Baggage Compartment - Pt 2

Finish the baggage compartment to gain the points assigned under AC29.21

Background
What restrictions are placed on the aircraft after completion is a function of having to protect third party's. As an experimental aircraft pilot I am free to kill himself in any manner I chose's but not a third party. In fact a TC only responsibility is to the third party and the only control are restrictions so the closer the project is to the FAR's the less restrictions the builder can expect on the aircraft's use.

Restraint of object's in the baggage compartment is a requirement as tie downs and other items can be free to fly in a survivable accident.

Cover's
The cover's consists of two [2] separate panels manufactured from 0.025'' 2024-T3 aluminium sheet with the lower one hinged and the upper one fixed with three [3] Pro-Bolt quarter turn clips.

The lower panel was cut from the aluminium sheet and a 20 mm aluminium piano hinge was fixed to the lower edge with 2.4 mm [5/32] pop rivets pitched at 30 mm. The upper edge had a piece of 12 x 12 x 1.5 aluminium angle fixed from the top edge and fixed with 2.4 mm [5/32] pop rivet's pitched at 60 mm. 

The location of the rivet line was set to be about the center of the uppers panels channel rivet line to avoid one rivet head resting on another.

Lower panel trial fit

Angle stiffener - short to clear bulkhead

Upper Panel

Bulkhead layout

The upper panel was profiled to suit the turtle-deck and to overlap the lower panel and was fabricated from the same material as the lower panel.

A angle was fabricated  from 0.020'' 2024-T3 - 35 x 10 mm and then fixed to the lower edge using 3.2 x 6 mm pop rivets pitched at 90 mm in two [2] rows.

The fastener's are secured with dome head pop rivets but these stopped the panel laying flush, so the solution was to add a series of rivets series around the bulkhead perimeter to support the panel. 

A 10 mm wide strip of foam was added at the edge of the panel to close the visual gap after painting. 

The top panel was secured using three [3] Pro-Bolt Quarter turn fasteners as discussed in Part 1 of the baggage blog. This arrangements negated the need for any locking mechanism other than the fasteners as the upper panel traps the lower panel and the channel transfers the loads into the lower fasteners.

Final assembly - final details parts yet to be fitted

Comment
The only change would be to locate the lower attachment points to the angle center to create a stronger connection. To solve this an angle stiffener will be added once the clips arrive also the D handle is a little long and may be looked at later.