Canopy RV-7A
 

Hi guys, from Oz

I have had a break over our winter here and am raring to go again. After much misery before I went on vacation, my canopy frame now meets the specs so I've got the canopy ready to drill the hole for the canopy handle and get on with the Big Cut and fitting.

I have read that Step 1 is to nestle the frame into the bubble where it should find its natural sweet spot. I guess I've found that:-



However, as you can see the centre (top) bar of the frame doesn't follow the contour of the bubble; at worst there's a 5/8" gap.



My question is: when I drill the hole for the canopy handle and cut the bubble in two, will the canopy section relax and take up the centre gap?

:confused: Thanks as always from Bewildered Ray

Canopy cut
 

Hi Ray

This is a fun part of the build enjoy it :)

I drilled my canopy hole before making the big cut, and to get mine to match up with the canopy frame I needed to move the frame as far back as I possibly could, Just be careful not to go too far and end up with a ski jump looking shape on the rear top end.

Here are some pics of how mine matched the frame.

http://rv6aj.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/the-big-cut/

Same problem
 

Just got over the same problem. Mine is now trimmed and cut, just finished drilling side skirts. Canopy/frame fit was terrible, mine did not have "sweet spots" it was off anywhere you placed it.n I ended up having it as far back as you can, THAT resulted in the "ski" jump, no overhang past the rear bow AND i had to reduce bend in the top bow to fit reasonably well. Now I have to come up with some braces or something else to support yet to be made fiberglass rear skirt. Canopy/ frame so far was the most frustrating part of the whole kit (slow built kit). Frame fit along took nearly 2 weeks of 4-6 hours a day to get it "right". I used blocks system as shown here: http://larrys-airplane.blogspot.com/...opy-frame.html
Used pipe clamps to do the work. BE CAREFUL not to kink or flatten the frame. For me it was stressful time, hope you would not have to go thru the same. Advice here is to go slow and just walk away when you get frustrated, just assume it will take time to get it right, and with time it will be right (or close enough).

One more thing.
 

Do not use power tolls as a guy in the pictures. Power tools will cut, BUT they will not slow down or stop if you are off. Air grinder will jam and stop, resulting in very slow cut, but also very accurate with thin line. I started first cuts with powerful drill, my cuts were BAD, angled grinder is light and worked very well, I was glad I spent $69 to get it, perhaps saved me from craked canopy with power tool. Good luck.

I used an oscillating saw for all canopy cuts -worked great (also works a treat on aluminium)

By oscillating, do you mean that saw with the tip that vibrates super fast, not a jigsaw or sawsall, right? :-)

What year did you buy the finish kit, my frame fit out of the box! 2012 model, They must have listened to all the complaints, was the bottom box Part of your frame curved or straight? Mine was curved, also the top rear bow matched my fuse perfect.

It was pulled 4/14/11
It was new unopened, but i got it must be third hand down in October 2013.
Yes, my side bows were curved, this did not require much of anything, BUT everything else did. I am sure it will come out well with Aluminum bottom skirt and fiberglass rear skirt. However, there was nothing easy about my fit. Another thing to note is that I am doing rivets for frame to glass attachment, so the fit has to be more exact versus sikaflex method.

Hum, there is of course always an argument about how to build these things, but....plexi is very fragile, I could not be comfortable with the fact of that bubble being held on by only 12% of surface area, rivets, compared to 100% of contact area with Silka, the aluminum skirt is doable, no worries of cracking glass down the road:D

The plexi is actually sandwiched between 2 sheets of aluminum via screws/bolts, not rivets. Rivets then secure the aluminums sheets to the frame. Just like most of the rest of the plane, a fraction of contact area is used for bonding with rivets and works just fine. :-)