Aluminum doubler material

[FFTravism]

I am making a doubler for the bc station floor board and Collins manual states to use 0.032. The floor boards are 2024-t3. I only have 6061-t6 in 0.032 will that be satisfactory?
Thanks.

[Mark Goldberg]

I think that would be OK. FYI - 6061T6 is 40% less strong than 2024T3. But still would stiffen up the floor quite a bit. Although I am not familiar with the need for a doubler there. Mark

[FFTravism]

Didn't realize it was 40% strength difference. In the manual the bc station floor board is cut in half to make removal easier. It also appears to be cut in to 4 pieces.

[Collin Campbell]

Travis, the 6061-T6 material used as a doubler on the floor boards should be fine. FYI...this is just the way I did the floor boards in this area. You could just leave the floor boards in one big piece without any joints or doublers if you like. However, I have found that it makes them MUCH easier to remove (especially in this area) if they are built and joined in pieces.

[FFTravism]

Collin,
Yes I was planning on making it easier to remove and like how you did it. It looks like from the pictures you cut it in to 4 pieces. Left/right and a front/pack right in front of the control stick. Why did you do that?
Thanks

[Collin Campbell]

Travis,

The reason I did things this way was to be able to cover the entire floor in this area. The piece from the factory was just one piece with a large cutout, leaving a lot of gaps around the control stick/flap mount/etc. In order cover everything, I made some additions to the original piece. My goal was not just to cover everything, but also to facilitate installation and removal. So that is what I came up with...there are obviously many ways do do things here. Be creative. One could just use lap joints instead of butt joints/doublers. It's all just personal preference. Collin

[FFTravism]

Collin,
do you have pictures of the pilot seat floorboards? Did you just create a 1in lip in the middle? That was my idea to allow the control cables through.

[Collin Campbell]

Travis, here is a pic of the floor board under the pilot seat. I added a 3/4" X 3/4" .032 uluminum angle to the edge to add support. The angle rests on the tubes of the fuselage at both ends for strength.

floor board.jpg

[FFTravism]

Thank you for the picture.