REFLECTOR: Nose Gear Door issue

[Andreas Christou]

At 09:34 PM 5/28/2005, you wrote:
>>Collective, I'm the slow builder on the list. I've got the nose gear 
>>doors in, followed all the directions and had very good help from the 
>>factory. But now that the door hinges are in place, with the bolts, it's 
>>as though everything has shifted a bit outboard from centerline. The 
>>outer edges of the doors are very tight at the outboard flange/fuselage 
>>boundary, and the center cut of the doors now has a bit of separation. 
>>There is a gap. When the doors drop fully open, the outsides make contact 
>>with the fuselage. The doors open about 95% of the way for a clear 
>>opening for the fork and wheel.
>>
>>Pictures are attached. Don't laugh at my center line cut, I beg you.
>>
>>It appears my options are:
>>
>>    1. Re-center the holes for the bolts in the hinge tabs, moving the
>>       holes inboard a bit. I'm guessing I would add a couple of layers
>>       of bid on the outside of the tabs, plus some milled fiber to
>>       fill in old hole, and re-drill. I don't want to take out the
>>       tabs and reset new ones.
>>    2. Sand down the outside of the doors (the factory suggests doing
>>       it straight, without curves to conform to the fuselage). I've
>>       not discussed the gap with them yet,
>>    3. Add a second flange/lip to one side of the doors, inside the
>>       nose, at the center cut to close the gap, with some tweaking so
>>       the doors won't get caught when closing.
>>    4. Live with it, and only sand the outside of the doors so they
>>       will drop open more, filling in the flange outboard gaps later,
>>       not worrying about the centerline gap.

Option 2 would solve the opening problem, and a flange on one of the 
inboard edges would close the gap in the middle. I also used short lengths 
of 5/16inch brass tube as bushings in the hinges, so the doors open more 
smoothly. The new problem created by the flange is that you have to make 
sure that the same door closes first every time. I decided on this option 
just so there was no gap in the middle. The door that closes first has the 
flange on the inside edge. It closes first because I tensioned the closing 
spring more by attaching the spring further from the hydraulic cylinder. 
Have a look at http://x-jets.com/gear_doors.html

Andreas

Andreas P. Christou
Cell:(203) 470 7334
andreas at x-jets.com
http://x-jets.com/