Finish Kit 2
12/09/04 3 Hours
Canopy frame... Yes, still at it... Will be at it for a bit longer too. Anyways, I stopped by on the way home tonight and continued with the frame bending fun! Here's how I rigged up my 'tube bender'. Nice. Proved effective, but you have to be so careful not to go too far. Please don't copy me on this one, I'd hate for you to ruin your canopy frame by following my example! I know, I know, I did just the opposite and copied someone else!
I'm quite happy with the way this is all turning out now. I fixed the roller assemblies by sanding a bit off the larger bushing that shoulders the roller out from the bracket. This made it so I could tighten the nut and bolt properly, and made for a much more pleasant action of the canopy. I might look for a better looking nut and bolt for this too. I'm also thinking about welding/brazing the roller assemblies into the canopy frame so it looks nicer. I realise I may need the canopy off for an annual or something, so I figured I could cut a round access hole for a socket in the rails so I could just remove the roller bits. This is something I need to mull over a bit. I don't like to see nuts and bolts all over the place. Being in the auto industry, we have to hide all our fasteners in the cabin and exteriors for obvious reasons. I know nuts and bolts make this look more aeroplaney, but it's not really for me. I want a 'production' look (as I call it). There will be plenty of fasteners on display on the instrument panel, but they'll be nice ones.
I don't know why Van's powder coats these parts. They should save themselves some money and send 'em naked. Bending these things cracks the powdercoat anyway, and most builders will probably paint them the colour they want too. I'm not sure how long these sit around between manufacture and shipping, but my guess is that it ain't long! A simple film of oil to protect them should be enough to prevent any corosion whilst in transit. Now, I'm going to have to spend time stripping these things. Maybe I can get them blasted somewhere, since the blowtorch takes too long, and the heat might have affect all that bending art I have performed.
Well, the front bow needed to be bent some more in order to get a nice fit in the slide rails. After doing this and trying it about 10 times, it fits nice. Then I moved on to the rear bow. Despite it's spindly size compared to the front bow, you'd be surprised at how much bending this affects the front bow. By the time I'd done this evening, it was to wide again at the front! Still, I'm heading in the right direction now for sure! Yippee!
Here's the frame from the front... No more twist!
From the left (Pilot's left)...
And the right.... On this side, I still have to tweak the rear lower corner, as the longitudinal bar is quite a ways outboard at the back there. I had to go get the 'Missus' from the airport (DTW) this evening, so my night was cut short here. It was a bit cold too. All I had on was a short sleeved shirt. Had to have the heater on a lot!
12/18/04 2 Hours
Today I went to the airport. I was hoping to actually do some flying today, but the weather was pretty grim. So, instead, I hit the hangar and did a bit more canopy work. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so no pics. I'll take some on my way home from work tomorrow though.
Cameron was working on his RV-9 today, so I enlisted him to help hold my canopy frame in the correct orientation so I could bend the thing in the right plane. Well, we got it bent alright, and it turned out pretty nicely. So, it looks like the fit is close to perfect, although I feel I may have to move the canopy rails out about 1/8" or so. No biggie, as I only have two small pilot hole drilled for each rail thus far. The other issue I have is that I can't open the canopy at the moment as the rear bow hits the fuselage skin HARD. When the plexi goes on (not any time soon due to the freezing Michigan temperatures), the frame is pulled out quite a lot, almost a half inch I've heard. So, with this and moving the rails out a tad, I think everything will square away nicely.
1/9/05 6 Hours
Today was relatively warm, so I decided to head down to the hangar. I started just tinkering around, and ended up doing more canopy work. I forgot my camera again (duh!) so I'll have to catch up with piccies.
Anyways, I relocated the canopy rails out about 3/16" a side. Quite a lot I know, but I was hoping to get away with a similar situation as Cameron's plane. Alas, it was not to be. So, now the canopy frame fits well, and slides back to boot! I then put all the screws into the rear canopy rail. These screws are a bit tiny and didn't seem to be up to the job, but I guess they are since there are how many flying now? Loads.
After getting that all squared away, I can't really do too much more with the canopy without cutting plexi, and it's a bit cold for that. I could probably warm up the hangar enough with all the heaters put together. Something I'm debating.
Next I decided to tackle the landing gear legs. Now I have all the hardware, should be a breeze. I only had enough time to do one side, and it's only temporary as I want to get the stainless steel wheel pant brackets. When I figure out where to buy 'em, I'll post it here.
Cameron started his engine today! It started within a revolution almost! Sounded pretty good too.
2/6/05 6.5 Hours
Finally, some warmer weather! Anyways, first, a bit of catch up. Here are some shots of the canopy frame in position after relocating the rails and doing all the bending last time I was here.
Here's the left side.
And the right....
And a centred shot....
Here's the rear rail. These are some small screws holding this puppy down!
The canopy frame in it's rearmost position (approximately!)
