3/9/2008
I started this morning as planned with the jettison mechanism. No reason to repeat the pictures of re-making the pushrod, but here are the finished shots of the mechanism in the open and closed positions.
Open-
Closed-
Done except securing the handle to the sub-panel with a clamp.
Back to the side canopy release handle. First I had to countersink the angle and dimple the skin for the rivets.
Then I installed the yellow knob on the handle.
Van's calls for UHMW tape on the angles to prevent the handle from scrapping the angle bracket. Do I have UHMW tape? Nope. Does any store in town have UHMW tape? Nope. A quick call to my buddy Rob Johnson, turns up an almost used up roll of 1" UHMW tape that he had, and is not going to use. Sweet!! Thanks Rob! This would've put a huge damper in my day if I hadn't found some.
The top angle in this pic already has the tape applied and trimmed, the bottom one is yet to be trimmed.
Then I riveted the angles to the skin, and installed the 607 and 609 handle and latch. I couldn't be happier with how this turned out!
I had to pull the latch part (C-609 I think) off the angle to install the spring that keeps pressure on the latch. I tried this in several positions, and this one seems to work the best for me.
The wire can go in the latch from the top or bottom. The problem I ran in to was the spring kept wanting to pop on top or underneath the latch. Did that make any sense? Didn't think so...I bent the wire just a little bit right before the latch so the spring stays put against the front edge of the latch. Hard to see in the pic above, but you can see where the bend is.
This works with a very satisfying "click"!
Next was the WD-617 aft lower canopy latch. This bar keeps both sides of the canopy secure at the bottom corners. Here it is clamped in position to drill the UHMW blocks.
There are pre-punched holes in the 705 bulkhead that are used to "mark" the block. A #30 bit is run in about 1/8" or less to mark it.
Then it is removed to drill the blocks to #10 in the drill press. The holes in 705 get drilled to #12 also.
The right side of the WD-617 can be trimmed slightly to shave off a few ounces if one wants to. I do, so I marked it, and cut it with the Dremel and a cutoff wheel.
Here it's installed.
The last thing I did today was install the VS-411 brackets on the left side.
That will connect the hinge from the handle up front to the bar above it.
4.75 hours