Interior side panel backing material

[MIm20c]

The interior side panels on my Mooney are falling apart.  What backing material is used to replace these units?

[jetdriven]

Mine is 1/4" paper fiberboard.  It's funnny folks are up tight about burn certificates for carpet when it's glued to cardboard. Mine is out right now. I'm gonna make some new side panels from 1/8" honeycomb and carbon fiber/fiberglass. That and some SCS interiors featherweight carpet should look nice and be light.  

[MIm20c]

Do you have a link for the 1/8 inch material or did you source it locally?

[Yetti]

Ya I got rid of that paper fiberboard.  One of my panels was soaked with brake fluid which is mineral oil which is also flammable. Aluminum with leather covering.  Will pass any flame test you throw at it.  I weighed several panels and the new panels were lighter than the factory panels.   Probably picked up several pounds in useful load.

Search for "Three leather hides"

[Dcflyn]

Consider ABS plastic. It cuts easily. You can bend it and drill holes through it, and you can glue foam-backed vinyl. (Don't ask me about flame/heat characteristics.) I used it on quite a few pieces of paneling during the refurbishment. Unfortunately, I don't have good pictures of it, but check out April 2014 from my blog: http://n2690w.blogspot.com.

[Guitarmaster]

Find a local sign shop.  They always have corrugated plastic that makes an excellent backing material!

[carusoam]

There is a manufacturer on the east coast that puts carpet on the plastic board and cuts it to fit like original in Mooneys.

they also have floor carpet and other things.

Call Airtex to see if they can supply just the backing if that is all you want.  Having it cut to the appropriate size may be helpful.

Best regards,

-a-

Edited May 4, 2017 by carusoam

[Rmag]

Here is a pic of the old falling apart carpet backing original in my J;

We cut out new carpet backing out of boltaron:

And glued new carpet to it:

We also used boltaron as a backer for this leather pouch:

 

[carusoam]

Nice resource, Rmag... 

http://www.boltaron.com/films/9815E.asp

Best regards,

-a-

Edited May 4, 2017 by carusoam

[jetdriven]

Take a good look st SCS interiors carpet. Their featherweight would've perfect for sidewalls.  Makes airtex look bad. 

Edited May 4, 2017 by jetdriven

[Marauder]

Here is a pic of the old falling apart carpet backing original in my J;

We cut out new carpet backing out of boltaron:

And glued new carpet to it:

We also used boltaron as a backer for this leather pouch:

 

 

Nice! BTW - when did you finish Greg's Premier? He hasn't shown the after photos yet.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Rmag]

@Marauder Greg's Premier is still in the shop. Delivers next week. He left a GoPro and we took time lapse of it getting painted. 

[milotron]

On 5/3/2017 at 9:14 PM, Rmag said:

Here is a pic of the old falling apart carpet backing original in my J;

We cut out new carpet backing out of boltaron:

And glued new carpet to it:

We also used boltaron as a backer for this leather pouch:

 

Rmag, what gauge material did you use and where did you acquire it?

 

Replacing the seats in my K and discovered that I have the paper/foam board everywhere that is in rough shape. Carpet will be done next year and will want to replace all the backing at that time too.

 

Thanks 

 

iain

[C-FRJI]

On 2017-05-03 at 4:47 PM, MIm20c said:

The interior side panels on my Mooney are falling apart.  What backing material is used to replace these units?

I used aluminum 

[Yetti]

On 5/3/2017 at 4:54 PM, Guitarmaster said:

Find a local sign shop.  They always have corrugated plastic that makes an excellent backing material!

Nope...  really bad idea...  30 second vertical burned through and kept burning.  had a hard time putting it out

 

[jetdriven]

Wonder how fire resistant that cardboard is. Just ordered my stuff. 1/8" nomex honeycomb and 5.9oz carbon fiber. 

[Rmag]

9 hours ago, milotron said:

Rmag, what gauge material did you use and where did you acquire it?

I believe it is .053" from http://www.professionalplastics.com/

[carusoam]

Expect temporary use type of plastic materials to not get the flame retardant additives to make them useful for permanent installations like in the cockpit.

Flame retardants are often added as a separate step, along with pigments and other property modifiers. Flame retardant additives cost some.  So if they aren't specifically needed, they don't get added.

polymer processing guy, not just a PP.  

Best regards,

-a-

Edited May 8, 2017 by carusoam

[Rmag]

The boltaron we use meets FAA flammability requirements as it is used specifically for aircraft interiors.

[cliffy]

Interestingly, if its a CAR3 airplane the interior regulations only refer to the "coverings" and not the backing. Its all in Part 43.13

I use aluminum on mine 2024T6 then I have no issues what so ever. 

[carusoam]

With CAR3 they were probably thinking the problem was always going to be a dropped cigarette while flying...

They probably couldn't expect a kid's cell phone battery or other device to ignite at 12,000'

Best regards,

-a-

Edited May 8, 2017 by carusoam

[MIm20c]

Thanks for all the replies. Is there any disadvantage with using aluminum?  Like bending it while being removed so it does not lay flat?  

Id like to use carpet up part of the sidewall so I'm looking for a higher quality carpet than airtex. 

[Yetti]

What I did it cut the alum oversized and then folded the extra over, which gave it some rigidity. Covered mine with leather. That also stiffened things up. I did not use all the screws to put it back in, but used velcro in some spots.  You can tywrap the velcro to some of the cromolly tubing, like some of the replacement interiors do.

If it does get bent.... you just bend it back.

 

[170driver]

What I did it cut the alum oversized and then folded the extra over, which gave it some rigidity. Covered mine with leather. That also stiffened things up. I did not use all the screws to put it back in, but used velcro in some spots.  You can tywrap the velcro to some of the cromolly tubing, like some of the replacement interiors do.
If it does get bent.... you just bend it back.
 

+1 on the use of.020 2024 aluminum.

I used what was left of the cardboard as a template and re-used the existing vinyl covering as it cleaned up well. No problems with bending when installed, and slightly lighter than the old material. Cost of materials was a case of craft beer for the AMO who allowed me to look through the cut-ends pile for pieces the right size.


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[MIm20c]

So I picked up some of the corrugated plastic and had a similar burn test result as @Yetti . I'm currently looking at alumalite (corrugated plastic with Al outside), thin abs plastic, thin Al (.02?), and the nomex that @jetdriven used (link please). 

The boltaron is $250 a sheet plus shipping...a little richer than I wanted to go.