Next item was putting together the main gear. I kind of pre-assembled the left gear leg last time I was here, but decided to get some stainless steel wheelpant fairings from Attaway Air. I'd heard of lot's of people having problems with Van's wheelpant brackets cracking, mainly through flying without the fairings attached. Well, I wasn't sure whether or not I'd need them, but I went ahead with it anyway. After the first trial fit of the left leg and it's associated components, I don't want to be messing to much with these things!
The stainless brackets are exactly the same as the Van's aluminium ones, so there wasn't any problems with fit. They look pretty good, won't corrode, and shouldn't crack either. Sure, they're a little heavier than aluminium, but it's a small price to pay.
Here's the lower left leg, mostly assembled. Here, I'm messing with the cotter pin hole. I got the position, per Van's instructions, marked where the nut was positioned, then used the nut as a drill guide. Worked pretty well.
7/16/05 8 Hours
This evening, my buddy Clayton came over. He's also my new web hoster! While he was there, we decided to put the gear on the plane! Well, I'm not sure if this was the right time to do it, but what the heck. We hoisted the puppy up, and slipped the gear on. It's actually pretty easy, so if it has to come off for some reason, it won't be too hard to do it. I haven't tightened the bolts just yet. Then we wheeled the plane outside for some photos, and to see how many satellites the EFIS 1 would find. It turned out it found 8. The sky was partially covered by the hangar door overhanging the plane a bit.
Here I am sitting in there makig aeroplane noises. It was nice to be able to puch it around for the first time. I might steal Cameron's platforms he made for working on his plane. I'm sure he probably wants 'em out of his hangar anyway!
Clayton took these pics of me. I don't get much chance to have my picture taken with the plane since I'm usually here on my own. Thanks Clayton!
Here he is trying it out! He can't wait to go flying! (He's not the only one!) It's gonna be a bit of a squeeze though because my centre console makes it a squeeze for anyone average size or bigger. Me being a skinny, I'll fit easy. The concern is how much stick throw is possible, since there's nowhere to move your legs to.
7/19 - 7/24/05 7 Hours
I also got the roll over bar all finished up. This is ready now for permanent installation in the plane. It'll get drilled for the windshield in situ. I think before I mount it, I'll make the holes for the handles on the drill press being careful with the paint. In hindsight, I should've done this before painting the damn thing. Oh well, I was painting a ton of stuff, and couldn't wait!
Having put off the canopy for what seems like an eternity, I figured that it was time to make some headways with it. First thing I did was chat with Cameron about it. He's done his a long time ago, and it's always good to get some info from someone who's been there already.
Well, I had to twist the canopy frame a bit to make sure it hit the roll bar evenly, then I set about trimming the plexi. First, I marked the centreline, using the string method. It's not exactly accurate, but it's close enough for the task at hand. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for most of today, so I couldn't take pictures of each step. Once this was set, I placed the frame in the plexi and marked where the hole would go for the latch. I double checked that I'd got it right, and drilled a pilot hole, then drilled a larger hole with a Unibit. The plans called for 5/8", but I ended up going ever so slightly bigger. The canopy frame wouldn't fit through the 5/8" hole!
Next, I got out the duct tape. I taped across the plexi to hold it together while I made some markings for the preliminary cuts. Then, I took out the frame and started chopping away with the cut off wheel. This seems pretty easy. Well, it is 85 degrees out! I decided to be a bit conservative with my cutting. I didn't want this to be a $1000 mistake! One thing I noticed was how air hungry the old cut off wheel is! My compressor was struggling to keep up!
Once it was trimmed up, I laid in the frame again, and clamped it all around. Now it was time to figure out where to make the big cut. This was the worst bit. It actually turned out OK. I marked it out using a sharpie pen, and once I had a line, I laid masking tape up to the line. This made it easier to see where I was cutting. It worked a treat. Here is a shot of the windshield half, after the cut. The black tape was holding the two halves together as I cut so as not to put too much stress on the plexi.
The next step involved putting the frame back on the plane, and laying the canopy bubble on the top. I put a bolt through the latch hole with some large washers to stop the plexi from moving too much. Then, I clamped around and figured out the drilling for the rivet holes. I basically followed the Van's instructions all the way here. I used the masking tape trick to find the centrelines on the frame, and basically started drilling. Everything seems to be coming together pretty well. This isn't as bad as people make out!
Here's a shot after it's been drilled and cleco'd to the frame. You can see I left a lot of material on the sides where the skirts will ultimately be. I wanted to be 100% sure I wasn't going to be too short! Once it was secured with cleco's, I marked the lines for final trimming.
This is basically how I left it for today. Tomorrow, I'll be looking at final trimming and polishing up the edges. Then, I'll start making the skirts. At the same time as all this, I need to carry on with the centre console and get that in the plane. I think that will probably be next weekend.