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Todd's canopies

C

chris mitchell

Well Known Member
A group of us here in England need 8 canopies in total, of various types (RV-8, Harmon Ricket, Fournier RF4), and have been trying to get them from Todd. Initial response was good but now, for weeks, nothing. Is this experience typical? Any hints or tips on how to progress this quite large order?
We know that his canopies are excellent and so far as we know he is the only supplier of Rocket and RF4 canopies. But being 3000 miles and an ocean away is a bit difficult......
Thanks
Chris
 
Todd's

I have a Todd's Canopy , really happy with it , would do it again .
I picked mine up at his shop , and got to see his operation . Most would be amazed that it's Todd and maybe two helpers in a rented 1000 (?) square foot shop , vacume forming on a home built oven with old shop vacs .
Todd is an amazing talent , has lots of work , little time for customer service . Tell him what you want and a reasonable timeframe , I'm sure he will get back to you when he gets a chance .
 
g zero said:
I have a Todd's Canopy , really happy with it , would do it again .
I picked mine up at his shop , and got to see his operation . Most would be amazed that it's Todd and maybe two helpers in a rented 1000 (?) square foot shop , vacume forming on a home built oven with old shop vacs .
Todd is an amazing talent , has lots of work , little time for customer service . Tell him what you want and a reasonable timeframe , I'm sure he will get back to you when he gets a chance .
Click to expand...

Interesting, our "industry" is made of many small operations, not major corporations.

I have wondered, to expand that canopy to a certain shape, does it depend on the temperature management alone to allow the pressure to expand, or is there some kind of mold where the canopy is expanded to meet a fixed mold? I saw a TV program where a bubble was made but it just used pressure to expand and temperature of the sheet had to be even or the bubble would be odd shaped.

Thanks in advance.
 
A few years back a small group of us here in California worked with Todd to buy three different canopies and share freight from Florida. It worked out great, saved us quite a bit on shipping, and I'm very happy with my tinted RV-8 canopy. Be patient!
 
We did a group buy (of 2) Rocket canopies recently, and while he is great to work with up front, accomodates custom requirements without hesitation, and the end product is excellent, expect a bit of a wait beyond his promised delivery.

Just the nature of his operation.
 
According to Facebook, Todd was on vacation recently. Be patient. I'm sure he'll catch up to you.

Good products!!!
 
Todd's

BillL said:
Interesting, our "industry" is made of many small operations, not major corporations.

I have wondered, to expand that canopy to a certain shape, does it depend on the temperature management alone to allow the pressure to expand, or is there some kind of mold where the canopy is expanded to meet a fixed mold? I saw a TV program where a bubble was made but it just used pressure to expand and temperature of the sheet had to be even or the bubble would be odd shaped.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


Todd's are all " Free Blown " only form is the perimeter . Pretty much the way you blow soap bubbles , but instead of soap it's plastic that's sucked with a vacuum. A lot of Art and trade knowledge goes into getting the right shape .

His oven is the body and frame from an old "pop up " trailer with a bunch of heating elements that are each separately controlled . Vacuum is provided by some shop vacs .
 
Todd

Todd was great when it came to ordering my canopy. After I received it he spent a huge amount of time giving me this on the installation. I truly appreciated his sincere desire to help ensure my canopy was installed properly.
Gary
 
If you wait quietly, you will be waiting for months. I tried it. The more silent you are, the less likely you will see your canopies any time soon. When I ordered mine he promised it would ship within the week. I think I heard that promise another half dozen or so times before he finally shipped it.....14 weeks later. It only shipped then because I told him if I didn't have a tracking number by Friday I was ordering a Vans canopy and expected a refund.

Nice enough canopy, but if I were to build another 100 RV's, none of them would have a Todds canopy on it. Besides the bong smoke customer service, the shape difference makes Van's already questionable fiberglass fit even worse.....which means more work.
 
Toods

We did two racer canopies from Todds this year . 2nd time i have used him...i got nothing but good things to say about the man and his work. Dont get on his bad side and talk to him about his passion...fishing, and you will be fine. As any artist working in shapes, he takes his time but you will like his results...no distortions at all! Emails, text, voice messages...makes no difference..if he told you a date, he will do it.
 
Good tip. I just ordered a new Emeraude canopy from him. I'll mail him back and tempt him with trout.
 
