The Canopy

Start - 2/16/00, Finish - 3/20/00

The Latch hook was too long so it was cut off and a new one riveted on of the correct length. Be careful not to break off the tap in the outside handle. I did not drill quite deep enough and screwed up. Bad night in the shop...	The canopy frame was pretty hard to bend using "controlled muscle power". Lots of trial and error. Five of the six ribs lined up with the edge of the fuselage after numerous remove bend install check sequences. The sixth one will be shimmed if I can't get it to line up. So there...
Trimming the bubble is pretty messy, lots of white powder stuck to everything. I was able to get the shop up to about 65° and tried to handle the thing as carefully as possible, so far so good and fingers ar still crossed. Nobody in this part of California has any kind of serious portable heater. The biggest help was to mark both the centerline and to mark horizontal lines up from the flange. This has to be done before the flange is chopped off. I used a piece of string to mark center line and a yard stick laid on the flange to mark lines parallel to the flange incrementally up the side of the canopy. Marking with a sharpie directly on the protective plastic worked fine. As far as the big cut...I just marked (read eyeballed) a line between the two tubes with the canopy clipped in place, removed the canopy worried about it for a day. When I could stall no more, cut it. Scary, but anyone who can run a cutoff wheel or stay close to within the the lines in a coloring book can do it. The windshield is narrower than the moving section at the bottom of the rollbar. The plan is to put shims between the roll bar and plexi to make it a smooth transition. No #27 plastic drill bit was available around here so a 5/32 plastic drill bit was used. Seems OK so far...	The Bubble shortly after making "The Big Cut". Still needs a bit of trimming around the bottom edge.
Installing the canopy skirt was a two person job. After doing some battle with the skirt we decided to cut it in half. Once this was done it was reasonable to handle. The right side fit almost perfectly and was drilled and clecoed using the method in Van's instructions. The left side took some coaxing but a great fit was achieved in the end. I used a hole duplicator for the holes along the bottom of the frame and the Plexiglas templates for the vertical ribs. The Plexiglas templates worked so well a long one was made for the rear lower tube where the duplicator would not reach.	A good use for that left over Plexiglas A perfect See Through Drilling Template
The Canopy Lock	I devised a simple lock for the canopy shown to the left. It operates by pushing a pin through the shaft of the rotating handle of the canopy latch to keep it from rotating. The plastic block keeps the pin in position when it is retracted. All that is needed is a block of plastic very roughly 1" x 2" x .5", a 6" length of scrap hinge pin, and a file cabinet type lock from the hardware store. The lock is exactly the same as the one for the forward baggage compartment door. Same key too. Here is how to put it together: -- Drill the plastic block to slide over the canopy frame (1/2" hole) -- Put the canopy latch through the hole and in the locked position -- Drill #40 all the way through the block, canopy frame and latch -- Drill a hole for and install the lock in the fiberglass fairing -- Bend trim and attach the pin as shown
I am using 8.7 oz. fiberglass tape to create the windshield molding strips. A 1" width for the bottom and a 2" width for the top strip. Electrical tape creates the borders for a clean line and protection from the sandpaper. One layer of carbon fiber will be added to the top strip to make it strong in case some one grabs it to get in or out.	The first layup of the Windshield Molding Strips