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Re: REFLECTOR: Door Trim



I'm using a special 1/4 round soft foam like that used on Pipers.  I'm putting
it on the doors so it will seal against the frame.  This seal is expensive,
about $1.75 per foot, however in tests with a small piece moved around the door
frame it will give a solid seal.  One other benefit is that it compresses easily
so you don't warp the door with the high pressures you get with the factory
seal.

Jim

Joe Stack wrote:

> Builders...
>
> I've finally arrived to the point where I've almost got my doors fitting
> satisfactorily.  However, from my experience with cars and spam cans I have
> grave misgivings about the quality of the seal.  This is because it is
> always such a horrific source of cabin noise.  Without resolving this,
> there's no point in trying to resolve any other cabin noise problems.
>
> I'll try to present the problem the way I see it and then I'll throw out the
> questions.  I've scanned a sketch to which I'll refer in the hopes that it
> makes my description somewhat more understandable.
> Given:
>   *  we have a fuselage wall constructed with glass over 1/2" foam
>   *  we have a trim seal component with a 3/8" extruded bulb
>   *  we have a door lip which, when closed, barely makes contact
>      with the working surface of the trim seal bulb (and doesn't
>      contact at all in some ill-fitting spots)  On some places
>      between the door and the fuselage the door flange and the
>      bulb are 1/8" away
>   *  we have an engineering specification from both Trim Seal and
>      Thomas which says that for "optimum" seal performance the bulb
>      must be compressed at least 25%
>
> The conflict comes because there is no way to compress the bulb in this
> configuration.  As I see it, this leaves us with 2 options.  Either 1),
> select a similar part with say a 3/4" bulb; or 2), put a fillet on the
> inside lip of the door to force the bulb to compress when the door's closed.
>
> Questions:
>   * Are there holes in my understanding/analysis of the problem?
>   * Does everybody have the same problem (I can't imagine not)?
>   * Any other ideas about how do deal with it (other than live with it & buy
> a good headset)?
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe Stack
> N983SC - XL/RG
>
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                    Name: DoorTrim.gif
>    DoorTrim.gif    Type: GIF Image (image/gif)
>                Encoding: base64

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// James F. Agnew
// Tampa, FL
// Velocity 173 FG Elite ( http://www.VelocityAircraft.com/ ) under construction