Sibirsky said:
Hi , Is this only Available for RV8 AND RV4?
I am looking for something for RV9.
Click to expand...

If you are asking about a canopy from Todd's Canopies, Todd died in a plane crash a year ago. I am not sure if anyone has taken over his company and is making canopies...
 
Someone has taken over the business but as there's some skill involved, is slowly coming up to speed. I don't have the link but if you hit Search, then Advanced Search (at the bottom of the pop-up), then put "Todd's Canopies" in as a search term, it'll probably find it for you.

Dave
 
Trying to work it out!

Hey All,

I'm the guy (actually, I'm the guy who bought it, from the guy who bought it, from Todd's family) I picked up what was available in January, mainly forms. Since then I've built an oven and ruined five sheets of acrylic. Got two actual 'canopies' in the last couple of tries, but the shape was wrong. I'm trying to solve the issue, but soon I'm going to run out of sacrificial plastic! Meanwhile, I need to find a supplier for more plastic.

In response to the question of available models, so far only the tandem models are possible. The plastic when blow formed wants to make a sphere. The canopy form restricts the bubble into a useable shape. Since the side by side models do not have a spherical shape (they're somewhat flat on top), they require a buck to drape the plastic over. A project for much later!

As mentioned before, once I have something to sell, I'll be advertising here.

Meanwhile, this is really delaying the FB 8 build...

Thanks, Lance
 
Up and running!!

Ok Guys and Gals,

I've figured it out! I can make RV8 canopies (as it turns out I started with the hardest one first, go figure...) Here's a couple of pics of them. I'll be contacting Doug to get an ad up this week. Thanks for the support!

Lance

RV%20Clear_zpsp1xxlvgz.jpg.html


Tinted%20RV8_zpsyp7xuig2.jpg.html
 
They look awesome!! Waiting for my wing kit but I'm sure I'll be taking to you in the future.
 
About that...

Hey Charlie,

How dark a tint are you talking about? I can tell you that even the tint shown does a fantastic job of keeping the heat and glare down. I've flown with both and I can definitely recommend the tinted canopy, but then again I live on the surface of the sun (S. Florida).
 
Congrats!

Hey lance....Congrats on the progress! The canopies look great....can't wait to get started.... You will be hearing from me soon!
 
Fantastic!

Even more incentive to get the wings and fuse done. Future purchaser when I'm ready for it......
 
RV CANOPY

Hi Lance

What thinkness of plexiglass sheet do you use for your canopy??

I know Todd used to employ 220 mm sheet for an RV-4 canopy which is way better than what Aeroplastic is using ( 170 mm )..

The difference was noticeable and it was way easier to work with..

Thanks

Bruno
 
RV-4 said:
Hi Lance

What thinkness of plexiglass sheet do you use for your canopy??

I know Todd used to employ 220 mm sheet for an RV-4 canopy which is way better than what Aeroplastic is using ( 170 mm )..

The difference was noticeable and it was way easier to work with..

Thanks

Bruno
Click to expand...

You might check your figures...220mm is 8 2/3 inches. F-16 canopies aren't that thick!
 
Canopy thickness...

Hey Bruno,

The sizes are inches in decimal form. For instance 0.22 is 'pretty close' to 1/4, so that's what most folks call it. The same goes for 0.177 which is 'about' 3/16 (3/16 is .187 in the rest of the world).

As far as the difference between workability between the two, I can't tell any difference between pieces from the manufacturer I use, and I've personally ruined a lot of both lately! Maybe different manufacturers glass has different properties.

I just finished an email to another gentleman concerning thickness and it follows:

-----------

I've given the thickness a lot of thought, and personally, I'm going with 3/16 for my RV8 project for two reasons. First the final thickness isn't the same as original once the plastic is formed. At it's thinnest, it's about 1/8 inch (for 3/16 original size), so by the time both sizes are blown, they're about 1/32 different... That's not going to change the results of a bird strike. Bird strikes are a result of bad luck, and whether or not it goes through the canopy depends on how bad your luck is!

Second, and most important to me is weight. Plexiglass is surprisingly heavy, and the difference between 3/16 and 1/4 is nearly 5 lbs for an RV8, probably 3 or 4 for the RV3. To me that's a lot of weight that's doing nothing! If you read my posts you'll see that I'm a little OCD about weight. I built an RV8A that weighed 975 lbs ready to fly, and had amazing performance.

