Bubble door installation

[Esser]

Started trimming the doors and made the discovery that when I installed my hinges, I foolish forgot to leave room for the thickness of the bubble doors.

Should I slot the holes the hinges are in and move the hinge outward? Or should I cut the bubble doors around the hinge? I am leaning to slotting the holes are I am worried about cracking etc if I try to cut out the acrylic where the hinges are.

[efwd]

I believe you would not fix the problem by cutting out the Acrylic around the hinge. Doing so would still have the acrylic loaded up on either side of the hinge when you pull the door closed. Im guessing you have not yet put the foam seal on the acrylic at this stage as well. You need to account for that also. Your sure to crack the door with all those factors playing into it. If it were me, I would buy another length of hing. You would likely only need to cut the one half and pull the hinge wire out and put your new half in the old half's place. The screws are countersunk so if you slot them I can't imagine that the attempt at countersinking the new extended slot is going to be that clean. How can you keep the countersink bit tight into the end of the slot? Just things to consider.
That is if Im understanding your situation of course.

[Cherrybark]

Ah, the bubble doors. Easily the most nerve wracking part of the build so far.

Buying a new hinge is a good idea. I had a concern that the the existing holes in the fuselage tab might not happen to be located so the new hinge could be mounted outboard a bit. But if slotting the holes in the existing hinge will work, there should be room to drill new hinge holes clear of the hinge pin "bulge".

Nice solution if the hole spacing will work.

[Esser]

I would only be slotting the holes on the steel fuselage tabs. The hinges won't be modified they just have to be moved outboard

[jiott]

I would slot the holes in the fuselage tabs, then there would be no issues with the c'sunk holes in the hinges themselves. On final installation I would also put some Hysol in the unused end of the slots to kind of fill that in. Buying new hinge halves and redrilling them is also a good option. Also very good advice from efwd to remember to allow for the foam door seal, and I also believe there is a another thin rubber cushion between the hinge and the plexi.

[Cherrybark]

Would definitely favor slotting the fuselage tabs over messing with the acrylic. That $400+ piece of glass is very tender.

And, as Jim said, fill the gap with a bit of Hysol. A piece of blue tape on the bottom of the tab to keep things flush, touch up with a dot of paint if you want to get fancy.

[efwd]

I'm a bit more clear on the issue now. Slotting would work. I used Carl's technique on my door strut attach point at the panel. You can't tell unless I pointed it out.