LM701  STOL N1345L

Piano Hinge Fix

Warning!!! Plexaglass is brittle, it breaks and/or cracks very easy.

Drill holes in plexaglass extra big to allow for rivet expansion or it will break.

I found the doors on my 701 which had the stock piano hinges Zenith supplies with the fuselage kit on them to be very cumbersome to remove and reinstall.   To remove the doors, you have to use a pair of vice grips and pull the hinge wire out from between the two hinge parts.  To reinstall the doors the wire has to be reinserted while you hold the door in perfect alignment.  To me this proved to be very difficult to perform by one's self.

The other day I went to put my doors on because I wanted to close up the plane to tape it off for painting the wings.  Of course 99.99% of the time I work alone.  After about 15 minutes of fighting the beast trying to get the wire through I came to the conclusion that there must be a better way.  After all I want to have the ability to remove and install the doors with ease, and the piano hinge certainly is not the way.  That is certainly not one of Zenith's better ideas.

• First I used a cutoff tool and cutoff all the hinge tangs off the door top, file it smooth, place a piece of rubber weather stripping on top. 

   

  Then I punched the rivet centers out of the fuselage hinge part and drilled them out, removed the hinge. 

   

  I found a piece of red inch wide pin stripe tape to cover the holes.

   

  I placed the door in the fuselage and taped it into position. 

   

  I used 3/4" X 3/4" 6063-T5 aluminum angle, you can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot Aircraft store.  And, 3/16" nuts and bolts.  You will need longer rivets, because the A4 or A5 rivets are not long enough.  You may want to use nuts and bolts.

   

   The pictures below show the detail better than I can explain it.  If you have any questions, go to my home page and e-mail me. 

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• They really work good, doors on and off in a minute or two.

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