Hi guys. Great forum. I just stumbled on it.
I started a QB 9A slider this past August. I expect to be flying within 4 weeks. As of today, I have 1042 hours of build time. I figure I have 140 hours left before my first flight and another 200 hours after that on finish work.
After first contemplating the ludicrous idea of tweaking the canopy frame per the manual, I developed a way to get the frame dialed and spent less than four hours doing it. Mine is within 1/32" on the sides and rear hoops.
Someone on an earlier post had it correct. "TEMPLATES". Make a masonite template of the each fuse side and use it to match the side bow. The next critical step is to take a large piece of cardboard and lay it against the rear skin and trace it to represent fuse profile at the rear of the canopy down to the track deck. Next inset that line 3/16" for the plexi thickness and another 1/2" for the rear bow size (for a total of 11/16") Now transfer that profile to a piece of hard material and cut it out. Bisect it down the middle removing 3/4" ( the center bow width). You now have a perfect pattern of each rear bow. Bend to match this and you are home free.
There is no rational way of telling where to make a bend by "sighting" between the fuse and frame. The template shows exactly where the radii are to tight or to large. I used a 1/2" tube bender for corrections on the rear bows. I happen to have a pyramid roll which I used to quickly get the side radius dialed.
The front bar is pretty close. Just get the width correct. Keep it 3/8" small. It opens up. I had to remove nearly 1/2" of material from the bottom where the rollers mount to get the height correct.
Hope this helps.
I started a QB 9A slider this past August. I expect to be flying within 4 weeks. As of today, I have 1042 hours of build time. I figure I have 140 hours left before my first flight and another 200 hours after that on finish work.
After first contemplating the ludicrous idea of tweaking the canopy frame per the manual, I developed a way to get the frame dialed and spent less than four hours doing it. Mine is within 1/32" on the sides and rear hoops.
Someone on an earlier post had it correct. "TEMPLATES". Make a masonite template of the each fuse side and use it to match the side bow. The next critical step is to take a large piece of cardboard and lay it against the rear skin and trace it to represent fuse profile at the rear of the canopy down to the track deck. Next inset that line 3/16" for the plexi thickness and another 1/2" for the rear bow size (for a total of 11/16") Now transfer that profile to a piece of hard material and cut it out. Bisect it down the middle removing 3/4" ( the center bow width). You now have a perfect pattern of each rear bow. Bend to match this and you are home free.
There is no rational way of telling where to make a bend by "sighting" between the fuse and frame. The template shows exactly where the radii are to tight or to large. I used a 1/2" tube bender for corrections on the rear bows. I happen to have a pyramid roll which I used to quickly get the side radius dialed.
The front bar is pretty close. Just get the width correct. Keep it 3/8" small. It opens up. I had to remove nearly 1/2" of material from the bottom where the rollers mount to get the height correct.
Hope this helps.
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