Pre Molded Doors?

[mhcrowder]

I've purchased and in the process of installing a pre-molded front windscreen. Has anyone attempted pre-molding the doors, similar to the bubble doors on the Kitfox? I've got the doors without windows and the thought of having to make it out of two pieces with a overlapping joint in the middle is not making me very excited. I don't have access or the space to make an oven so wondering what others are doing for their doors?

[kenryan]

I am happy with my two piece doors. They were not hard to build and they work well.

[Guest]

I know what you are saying about not wanting a big overlapping seam, but if you trim carefully and judiciously use a heat gun, you can get a pretty easy and nice fit.

[danerazz]

Sorry if this is a duplicate, I guess I wasn’t logged in the first time.

I know you are concerned about a big, overlapping seam, but there are options.

You can use one piece and carefully slit it removing a narrow “pie” shape in the middle to allow the bow to work.

Easier is do it in two pieces and be very judicious with cutting and a heat gun (VERY CAREFUL with the heat gun!) and get a very close fit. This is basically what I did, but I didn’t go crazy on it.

If you don’t have the window you have less of an attachment area. You may have to add a strip of aluminum on the bow to give room for a second row of rivets.

Overall, if you just do a short overlap it will not look bad or be noticeable.

Don’t overthink it!

[SheepdogRD]

Has anyone attempted pre-molding the doors, similar to the bubble doors on the Kitfox?

We've considered it, in both Lexan and acrylic. Lexan would be my choice for material because of the beating the doors can take when flying with them open. But Lexan is more time-consuming to mold than acrylic, because it has to heat soak for 3 to 4 hours before forming, where acrylic simply needs to come to temperature.

The real issue is shipping. The doors wouldn't nest particularly well, so there would be a lot of labor and materials getting them positioned and padded. The resulting box would be too large to ship as a package, so it would probably require a pallet.

Between the cost of molds, cost of manufacturing, and cost of shipping, I suspect the molded doors would be quite expensive... and we chose not to risk investing in molds and development for a product with a limited market.

[SheepdogRD]

Here's a previous thread that covered the topic pretty well:

viewtopic.php?p=49710&hilit=doors#p49710

[mhcrowder]

Thanks. I'll take a look at the previous forum posting.

[kenryan]

I am happy with my two piece doors. They were not hard to build and they work well.

And when made from aluminum tubing, they are very strong and light weight.

[SheepdogRD]

What size and wall thickness did you use for your aluminum doors? Anything special, or was it the material in the kit?