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Door Time! Fitting the gap and Van's 45 degree bevel...

What I did

To get the door to fuse gap be a zero - zero fit. I lined the edge of the door with packing tape, epoxy will not stick to the packing tape, buttered the edge of the cabin to with epoxy / flox / cabosil and closed and latched the door. After the epoxy is dry you can cleanup , fill , feather the inside of the frame to look good. Welcome to the wonderful world of fiberglass

Eric Gohr
40271 , N410EG flying
 
Yeah, that's the process I was going to follow to add some if it's needed. But if you gett it too close there's no room for the paint and it will chip or cause interference.

I'm just curious to know how mine compare to others who have finished their doors.

Phil
 
Wow, looks quite good to me. Couple points i can think of.

1. You didn't say whether a door seal was on there. The door seal will affect the final fit. I wouldn't obsess over gaps so much so soon.

2. I think most everyone ends up adding filler to the door frame to fit the door for final-final fit. Thus, if you think you trimmed too much from the door, filler will fill the gap anyway.

3. I did make one mistake at one point. I obsessed over the gap so much, I inadvertently sanded down too much in one spot on the aft door edge. The aft door edge should be straight, otherwise, the eye will spot any flaws from straight.

Jae
40533
Neverending finishing
 
One thing about to much gap, is the door will have a tendency to move over (front or back) to the side with the least friction on the pins. Say if you had close to a 3/32 all around you could end up with a 3/16 gap on the front and tight at the back. I seem to remember that when I had to much gap this was the case. I know I can see through the gap but that is about it. I am only getting painted in March so I am not sure if chipping will be an issue. I think that it is a different condition than chipping on the cowling but I could be wrong. The bottom verticals may want to be a bit tighter to stop this movement, you will know better once the door latch is finished. I did not do the 45 degree on the edge as it was going to be to thin to keep paint on.

Not sure if I helped any:rolleyes:
 
I did not do the 45 degree on the edge as it was going to be to thin to keep paint on.
Click to expand...

That was very helpful because I don't think it's a good idea on my doors either.
 
Whatever guides you use for your pins you can bevel them and sand/build them up so there is NO door movement forward or aft. The Pin Guides will center the door as it comes into the fuselage. It makes it really nice when latching the door. Otherwise, if one pin starts before the other it will try to push the door in the opposite direction that is if you have gaps between the door and the guides. Good advice to round the edges for paint. Also, things change after anything you do such as window installation, seal installation etc. Like Jae pointed out, don't get too fussy with perfect fit until the very end when everything is installed. You can then build up the frame with flox and get the perfect contour. Let the seal do its job. It's not how close the door fits (bad for paint) it is the consistency of the reveals. Good luck!
 
Phil just to back up what the others have said do not final fit doors until you
have all the door locking mechanism installed and working. That will be were your door sits once shut. As for the gap 3/32" is probably the max you would want but 1/16" would be on the small side. As Sean said do not use sharp corners as the paint will not hold and good spot for runs. A rounded door edge would hold up better. If your gap is to tight the door and the cabin top
will start to see paint chipping.
Also the door should have hardly any play for and aft once door is shut before
closing the door handle. This will be the adjustment of the pin guide blocks.
The door should be centered before the door handle is closed. Hope this makes sense.

Geoff
 
Aerosport1 said:
This will be the adjustment of the pin guide blocks.

Geoff
Click to expand...

This is a very good point, this will not work if you use Van's blocks as they are not thick enough. The block will not hit the door. At least mine didn't. I have Sean's latch and pins coming so maybe I will be taking a bit off the lower part of my door off before paint after I adjust the thickness of the new blocks.
 
I have the aluminum blocks and bullets for door guides and pin engagement.

Obviously I haven't gotten that far yet, but hopefully I can get some time to work on it this week.

Phil
 
Another advantage of having the pin guide blocks close to the door is that it makes it very difficult (and I believe impossible) to latch the door with only one pin engaged.

-Rob
 
Phil said:
Yeah, that's the process I was going to follow to add some if it's needed. But if you gett it too close there's no room for the paint and it will chip or cause interference.

I'm just curious to know how mine compare to others who have finished their doors.

Phil
Click to expand...

To leave room for paint. Start with one layer of packaging tape as described, then add layers of duct tape until the desired thickness is reached. This will leave you a bigger gap for paint/seal.

Ryan
 
RV-10 DOOR FIT

i suggest taking a lot of care fitting the doors after the seals and latching hardware is installed. you sand and check fit, then repeat. You want the doors flush or slightly inset from the frame. I used the 45 bevel and have not had paint problems.
 
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