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Door latch resistance

AviatorJ

Well Known Member
I have a few more days until I'm complete with the doors and cabin top. A couple finishing touches, some final fill and that's all that's left! Pretty excited about it really.

Anyhow I went with the McMaster Seal and spent a lot of time getting the 1/4 gap between the inside shell and the flange. However when latching it, the door seems overly hard to close.

Is this normal, I've only had the seal on with the door shut for 3 days...
 
I have a few more days until I'm complete with the doors and cabin top. A couple finishing touches, some final fill and that's all that's left! Pretty excited about it really.

Anyhow I went with the McMaster Seal and spent a lot of time getting the 1/4 gap between the inside shell and the flange. However when latching it, the door seems overly hard to close.

Is this normal, I've only had the seal on with the door shut for 3 days...

It's normal for the seal to make the door very tight for awhile. Usually it is the upper seal that binds. But if it's too overly hard to close, I would look to ensure that the gaps are not too small.
 
It's normal for the seal to make the door very tight for awhile. Usually it is the upper seal that binds. But if it's too overly hard to close, I would look to ensure that the gaps are not too small.

Did some troubleshooting, basically pulled the seal off only the top.. then closed the doors which were substantial 'easier'. Then I started putting the seal back on little by little to fight when it started getting tough to latch. On one door it was the top forward curve. On the other door it was the back top curve. I sanded about 1/16" off these areas and put the seal back on. Door closes much 'easier'. It's a one handed close, not sure if it should be a easier than that.

Lube the pins with some lithium grease and see how that goes.

I'll give the seal a bit more crush time and then if it's still rough I'll go for some grease. It's a pretty tight shut.
 
Did some troubleshooting, basically pulled the seal off only the top.. then closed the doors which were substantial 'easier'. Then I started putting the seal back on little by little to fight when it started getting tough to latch. On one door it was the top forward curve. On the other door it was the back top curve. I sanded about 1/16" off these areas and put the seal back on. Door closes much 'easier'. It's a one handed close, not sure if it should be a easier than that.



I'll give the seal a bit more crush time and then if it's still rough I'll go for some grease. It's a pretty tight shut.

I'm glad things worked out. That's why they're called experimental, it's just one experiment after another. :D
 
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My seal crushes less than 50% of it's diameter. It took around 50-100 hours for everything to loosen up, but I can turn my handles with a couple of fingers at this point.
 
one more check

One thing to check if you have the PlaneAround latch is to make sure the pins are not pushing the cam shoulder or shaft down against the block. When I built the first latch I noticed this could could happen. I relieved the block a little. My suggestion (if you have the planearound latch) is to take the center block out and try closing the door to see if it is easier. There should be very little to no resistance with the planearound latch. If it is easier try sanding the middle cam block down on the bottom so it sits lower or grinding the top of the block circular to match the cam shoulder and try again. Usually it is a couple areas of the seal being too tight.
 
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