Tweaking the canopy frame and guide blocks...

I spent an hour or so tweaking the sides rails on my canopy frame. Prior to riveting them to the forward half of the tip-up frame they matched the curve. My canopy overhang issues appear to be because of this. Since the frame is already riveted together, making adjustments as a bit tough. Frame on, mark tweak spot, frame off, into vise, tweak, frame back on... you get the idea. I got it a lot closer than it was. Down to about 3/32" on the pilot side... not sure how much more effort to put into it to get it perfect but I think I'll give it one more go.

I ordered some 3/4" x 1" x 2ft. delrin block from McMaster and made up some new guide blocks. I ended up making them 3/4" x 3/4" as I had previously but they were longer that the first set I made. Still need to do some adjusting to get them to work right.

In Vegas for the weekend... back Monday.

(Time: 2 hrs)

Canopy brace riveted on.

An order for a #30 strap duplicator and a set of drill cups from the Yard Store arrived. I'll use the duplicator for drilling the holes in the wing/fuse gap fairing and I'll use the drill cups for drilling a straight hole in the rear spar.

I spent the evening riveting on the canpoy tip-up brace kit. I cleco'd the pieces on first, then put the canopy in place and did the riveting in assembly.

Canopy brace pieces cleco'd before riveting.

I also spent a little time making some adjustments to the canopy. I did some sanding on the aft edge on the pilot side and also did some shape sanding along the sides where the canopy passes through the ears along the side.

I put the canopy back in place and cleco'd it on. The overhang problem has been reduced by about a 1/16" of an inch. I need to do some tweaking of the side rails a bit to see if I can get it a bit better.

Overall a good night in shop.. felt good to accomplish something.

(Time: 2.5 hrs)

Project visit & Painting

I had a project visit from Scott today. He just moved back to KC from Texas and is building an RV-7A. He hung out for a couple of hours.. and as luck would have it, we got a fly-over from Matt Burch in his newly painted RV-9A. Pretty cool and always a good motivator!

The weather was playing with me.... we got up and it was 53 and partly sunny... great... I'll get to do some much needed painting done to day. We went to town for breakfast and when we came out it was cloudy, cold and windy! A front had blown in. Bummer. While Scott was around, the clouds started breaking up and the sun peaked out. I had the shop heaters going and the temp was up to the mid-70's. Well shoot.. better do some painting.

I cleaned up all the parts and shot some interior paint on the inside of the tip-up frame, the tip-up brace pieces and a much of odd-n-ends that needed a coat.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Guide blocks installed, canopy latch mech.

I finished making up my canopy guide blocks and attached them to the support frame. They do help but not as much as I was hoping. My blocks are 3/4" x 3/4". Since the canopy latch lugs come down at an angle as it approaches the hole, they just barely contact the guide blocks until the canopy is a couple of inches away from closing. So they work perfectly for guiding the latches down into the square holes but don't work so well at keeping the canopy from flexing side to side. You still have to be carefull when lowering it. A 3/4" x 1" piece might work better as it would engage the lugs a bit sooner.

Guide block and nutplates to attach. (Stick the nutplate doo-hickey up inside the support frame from the hole in the back.)

Guide block installed.

With those installed, I started fussing with the actual latch hooks that engage the lugs. I needed to grind off some of the hooks to get a smooth latching feel. I had a real problem though latching it from the outside. I couldn't push the latch in far enough to get it to lock in place. I finally called Ray and asked him about his... he said that yes, you have to use something to push the latch arm in a little bit so it engages, then it pops out a little, leaving the latch flush with the side skin. Fine... I can live with that.

Another issue I've noticed that I am totally not happy with. When I assembled the tip-up frame with the side rails and channels, I lined it up with the side of the fuse, taking into account the side skirts. The canopy however, is wider than the fuse and when it is mounted to the frame it flexes outward. On the pilot side the side skirt sits outside the fuselage skin about 7/32". The passenger side is much worse. I'm really kinda bummed about this as I'm not sure how to correct it. I knew I'd probably have a little sticking out but not this much.

I'm first going to try and see if I can just bend the frame inward enough to get it at least close to being lined up. Wonder if you could heat the canopy up enough to take out the outward flexing? (Not going to try this yet... but I may ask Van's about it.) An option would be to install some sort of pin on the bottom of the side rail and have it engage into some sort of hole on the canpoy deck that would pull it in as it came down. Not sure what to do.

I finished the evening off by working on the pilot side C-603 canopy side skin. I cleco'd it in place and marked the aft edge where it meets with the 774 top skin. I made some cuts and did some filing to clean up the edges.

(Time: 4 hrs)

Making the canopy guide blocks

I started making the canopy guide blocks. I cut up the plastic block I ordered from Avery's into 1" strips. I used sandpaper to get them smoothed out.

Before I put the canopy back on to play with the blocks, I riveted on the F-771 top skin just along the aft edge where it sets on the sub-panel. I wanted to see if this helped the problem with the skins catching. I had sandi help me put the canopy back on... helped only a little.. I need to do some more filing in the center.

Anyways.... I have the guide blocks made, now I just have to figure out where I'm going to install them. I'm kinda leaning towards the outboard side. I need to put a taper on the top end... and I didn't take that into account when I drilled the hole for the screw, so my tape will run close to the screw. I'll get pictures tonight maybe.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Coming...

Canopy guide blocks

I ordered a plastic block from Avery that I could use to create canopy guide blocks like Clay did. I sent him some emails today asking about any tips installing it... here is our email exchange.

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Clay,
I picked up the plastic block from Avery's for the canopy guide.. any tips on how you cut it? How did you get is smooth after cutting it? I haven't tried yet but I know my bandsaw is going to leave grooves when I cut it. Your pieces looked very smooth in the pictures...

