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A short time ago Skip Slater shared a photo of the baggage door gas strut installation he did along with the process required to stiffen the door to keep it from being forced open by the strut when closed. Ted suggested that we use a 30# strut we had in the left-over box in a similar fashion, but added that we should install it so it holds the door shut when closed instead of trying to push it open. I modeled the inside of the baggage compartment and door on the computer with a CAD program, designed an appropriate door bracket and determined the proper mounting point to achieve an over-center condition. Rather than use a tab to mount the fixed end of the gas spring I decided to utilize the bulkhead mount structure to absorb the load of the spring when it's compressed by tapping a piece of 3/8" drill rod to accept a -3 bolt and cross-drilled it to accept some flox. Once the proper mounting location in the bulkhead mount structure was determined it was drilled clear through, the mount rod was trimmed to finish out flush with the front surface and then potted in. With the system installed the door needs to be pulled open to about 9" away from the fuselage... that's where overcenter happens on the hinge arm bracket... from there on the gas spring does all the work. Conversely, as you close the door you can release it from just under that 9" open position and it slams itself shut. It's just way too cool.
I'm attaching a couple photos so you can see what the bracket looks like, where the mounting rod is installed, and the finished project. SInce adding the milling machine and mini-lathe to the tooling mix, I've found that projects like this get much simpler and get completed much quicker. Ted suggested that some of you out there might like to do the same thing and that I should put some kits together... I'd be happy to do so if there's enough demand. I could supply the hinge arm bracket, the mounting rod and the strut, and include a drill guide to insure that the hole for the mounting rod gets drilled correctly, as it penetrates the buikhead mount at a strange angle. Anyway, it would be a complete package with instructions, ready to go. Please let me know if you're interested.
<Marv>
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