REFLECTOR: Nose Gear Door issue

[Dave Black]

> Phil,

I see two issues here. 

> I’ve ...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 center cut of the 
> doors now has a bit of separation.  There is a gap.

I had a gap when I built my doors as well. I went the flange route, and
tensioned one spring so that door would always close first. I like the flange
idea, as no matter how small you make the gap, it still doesn't look right.  

> The outer edges of
> the doors are very tight at the outboard flange/fuselage
> boundary, and 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.

I had this problem when I built my nose doors (about 10 years ago). I traced
it back to the height of the pivot points above the fuselage shell. At the
time, the manual made no reference to how high the hinge pivots should be. The
correct answer is "as low as possible." If the hinge pivots are too high, the
doors try to open by sliding sideways instead of dropping down. When they get
fully open, the doors hit the outside of the fuselage. All this is avoided by
simply making the hinges pivot as low as possible in the first place. 

I suspect most builders simply install the swing arms to the nose doors and
then place the hinge points wherever they fall. That's what I originally did.
Unfortunately, the swing arms are not angled exactly right where they attach
to the doors. So you need to either do some filing to obtain door clearance,
or lower the pivot points. From the photo it looks as though yours are about
1/4" too high.

Dave Black
Shortwing RG
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