Kydex

[BatPacer]

Thought I'd just share my impressions on using Kydex for interior panels. My plane was just in the hangar for some other "upgrades" and we had to slice out the fabric that formally covered all the side panels forward of the door rear door posts. I could have reinstalled fabric and roller brushed it, but instead decided to cut panels to fit out of Kydex and velcro in. Kydex is cools stuff. I used the .025 thickness. It cuts with heavy duty scissors and works wonderfully in a break. There are a couple of tricks. One, use a couple millimeter off-set on the break or it will crease the Kydex too severely. All creases will show a slight color change. Gently heating with a heat gun restores the color. You can also use a heat gun to build bulges into the material as around the fuel selector. I'll shoot a few photos and post but I'm pretty happy with the result. It looks clean, all the edges are nicely chamfered, it is light, and easily removable. Anyone else have any experience with Kydex?

Paul

[d.grimm]

Is it FAA approved? Does it come in Cub yellow? How much for the material? Did a Google search but couldn't come up with these answers

[Hillbilly]

Is it FAA approved? Does it come in Cub yellow? How much for the material? Did a Google search but couldn't come up with these answers

http://www.kydex.com/briefs/131.pdf

[Steve Pierce]

Paul, I have heard a lot of good stuff about Kydex. I am going to check on price and availability in my area.

[Gilbert Pierce]

Is it FAA approved? Does it come in Cub yellow? How much for the material? Did a Google search but couldn't come up with these answers

[Homer Landreth]

Haven't we beaten this dead horse until he doesn't move any more ? I thought we established many moons ago that compliance with CAR-3 namely this requirement:

3.388 Fire precautions—
(a) Cabin interiors. Only materials which are flash resistant shall be used. In compartments where smoking is to be permitted, the wall and ceiling linings, the covering of all upholstering, floors, and furnishings shall be flame-resistant. Such compartments shall be equipped with an adequate number of self contained ash trays. All other compartments shall be placarded against smoking.

can be signed off by any A/P or A/I relative to installed interiors? I would think that a really particular signer would do some type of reasonable testing of the material, and perhaps go as far as getting a fire department definition of what "flash resistant" and "flame resistant" means to them and do a simple test to attest to the compliance to at least something that represents definition. But as I read the above CAR 3 regulation, it tells me that I can sign off any interior material that I can defend as being of the category of "flash resistant" if I have no smoking signs in my plane, and if I don't have no smoking signs, the material must be flame resistant. (If there isn't no smoking signs, then there might be a placard posted that explains that it isn't the smartest move in the world to be sitting beneath 36 gallons of gasoline and on top of 8 more gallons while holding an open flame in your hand :shock: )

[Steve Pierce]

From what I remember reading it meets even the current FARs. I will look it up and post my findings.

[Gilbert Pierce]

The way I read the link Hillbilly posted, Kydex meets the FAA FAR 23.853. which makes is suitable for aircraft interiors. What am I missing here?

[Steve Pierce]

Hillbilly had it right there the whole time. I thought he was just foolin' around and I missed the link.

[BatPacer]

Legality and available colors seem to be non-issues. I think finding a local supplier is probably the biggest challenge. The stuff ain't exactly cheap either (here in ANC approx $160 for a 4' x 8' sheet) but I think that is less than .025 aluminum right now.

Here is how my interior turned out. Since I didn't have panels before, I had to make patterns out of poster board and then cut the Kydex. There were a couple places where I wish I'd measured twice and cut once! But...if I ever get too anal about it, it will be a simple matter to pull the panels out and re-do them a bit more precisely.

Paul

[attachment=1:2wu3utp6]6174D Interior.jpg[/attachment:2wu3utp6]

[attachment=0:2wu3utp6]6174D Rear Door.jpg[/attachment:2wu3utp6]