Started March 15, 2007
The front doors are skinned with .025 aluminum on the outside and are covered with Poly Fiber fabric on the inside.
To start, the door frame was placed on the aluminum and using a Sharpie felt
marker, the basic outline was drawn onto the aluminum:
The basic shape was then cut out leaving about 1" extra all the way around. Slots were cut in the proper locations for the door hinges. The end of each slot was pre-drilled with a .125 drill bit before each slot was cut to give a nice rounded end.
With the slots for the hinges cut, the skin can be formed to the door frame
and clamped in place:
Note that the area for the "mouse door" at the bottom of the door was
left uncut for now.
With the door skin clamped in place, the tubes were traced with a Sharpie marker and the door frame was removed from the skin.
Using a #40 drill bit, holes were drilled (3' spacing) in the skin,
along the center line of each tube location as shown here:
The door frame was then clamped back in place, being careful to properly align it with the outlines that were drawn onto the skin. The holes were then match drilled into the door frame, putting a cleco in each hole as it is drilled..
Finally, measuring 3/8" up from the top row of holes, a mark was made on
each end. Using a brake, a lip was bent at that location. The lip was
then cut 3/8" wide. This lip will sit on top of the top door tube and
provide a nice place for you to rest your arm while you are taxing around
at Oshkosh looking cool ;>)
Here is the door skin at this point:
The only thing left to do is install a hinge for the mouse door and cut the
mouse door out. We'll cover that on the next page.
Click here to go to Door Skins page 2