>> After hearing of a failure in the bond of a shoot bolt guide to the door I
>> have been considering how to avoid such a failure in my doors......
>> My current concept is to mold a tunnel of flox about an inch long inside
each
>> of the holes where the shoot bolt guides mount prior to bonding the guides
in
>> place.......
That's exactly what I did, and let's hope it works.
>> Also, I have seen cracking around the plexiglas in one Europa, apparently
in
>> the filler just outside of where the plexi ends. Discussions on this
>> phenomena were inconclusive at the time in that one opinion was that this
was
>> due to faulty fitting while the other was that a layer of very thin glass
>> cloth, available at hobby shops, should be used over this area extending
over
>> the plexi by 1/4 to 1/2 inch....
If I understand you that the door itself is cracking, I don't know if the
hobby shop
glass has enough stiffness to accomplish much. Aesthetic objections, too.
Seems
to me that the skin on these doors is very thin, and the the radius at the
flange
where the plexi goes is pure gelcoat. I wonder if different coeffficients of
expansion are the culprit. I was thinking of installing the "Perpsex" not
with
Redux but black RTV. It is necessary to prime the plexiglass bonding area
with
an epoxy primer, but the result is both strong but having a little give. This
method
is used on Grumman AA-series aircraft, for windshield attachment to the
windshield bow, which talkes a lot of abuse as a handhold and attach point
for the canopy locking mechanism.
Regards,
Fred Fillinger, A063
Mentor, OH, USA
|