The same plane had a Todd's tinted canopy, and I was very happy with it. The RV6 I fly now has a clear one, and it's like flying a terrarium, hot, hot, hot. Plus I need to wear a long sleeve shirt and hat. That's exactly what I wanted to do in S. Florida on 95 degree days.

Hope this helps,

Lance
 
RV CANOPY

OkieDave:eek:oopppssss...forgot the dot..it is more like .220 mm...:eek:

Lance: thanks for the reply..

The reason I asked is that I'm on my fourth canopy on my RV-4 (Bought it with a crack in the first ) and I had enough of the wobbly ones from Vans so I asked Todd to make me one that wouldn't flex as much and that is when he told me about the thinkness he was using..and the results was as I expected..it is nice and feel solid versus the last one I had on the aircraft which was so thin that I'm surprise it lasted this long..

I wish you the best in your new business and I'm sure that you will have plenty of business with the folks here..

Cheers

Bruno
 
RV8 windscreen

Hi Lance, could you make a thicker windscreen for an RV8 that would be more resistant to bird strikes? Agree that a birdstrike that comes into the cockpit is a bad luck event, but it seems like a thicker windscreen would reduce the risk. Perhaps a flat one, not a bubble like the standard windscreen? Not protruding into the baggage space?
 
Hey Mickey,

As mentioned in my prior post, I doubt that there's much to be gained by going to 1/4 vs 3/16 (especially after forming)... That being said, undoubtedly there's a thickness that will stop a bird, even a turkey vulture. How thick to do that? I have no idea, but it will be thick enough that it will create other issues, especially if you try to keep the original thickness from the roll bar back. There will be an issue at the intersection with mismatched height (all the way around) and unless it's a clear canopy, the tint will be noticeably darker. I'm sure there's other problems that will arise as you try to install it...

At some point due to thickness, the windshield will survive, but not on the airplane. Imagine a 25 lb turkey vulture hitting the windshield at 170 kts, and ripping out that handful of little fasteners...

As far as making a flat wrap, yes I could do it, but I doubt I would sell enough of them to justify the time spent on tooling up for it. I recall a member here did it himself and it came out fine, and I imagine I would find myself competing with enterprising individuals who would make their own.

Lastly, I could form a thicker canopy overall, but it's going to get heavy pretty fast as the thickness goes up.

All that being said, if folks want a thicker canopy, I'll do it (even if I hate weight!).

Lance
 
judoka5051 said:
The RV6 I fly now has a clear one, and it's like flying a terrarium, hot, hot, hot.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify erroneous info that is repeatedly spread.....

If the RV-6 you speak of has a standard Van's canopy it is not clear (hold a white piece of paper up to edge and it is obvious).

The standard kit canopies have always been tinted but they are not a dark tint because they are manufactured to meet the light transmit-ability requirement set by the FAA for night flight.
 
Windshield

Really no such thing as a birdproof windshield. Lear 23 had a thick lexan windshield but not certified to meet bird strike requirements. Large bird went thru the windshield and killed the pilot. Lunken Airport in Ohio many years ago, right after takeoff at relatively low speed.
Airline windshields meet a certification requirement for surviving bird strikes of a certain size, but not extremely large birds.
 
Airliner front windshields are also two panes of thick glass separated by a heating element. The heat is to allow the glass to have some plastic properties in the event of a bird (or now, unfortunately...drone) strike. There is a significant speed limitation if the heat is inoperative and a very short time period allowed for replacement. That is how important the FAA considers it.
 
rv8ch said:
Hi Lance, could you make a thicker windscreen for an RV8 that would be more resistant to bird strikes? Agree that a birdstrike that comes into the cockpit is a bad luck event, but it seems like a thicker windscreen would reduce the risk. Perhaps a flat one, not a bubble like the standard windscreen? Not protruding into the baggage space?
Click to expand...

I don't have a wind screen in front of me so this may be the dumbest idea of all time but:

Can you remove a center section of a standard bubble windscreen and replace it with framing and a flat panel?
 
Saville said:
Well by "possible" I meant "Would it work and would it not be aggressively ugly" ;)
Click to expand...

It would be hard to make it attractive, at least on the non side-by-side models, I think. And a flat panel that can resist a bird strike up to Vne would be heavy, plus it would need stout support structure.

Might be better off with a helmet and visor.

Dave
 
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