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Door Threshold Ideas

CharlieWaffles

Well Known Member
I'm starting to look at the door threshold and wondering what the best way to finish this area is. When the door is opened, the canopy top has a flane from the door threahold sticking up to meet the bottom of the door. It isn't very thick and then quickly drops down to the horizontal aluminum threshold piece that canopy is attached to. Seems it would make for better cosmetics and a place to step if the threshold was filled in and leveled with the the flange. I know the factory plane has a cheap looking piece of wood cut to fill the space.

What are other people doing? I'm considering having my machinest mill me a hallowed out piece of aluminum that fills the space and doesn't weigh much.

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mark,
Don't sweat over it. It is real easy to get a great looking transition. Make up a mixture of micro balloons and epoxy resin peanut butter consistency. using a cake decorator funnel, squeeze the mixture into the area under the threshold and using your finger, make a nice transition. You may have to come back a second time with more filler and then sand with 80 grit, fill with a little strand reeforced body filler and paint. It will look great after you paint it to match your interior. Sorry, but i do not have any finished photos, but hear is a photo prior to paint.

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Me too

I did what Bill did, sorry don't have any good pictures.

I thought I might want an armrest there like in N410RV:
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However, I found that my elbow/arm is well above it so it doesn't make sense for me to have an armrest there, and I've never thought about stepping on that area, although I do sometimes put my hand there when climbing out. So I just finished it and painted it. Works great.

Oh, and if you use McMaster Carr seals, you'll want to leave space between whatever you put there and the cabin flange to allow for the seal grip. Another reason to not put anything there.
 
Mine has a piece of wood fitted to the area, it will eventually get covered in the same material the rest of the interior is done with.
 
My panel is cherry veneer, so I considered using cherry for the sill. Wound up doing what Bill did, and now that it is painted it looks great. I haven't completely given up on making a cherry sill, but really don't see the point.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
Expensive piece of wood.
Ha!

I was indeed looking at a wood or solid material to make the threshold wider and easier to step on like the factory. I have a nice fillet around the door already so I'm not worried about the transition, just the thin flange that I know someone will try to balance on when they get in or out someday.
 
Seriously. That's my plan with a expensive piece of nice hardwood.

Cut it close to size. Sand it to fit. Stain it. Urethane it.

I don't know if I'll get it done before the plane takes to the air, but it would be a good rainy weather project. It's not worth delaying the build over.

But I really don't want folks to be able to step on that edge either. Having that piece of wood there will pickup most of the load and keep them from standing on that edge. (and did I mention I have kids? They will step anywhere they feel like it and they won't be gentle about it.)

Phil
 
Steppin on it

It's a good point about inadvertent stepping. I carefully brief new passengers getting in, especially the front seat, and even step them in one foot at a time on the best method as they climb in. However, for kids or repeat passengers, it's possible they could step on it. It's not a real temptation, though, more likely that they'll put their hand on it as they lower themselves in or get out, but even that wouldn't hurt it.

Your call! As usual.
 
Geoff Combs now has a piece of carbon fiber clear coated and it wraps around the edge by a couple inches, it looks sharp. I dont know if he has any pictures on his website I think its fairly new.
 
Another option is to shape a piece of foam and then glass it in to fill the space. Essentially you'd be subbing fiberglass for wood.
 
If you like wood

Here is my door sill, made of Beech wood.
It is set up to be at the same height as the door seals and has 2 coats of
Clear coat on it. Everybody steps on it and it appears to be very durable, so far. A lot of fit and trial, I just did a "wittle" bit at the time.

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I do have carbon on my sills now. The picture Bill put up was when the airplane was very new. Attached are some pictures of the carbon parts.
They do finish off the edge very nice if you have some sort of interior panel below. It hides the top edge. The picture Bill posted was before I installed my lower interior panel.

