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Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 5:43 am
by n2582d
Richard,
I was thinking the same thing. My guess is that the material meets CAR 3 requirements - what the C-170 is certified to - but that's a pretty low bar. CAR 3 only requires that the material be flash-resistant. "Flash-resistant" material means material which will not burn violently when ignited. The C-170 interior isn't required to meet FAR 23 requirements but as materials are readily available which meet these standards why wouldn't one install floor covering that meets these minimums? FAR 23.2325 (b)(1) calls for the material to be "flame resistant". Flame-resistant means "not susceptible to combustion to the point of propagating a flame, beyond safe limits, after the ignition source is removed." AC 23-2A talks about flammability tests. it's not only the fire we should be concerned about, it's also the smoke. A lot of foam material gives off toxic smoke when burned. Not a good thing, especially when we don't have quick-donning oxygen masks.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:36 am
by FredL
Coinmat is what they use on most commercial airliners in the wet area of the passenger and service doors. It is installed by first covering the floorboards with a layer of mylar then another layer over the screw heads and seams. Then a layer of double sided tape similar to carpet tape is applied and holds down the coinmat. The edges are then sealed with rubber sealant. It does a good job of keeping out water as long as the seal is maintained.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:43 am
by TFA170
Color me flippant, but if my floor is on fire, it's a pretty bad day already ;)

I've had inflight fires on multiple occasions in larger aircraft...never fun.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 3:57 am
by n2582d
TFA170 wrote:... I've had inflight fires on multiple occasions in larger aircraft...never fun.
You need to be more careful! :) ... Or maybe fly high enough not to get shot at! What’s the story with all the inflight fires? Do C-130's have a propensity to ignite? I've experienced one emergency return right after takeoff for upper deck smoke. Does get one's attention.

Back in the days when CAR 3 was written tube and fabric aircraft used cotton fabric shrunk with nitrocellulose dope. Probably not much sense in being too picky on how flammable (or inflammable as they used to say) the carpet was when the entire exterior of the aircraft was so combustible.

For future reference Aircraft Interior Products sells LonCoin through its dealers.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:27 pm
by c170b53
I think Fred somewhat put further light on things, there’s coin cloth, commercial grade, somewhat stiff, not pliable and difficult to work with due to its thickness. This is the stuff I’m familiar with, stuff that used to be used in commercial aircraft design. I imagine the stuff sold for light aircraft is a variant more suitable to light aircraft.
If you’re really hard on your plane you might use this style
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Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:39 am
by TFA170
n2582d wrote:
TFA170 wrote:... I've had inflight fires on multiple occasions in larger aircraft...never fun.
You need to be more careful! :) ... Or maybe fly high enough not to get shot at! What’s the story with all the inflight fires? Do C-130's have a propensity to ignite? I've experienced one emergency return right after takeoff for upper deck smoke. Does get one's attention.
Haha! C130s can't fly high enough to get shot at...besides, rather be way down low and in the weather and rocks - preferably both!

I've mostly had electrical fires - transformer-rectifiers and generators, but engine fires pop up now and again...not common, but every so often. On the engines, many are false indications, but I"ve had a couple significant ones - uncontained turbine explosion and rear oil seal that mostly smoked until we shut it down - then it trailed a flame to the horizontal. Nevertheless, it gets your attention...even false alarm ones.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:56 pm
by barrymaas
I put the Loincoin (space grey) on my 170, and I love it. I used the carpet as a cutting template and just laid it in place. It’s dense and heavy enough that it doesn’t move. I can easily peel it back for inspections when needed.

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:57 pm
by flyboy122
We use vinyl coin mat flooring on some of the helicopters at work. I think the trade name is Loncoin, and Loncoin 2. It's available from Douglas Interior Products with burn certs if necessary, and I'm sure others. The stuff we use isn't overly heavy, though I never weighed it compared to traditional carpet. We stick to the darker shades (grays and blues) as we tried a brown once and it stained easily with turbine oil. I see the same stuff in airliner bathrooms, so I assume it's durable, though it's often stained as well.

Putting it down is different than carpet. Most carpets have surging on the edges and can just lie on the floor (maybe a couple snaps). The vinyl does not lie flat on it's own and have a finished edge, so we end up sealing it to the floor with a colored silicone. That works on our turbine model since it has a flat honeycomb floor and we can use double sided carpet tape to hold it down. On our piston model the floor is aluminum, like a Cessna, and also like our 170's there are mx accesses in the floor. That means we can't permanently stick it down. We still seal the edges, but sometimes it can bubble up in the middle, and it's a pain during mx. Generally I don't recommend it on our pistons for this reason.

I've wondered how I could put it in my airplane. One idea was to glue it down to some super thin aluminum panels (.015"). That would give it some structure and keep it from curling and bubbling, as well as allow it to be snapped or screwed down, but be lightweight and allow it to be flexed for install and removal. If I get around to trying this I'll post the results.

Dennis

Re: Coin mat flooring (moved from Mx Library)

Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:29 am
by hilltop170
The coin mat I used in my C185 floatplane laid loose in place, not held down with anything. It was cut into segments to match floor areas. Front seat areas went back to the rear doorpost area. The baggage area went aft from there. It worked fine and was easy to remove for cleaning and to let the floor dry out.

If you feel a need to attach coin mat to the floor, it can be held in position by using strips of 2” black industrial adhesive-backed velcro available at Ace Hardware, Home Depot, or Lowe’s on the floor and small patches of velcro stick to the coin mat if prepped properly but you would have to peel carefully not to pull off the velcro from the floor or coin mat.