Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David J. Beaulieu on April 28, 2018 at 9:49pm

John, Nice fix!  if worse comes to worse and you want/need a new door,  I verified with Roger a few days ago that these type doors are still available. 

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Oliver Reik on April 29, 2018 at 8:44pm

Awesome, thanks for sharing! I'll check out these vents.

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Permalink Reply by Theodor Galdi on June 17, 2018 at 2:01pm

John:

I finished riveting my bubble doors and a small 10 mm crack appeared next to one of the rivets.

I KNOW that there as an entry in the forums about a repair adhesive, but the "search" function turns up nothing incorporating either acrylic or plexiglas.

Could you direct me to that entry as I would like to avoid having to stop drill the small crack

Thanks,  Ted Galdi

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on June 17, 2018 at 3:35pm

Ted,

There are thin acrylic solvent cements that you wick-into a crack like SCIGRIP 3. Also, there are thicker cements if they don't have to be wicked-in like SCIGRIP 16, but you have to be able to open up the crack or deflect the surfaces so you can apply it. (The water-thin cement that wicks-in sounds like what you'd need.)

However, even if you cement it, I would think stop-drilling would be advisable just to ensure the stress concentration is relieved ... the crack could still extend, otherwise!

John

 

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Permalink Reply by Theodor Galdi on June 17, 2018 at 7:44pm

Thanks, John:

I will try the really thin stuff first and  keep a close  eye on the crack If needed will stop drill same..

A major part of the problem is trying to get the bubble door to fit under the folding wings crossbar. The upper rear gusset in the normal door --and I guess the STOLwith folding wings--nicely covers the top and rear of the  door.

It appears that the wing on the Cruzer is fatter than the STOL so that one has to cut an arc into the gusset 35 mm deep to clear the cross tube.  Looks like s....

Reading between the lines of my conversations with Roger, it appears that they have never sold the folding wings option for a Cruzer as he requests images so that they  can but it on the Zenith site.

Thanks again.

Ted Galdi

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Permalink Reply by John A. Minatelli on July 21, 2018 at 9:29pm

Gents, To all with cracks in your plexiglass: in order to stop the crack from getting larger you MUST place a small drill hole at the growing end of the crack. (Use a 60 Deg. plexiglass drill bit and let the bit do the work...nice and slow don’t force the bit through the plexiglass) Then if you can get a hold of it and since aircraft plexiglass is hardened the only solvent that will actually work to glue the crack by fusing the plastic crack is methylene chloride. Use a 1 ml syringe and place the solvent in a freezer before withdrawing a 0.5 ml sample into the syringe. (Your syringe needle should be cut to form a flat rather than angled needle end). Then after practicing on a sample piece quickly apply a small amount of the solvent to the crack by simply moving the needle along the crack while gently pushing in the syringe. The solvent will quickly seep into the crack, dissolve a small portion of the crack surface and as the solvent rapidly dries it then fuses the plastic together. Do not attempt this unless you have the crack on a level horizontal surface as trying to repair a crack that is vertical is impossible. Any solvent based fogging can be easily removed by dipping a paper towel into the same solvent and in single strokes wiping the area to a shiny surface. ( do not use a cloth as the fibers will bind to the plastic) Practice on a piece of scrap first so you get the hang of it before attempting to fix a door crack after removing the door from the plane and positioning the crack so that it is suspended over a table horizontally. You can see this done on UTube while watching people make plexiglass aquariums but keep in mind that Aircraft grade plexiglass requires methylene chloride solvent for crack repairs. And yes I have done this on my windscreen successfully before I installed it. The drilled hole can be filled with clear silicon glue after the repair is done. Finally this will not work unless the two sides of the crack are aligned with each other.
John Minatelli

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Permalink Reply by John A. Minatelli on November 23, 2018 at 11:14am

Hi John, though already flying my Cruzer I opted not to attempt to add the kit supplied vents because I found them very difficult to get into the door holes and did not want to crack mine.  Thus I came to this page and found your idea an excellent one.  What I don’t undersand is if you made 2 retainer rings to keep the Vista Vent in place since the holes in the Vista Vent are smaller in diameter then the door hole meaning the the retaining bolts and nuts require external support aka your retainer ring.....but don’t you need two rings?  One for the outside and one for the inside of the door to hold the new vent in place?  Once I have your answer and maybe a pic from the bolt side of your installation then I’ll order the vents.  Please advise and keep up the excellent work.  You are a great moderator and a good contributor too.  I plan to add the front gear donut system too as time permits and thank you for that posting too John.

Sincerely,

John Minatelli

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on November 23, 2018 at 12:00pm

Hi John M,

The Vista Vent itself has an acrylic retaining ring of sufficient diameter to grasp the interior edge of the bubble window hole, so no additional hardware was necessary on the interior side of the vent.  Since the bolts were passing through the hole in the door and not through individual bolt holes, I had to make a retaining ring to capture them for the exterior side only. Here's a picture from the Spruce website showing the acrylic ring or plate:

Thanks for your kind comments - I love to design and install mods ... guess I'll quit when the plane goes over-gross and will no longer fly!  ;>)

John

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Permalink Reply by John A. Minatelli on November 23, 2018 at 1:20pm

Thanks for the quick reply John!  Got it and no need for a picture now (it’s in my mind!).

Sincerely,

Johm Minatelli

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