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I do sell these but they are a little pricey because they are vacuum bagged
and labor intensive. The carbon is very light and strong.
They are not on the web page at this time.
http://aerosportproducts.com

Geoff
 
No one can argue against Aerosport Products, they are beautiful.
Looking at the door sill cover, it looks very professional but it lacks functionality
in that it does only cover the sill behind the fiberglass lip. You cannot step on either the fiberglass lip or the carbon fiber cover.
I am not trying to sell anyone anything nor am I trying to talk anyone out of buying Geoff's products. I am simply trying to point out that if you fill the door sill space the way I did, you gain a solid entry step. In addition, filling that space will clamp the Mc Master door seal in place and you cannot remove the
rubber seal without removing the door sill spacer. In other words, passengers or the pilot will not accidentally pull the door seal off when entering or exiting the aircraft. My door seals are glued in place with dabs of automotive weather strip adhesive.
 
I have no idea why you would step on the door seal to get in the airplane.
I have been flying my airplane for 300 hrs. I have flown 90 young eagles of all size
Kids and adults of all ages and size and not once has anyone ever come close to
Pulling off my seals. Mine are not glued on and work great. I have never seen anyone step on the seal edge or attempt to. If they did it would not hurt it anyways. It is rubber with steel in it, it's pretty durable.
The carbon does serve a function as I said before hiding the top edge of the lower interior panel if you have one installed. I sit on these door seals all the time when working around the airplane.
Ernest's wood sill covers look very nice as well but still have no more functionality other than it makes the top of your sill level with the top of your seal.

Geoff
 
From the Mc Master seal thread

Sorry Geoff,
I should have said "dual functionality" of a raised sill cover.
You really do have exceptionally nice products and I have several of those in my 10.
My comments were based on what my friend said in his quote below.
I don't generally step on my sill but despite a full set of instructions to passengers, they seem to find "more elegant" ways to enter and exit the aircraft. Some will step on the seat and others on the sill.


I agree with you. I never did the build-up of the lip, so my mcmaster seal is constantly falling off. It is very easy for people to grab the gutter or hit it with their shoe while getting in the front seats. In retrospect, I think a simple foam seal would be hard to beat and look about the same really. It would also be far far easier to maintain and install compared to the mcmaster seal or van's seal.
 
Here is my door sill, made of Beech wood.
It is set up to be at the same height as the door seals and has 2 coats of
Clear coat on it. Everybody steps on it and it appears to be very durable, so far. A lot of fit and trial, I just did a "wittle" bit at the time.




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Mine looks almost identical to yours, Ernst. Mine is cherry wood.
 
One caveat - if you install the PlaneAround door locking system, you will probably have to have a gap in the wood.

John
 
One caveat - if you install the PlaneAround door locking system, you will probably have to have a gap in the wood.

John


I don't thnk there will be a gap, but there certainly be an indentation for the block. I still have about a 1/4" in front of the blocks to the edge of the mid cabin support corner.
 
How did you all install these sills? I have the Aerosport carbon sills, and it's not clear what the best way to attach them is.

Do you cut the carbon sill to shape and then use a bead of epoxy? I saw a note about glassing in the sill, but I'm not sure how that would work.

Thanks all, and thanks for your patience with maybe a dumb Q!
 
How did you all install these sills? I have the Aerosport carbon sills, and it's not clear what the best way to attach them is.

The sills shown above are different than the Aerosport ones, the ones from Aerosport aren't 'raised' and match the profile of the existing space. I happened to install the Aerosport ones recently so I can tell you what I did. In my case I had the top on, glassed in and the plane around latch all installed. If you are doing this prior to installing the cabin top you could do it different

  • Removed 3rd door latch block.
  • Measured and trimmed each sill for length and cut.
  • Made measurements with a sliding square about every 6 inches and then transcribed that onto carbon fiber sill piece.
  • Trimmed the sill piece to match the markings with about a 1/16th extra (ie on the outside of the drawn line)
  • Then it was just back and forth holding it up, sanding a bit, holding it back up and sanding some more. Takes time but I wanted it flat on both angles and close to the cabin top filet as possible.
  • Roughed up paint and then coated the inside of the sill with 3M two part adhesive.
  • Clamped the piece in place and removed any overage.
  • Once cured, removed clamps, sanded the bottom of the 3rd latch blocks a bit and called it good.

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