I wonder if the new matched-hole fuse kit has made this job any easier. Probably too early for anyone to chime in.
 
Ya'll will love this. May as well laugh... and share the laugh.

I'm getting pretty close to an empty sheet metal parts box. You know the one, says "high dollar aircraft parts"?

There is still one big 'ole flat sheet in there. I'm poking around and get to wondering what it is for. So I fish it out, check the number on the label and look it up on the packing list.

It is the pre-punched forward baggage door skin.....but I've already built the forward baggage door.

Yeah, you guessed it. I built a beautiful door using the section shipped as filler in the forward skin, the section outlined with a water jet cut.

No big deal really. The only difference is a slightly wider fore and aft edge gap; now mine is 1/8". On the flip side (heck, maybe this is a hot tip), the skin comes pre-curved; somebody already ran it through a set of slip rolls. It only took a few minutes of tweaking to get it to lay down nicely on the shim flanges :)

 
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