3/16/2008
This is gonna be a L-O-N-G entry...
Call me lucky? My forward canopy frame could not have gone any smoother! I can attribute that to two things...and my skill is NOT one of them...one, Van's might have actually sent decent frame parts (?), and two, knowing exactly where to trim ahead of time by reading other builder logs. Richard Horan's site and pictures was the "light bulb" sight last night when I was reading thru about ten different websites on how best to do this. With all that knowledge on who trimmed what, how much, and where, I tackled this thing in four and a half hours today.
I started with the trims. The leading edge of the canopy frame hinge and the sub panel where the hinge goes thru are the two main culprits for most everyone. With those done, I put the frame back on the fuselage, and used a piece of .020 AL to get the spacing between the 771 skin and the frame skin, 702.
Then I taped it all down nice and tight to keep things from moving.
The C-614 splice plate needed to be drilled using the plan's dimensions laid out. I measured and marked the holes, then used the drill press.
That C-614 piece then gets drilled to the frame channel. #40 to start out...these will get enlarged to #30 when I'm satisfied with the fit of everything.
I also drilled the hinge tabs to #30 while I was under there.
Then the frame comes off the fuselage to take everything apart to deburr the holes. Oh, before I took the frame off, I crawled up under the panel, and marked the hinge pin holes just to satisfy my curiosity of where I stand with edge distance at this point. Things are lookin' good! The left side is gonna be the closer of the two to the edge, but it looks like I'll have plenty of room.
This one is almost dead center!
The skin came off to deburr, and I also countersunk the holes for the hinge tabs. The frame is still flimsy since nothing is set, so the hinge could be taken out of place to get the countersink cage on the channel nicely.
The frame and skin then get put back on the fuselage...again...to make sure all is fitting properly.
The spacing between the two skins is perfect, and the only area of concern is here-
This is looking back at the 702 canopy frame skin. I tried everything I could think of to get this to lay down a bit more, no joy. If nothing else works, the easy thing to do here is to put a thin shim under the 771 forward skin to match it up with the 702 skin. No biggie.
I'm very happy with all this at this point, so I went ahead and drilled the C-614 splice holes to #30. No pic of that.
The frame came off the fuselage...again...to countersink the holes in the channel for the C-614 rivets, then I riveted that in place, as well as the hinge tabs. This really stiffens the frame up.
Time for the moment of truth. The frame goes back on the fuselage...again...to mark the hinge pin holes with a 1/4" bit. They don't get drilled all the way thru, just enough to mark the location so I can drill them on the bench. My angle drill is too bulky to get in there, so I lifted the 771 skin just enough to get the air drill in there with an extension on my 1/4" bit.
I'm happy to report that the holes are fine, and with the holes drilled out to 3/8" to accept the bushing, edge distance is good!
This is the left side...close, but fine.
And the right side. This hole is noticeably lower than the left side, but it doesn't seem to make any difference once installed.
I lost count of how many times I put the frame on and took it off, but back on it goes! I marked the 768 weather seal flange where it rubs the frame. This will get trimmed to alleviate any interference. I need to put the 771 skin back on to push the outer sub panels forward to check for clearance there, but didn't do it today.
I carefully moved the frame up and over the weather seal flange so I can trim those next time. The frame works!!!
I jammed to 7 U2 CD's today while working...very pleasing to the ear while working.
4.5 hours