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Matthew,

I used a bandsaw and then the 4" belt sander to shape and smooth it.

Just keep using progressively finer grits (wrapped around a sanding block) until it looks good. Mine aren't smooth as glass.. they kind of have a matte finish.

When you position the blocks on the rollbar, make sure they just touch the inside edges of the canopy latches as they come down. (don't position the blocks according to the hole that the latches go into)

Also, make sure the bottom hole is high enough that it won't interfere with the other rollbar attach hardware.

-clay

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Clay,

Thanks... I thought about the bottom hole issue...

I just figured out the positioning comment you made and then looked at your picture again. It appears you are using the guide blocks to guide the canopy latches and not the edge of the c-channel like I thought.

My original thought was to mount it on the inboard edge of the rollbar so that the blocks would guide the inboard flange of the c-channel attached to the fwd canopy. This would also squeeze the canopy frame together a bit. Over time I could see that flange bending a little. Using the canopy latch piece might be a better idea but I might mount mine on the outboard side of the latch, again, squeezing the frame in a bit. (My frame is just a tad to wide, this squeezing will keep the side skirts from sitting outside the profile of the fuselage.)

The other issue I have is that the canopy shape forces the side rails outward quite a bit. I might try reshaping the frame by squeezing it in the middle enough so that when the canopy is screwed on it flexes outward to the point that it matches the fuselage side.

Thanks for the tips!

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Matthew,

You want the guides positioned any way that they'll push the canopy into position if it comes down off-center. (as mine naturally does) Otherwise, the plexi can hit the rear roll bar and will crack the corner off.

If you position the guides so they press inward on the latches, the guide on the left will be responsible for making sure the plexi on the right gets pushed to the outside. I don't think I'd recommend doing it this way.

My canopy also sits a little to the outside of the fuselage sides, but not enough to worry about. (maybe
1/8 ro 3/16") Bending those side rails inward is tough.

-Clay

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Clay,

Hmmmm... gotta think about that. I always thought it was the canopy hitting the skin that forms the slot it sits down in that caused problems. I understand what you mean about the canopy hitting the roll bar itself as it comes down. Gee, guess I could put two pieces on each side! :-)

Finished boot rings, WD-622 canopy latch lug

I finished my set of boot rings by making the small bend and match drilling the holes. (If you haven't got this far, do this before you put the nutplates on the seat pans, otherwise you have to take them off.)

F-9110 complete

I kinda puttered around, not really feeling like working but feeling like I should be. I torqued some bolts on the flap tube and canopy latch tube. I pulled off the forward top skin and hooked up the brake lines to the brake reservoir.

I wanted to do some work on the rear canopy but I wanted to mark where the front canopy was sitting on the rollbar so I could position the rear correctly. I set the canopy back on the tip-up frame and held it in place with a dozen or so screws. Sandi happened to come out and helped me set it in place. I marked a line where the aft edge of the canopy set on the frame. I need to do some trimming on the pilot side, as it sets to far aft.

I didn't feel like fussing with the rear window, so I decided to work on the WD-622 canopy latch lugs. These stick down through a hole in the canopy deck and a latch holds on to them, keeping the canopy down. I couldn't figure out how I was going to clamp these in position, since the roll bar was in the way... and this is one area that Dan Checkoway did not document on his site! So I removed the roll bar, I don't see any other easy way.

The key with these things is to get them high enough so the canopy closes snugly. If they are positioned too low, the latch may not engage them well enough and the canopy could move up/down. You can always remove a little material on the latch fingers for adjustment, but would be a pain to add material, so err on the high side. I had spacers under the side rail before I had removed the roll bar that took up the gap. I removed one of the pieces I used as a spacer so the frame set just a bit lower, then I positioned the latch lugs and clamped into place and drilled them. When I get the roll bar back on, I can see how tight the latch is and make adjustments.

WD-622 clamped in place.

(Time: 4 hrs)

F-9110 Stick Boot Rings

Made up two sets of the F-9110 Stick Boot Rings... one for me and one for builder buddy Bill. He had called earlier asking if I had made these yet and then asked how I was going to put the hole in the middle. Told him I was going to use my router, which I did, he asked that I make him up a set too.

Pretty straight forward making these.

F-9110

(Time: 2 hrs)

Canopy struts

Spent 33.5 hours building in January.... not as much as I would have liked but more than I thought I had.

Saturday we drove down to Hutchinson, KS to visit the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. It hasn't changed much in 20 years but if you've never been, it's worth a trip. Not to far from the airport either.

Recongize this plane?

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Spent the day working on the canopy struts. I made new C-725 canopy blocks. The first set I made up including the threads but then didn't have a way of drilling them to the frame. So this time, I drilled the two screw holes to #27, clamped them to the frame, match drilled, countersunk for the screw hole, then enlarged to #21 and tapped the holes.

C-725 blocks - Set on the right is the first set... the left is the new ones before tapping.

C-725 screwed in place w/ ball stud on.

Next up was the aft mounting points. I made up the C-728 ball stud mounts and the C-729 spacers. (I used a piece of .250 material for the C-729 instead of two pieces of 1.25) Once I had them made up, I managed to get them attached to the canopy deck. Getting them positioned correctly and held in place for drilling was the hard part. My fingers were small enough to reach up behind the canopy deck to put the washer and nuts in place.

Aft mounting points.

Strut mounted.

I tipped up the frame for the first time under it's own power. I have a skin binding problem at the front edge,which I somewhat expected. I am not going to make any adjustments until the forward skin is riveted on and the canopy is in place. I don't want to make the gap any bigger than is has to be.



Still waiting on some warm weather to do some painting.

(Time: 4 hrs)