3/25/2008
Tonight was kinda cool, kinda frustrating. Canopy frame...need I say more?
I started out by making the F-704 splice plate that will attach the 631A rib halves to form the tip up side of the roll bar. This was tedious making all the measurement lines for the hole locations.
Then I checked the fit of the WD-725 side rails. It says in the instructions that these may need to be adjusted. The left was perfect, and the right was nearly so, but needed just a slight bit more curve. That was taken care of, and they fit really well.
The curve in the WD-716 needs to have the joggle taken out of it. Here's how it looks before-
And after using the pneumatic squeezer with flush sets to make a smooth curve out of it-
Next I drilled the hole pattern in the 613 splice plates, and the end plate/angle on the WD-725's.
Then I taped the 13/16" spacers to the back of the 631A ribs. I kinda feel like a third spacer would help here after I got 'em all clamped up, but this works alright.
First, the 631A's were clamped to the roll bar, then the side rails were clamped in position. This is where it became rather frustrating. Like everyone says, if you move one piece, something else moves. This took a while to get set up, and I'm not fully comfortable with drilling anything yet, but I'm close.
The 1/8" spacers are pointed out by the red arrows. I need to find some .032 scrap, or use the 603 side skirts themselves to get the 725's positioned properly to line up with the side of the fuselage. Lots of clamps.
I know I have a couple of trims to make at a couple of locations, but I may drill the holes first and trim later...we'll see.
3.0 hours