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Cowling Fittment

T

T.O.Craig

Well Known Member
Hi to All,
I've spent many hours of fitting my cowl on the 10. My problem how is that the edge of the upper cowl at the rear area (where the hinge attaches)is to narrow. This situation does not allow the cowl to lay flat...

Question:
1. Do I grind the thicker part of the cowl to accept the hinge? OR
2. Narrow the hinge, or both 1 and 2...

Have others experienced this problem? Will it weaken the cowl by grinding this portion of the cowl away?

Thanks for any input!
 
I would recommend NOT grinding down the edge of the cowl - you will likely get cracks or buckling at the trailing edge. You have two other choices though:

1) You can add a thicker shim between the hinge and the fuselage. This will push the hinge further into the FWF area and allow the cowl to sit flusher with the fuselage skin.

2) You can fair the fuselage skin to meet the cowling exterior as a matter of cosmetics. My plane needed some work to get this area to sit flush during paint.
 
If its just a lump or ridge you can sand it to the average thickness. Otherwise...what those guys said.
 
I'm not sure what Craig's problem is has been understood.

I found that with the MT prop, the trimming of the rear of the cowl had to be aggressive in order to get the spinner to fit the front - more, I assume, than the Hartzell. This meant that the flange taking the hinge ended up too narrow in places. I had to grind back the honeycomb area in places - carefully! I then made good with a couple of layers of fine cloth and glass.

In other places, I got it to fit by trimming the hinge slightly.

I also have one engine mount bolt that impinged the honeycomb requiring some "fettling"
 
My problem is that the thickest part of the cowl, which is about 1/4", is way to close to the aft edge of the upper cowl. I need to make the hinge area wider. I think that when the cowl was made, that thicker area, that the majority of the cowl is was to far aft. The hinge area in about 24" is to narrow.

I won't thin out the hinge area, that would make for a weak spot in the cowl. I'm just thinking grinding that area wider so the hinge will lay flat...

Not sure if this all makes sense.
 
Paul,
You explained my situation well. I think I will take your lead grind the flange a little wider and glass that area over. I think that is the only solution. Then after the hinge is mounted and the cowl is in place, I will fair between the top of the cowl and the aluminum if needed...
 
If you haven't tried using a 3M roloc sanding disc, these work great. They come in a variety of sizes. I think I have the 2" disc holder. The sanding pads come in different grits. A heavy grit pad will easily work down the fiberglass and a lighter grit pad is easy to control the depth. Just chuck it into your cheapy Harbor Freight air die grinder and have at it.
 
Well I think I have a couple of the roloc grinding disc, but had not thought about using them. I think it will work well also.. I will try those pads in the morning..Watching those KINGS now.. Go Kings Go!!!!!GKG

Thanks for everyones response to my problem
 
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