Lexan Door Skins - Fitting Question

[Dvanlanen]

I am building a 7 Super Sport. I have the pilot side door frame centered and shimmed in the fuselage opening, and I am ready to fit the Lexan door skin. Is the door skin supposed to fit snug against the bottom of the butt rib tabs, or do I need to leave a gap, and if so, how much?

[Dick B in KY]

Dave, You may have to move the Lexan around a bit to get the bend to line up with your side stringer and the cowling boot cowl. Once you get this position, you can make a temp attachment (to the door frame) and measure for the over hang around the door frame. Then trim to fit. Your hinge install should not require any more than minimal Lexan clearance at the top of the door frame.

Dick B

[Dvanlanen]

Thanks Dick. I think I made a mistake though. The bend in the Lexan was below the bends in the door frame, so I cut what I thought was the right amount off the top, and now the bend is about 1/8" too high on the door frame. I'll finish fitting to see how it looks, but might have to replace the Lexan blank.
You mentioned aligning the Lexan bend with the stringer at the rear and boot cowl bend at the front. However, I don't see how I can get the Lexan bend to align with these points as well as the actual angles in the door frame itself, because the door frame angles align horizontally across from the stringer and boot cowl bends, respectively, while the bend in the Lexan runs at an upward angle to horizontal from front to rear. I'm thinking that the most important alignment would be with the door frame angles, so the Lexan will sit flat against the door frame. Or am I missing something?

[Rob3782]

I just did mine last week and that is how I aligned them. With the angles of the door.

[rosslr]

Hi Dave,

I did mine a few months ago but pulled them out today to see how everything fitted up. I remember being pretty nervous about this project - heaps of scope for stuff ups! Anyway, I thin it is really just a matter ( as others have said) of moving the perspex around over the frame until you get a pretty good fit. You say yours it about 1/8" out at the top? what so you mean by 'out'? if you have a good overlap on the frame I could live with that.

took some photos today - not that great but they might help.

cheers

r

[Dvanlanen]

Rob - thanks for confirming the alignment on the door frame angles.

Rosslr - I am also nervous about this step, as you were. There are a lot of ways to make mistakes on it. From your photos, it looks like you did a great job of fitting the skins.
What I meant when I said my door skin was 1/8" off, is that when I have the top of the door skin positioned against the butt rib tabs, the bend in the door skin at the rear of the skin is 1/8" higher than the bend in the door frame. I think I took a little too much off the top of the skin. However, the bend comes across the weld bead on the door frame, so when I get the edges trimmed so the skin fits inside the joggles, I may find that it fits well enough as-is.

[rosslr]

HI dave - I follow. There are others much more experienced in these matters than me but I think that when you put the seal on the frame and the skin onto the seal it might appear a little better - you dont actually tighten the little nuts and screws up really tight. In fact, having been a yachtie for years, the first windows I built in a yacht had 1/4 bolts every 2 " - I was really concerned that in a big storm they would blow out. Now days they dont use bolts - just double sided tape. I believe you can get it in different thicknesses too, and that might provide you with a little bit of a buffer for the 1/8".

Anyway, good luck - it's just that they don't look like the cheapest item to throw away for the sake of 1/8"!

cheers

ross