RV 8 canopy/windscreen

[dooleypster]

Just about to start the canopy, and must separate the bubble into the 2 pieces for the front windscreen and the sliding canopy. Any advise for where to start the cutting process, what to use for the cut, and any pitfalls to avoid?

[Ironflight]

If you’re truly “just starting” the canopy, you have a lot of trimming to do before you make the “Big Cut”....

[jump4way]

I tried using the Van?s cutting wheel that?s included in the finish kit but that did not work out that great for me. I got a better cut with better control using my Dremel tool with thin fiberglass cutoff wheels.

It?s an iterative process, get ready for ton of plastic bits flying around.

There are quite a few threads found here addressing trimming the canopy. If I remember right, the idea was to trim the front to the sit on both the roll bar and the forward upper skin then trim the sides and back to fit the frame. One thing that helped me not take too much at a time was to take a popsicle stick and punch a hole in it about a half inch from the end then stick a dry erase marker through the hole. I then put the stick on the forward upper skin and traced around the canopy giving me a straight line to work with.

One other idea was to make a straight line with that dry erase marker from the center of the back of the canopy to the center of the front so you have something to visually align with each time you put the canopy back on after trimming.

[flyinga]

Do it in a warm place!

[Mike S]

Pete, welcome aboard the good ship VAF

[nilberg]

Like Ironflight said, there is a lot of cutting before splitting it in two.
The rough cutting to remove the excess material is good training and experimentation with cutting techniques.

I ended up with using the vans supplied cutting disc, but you need a good mandrel to avoid imbalance and wobbling. A wobbly tool makes things much harder.

Here is how I started (after getting new tools and mandrel, the first time didn’t go to well.....) https://youtu.be/DP7oAZ1zOi8

Make sure the cut off pieces are supported with your hand or tape to avoid seizing the cutting disc or worst case starting a crack.

I also made sure to sand all edges after each cutting session before I carried the bubble around.

[Scott Hersha]

For me, the kit supplied cut-off wheel would just sort of melt the plexi - SLOWLY. I ended up buying this Dremmel saw at Home Depot:

https://www.dremel.com/en_US/product...w-max-tool-kit

With the right blade, it cut through plexiglass like butter - QUICKLY. Other blades I bought or that came with the tool, cuts through thick aluminum and other stuff.

[mill2978]

I used one of these:

https://www.dremel.com/en_US/product...-cutting-wheel

Easy to control, cuts clean as opposed to melting/pushing material.

Temp in the shop was 68-70

That tool is also really handy for cutting fiberglass, I also got the 801 shaping wheel that I use for shaping fiberglass.

[dooleypster]

Many thanks for all the replies....I'll go at this slowly as you suggest.