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canopy drilling

tim walter

Well Known Member
I am about to drill the canopy
I have the correct bits, but can't find any advice on drill speed.
is it better to drill at high rpm with my air drill
or to go slow with a battery drill?
 
I did mine with a battery drill at about half speed. That seemed to work OK. Try it on some scrap first. I used some offcuts from the landing light lens to practice on.
 
I am about to drill the canopy
I have the correct bits, but can't find any advice on drill speed.
is it better to drill at high rpm with my air drill
or to go slow with a battery drill?

The directions say high speed low pressure. I used the high speed setting on my battery drill with light pressure and obtained good results. The key with drilling plexi is to control the temperature of the canopy. If its nice and warm in your shop then you should be fine. Drilling a cold canopy is setting yourself up for cracks.
 
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Your Mileage May Vary!!!

I am currently working on my canopy fitting and drilling. What I've found is that following the instructions verbatim works fine....

Initial drill #40 with standard bit I've used previously on aluminum. Open up to 5/32" with a plexi bit running full speed on air drill with light pressure. I drilled the 5/8" handle hole with unibit and no pre drilled hole.... Go slow.

Contrary to what someone posted previously, the worst results on my practice pieces was in I tried to open up a pre drilled hole with a unibit. In fact my regular drill bits provided better holes than that. Regardless of what bit, I've found the worst results when pushing through the material too fast.

Good luck:)
 
The ONLY way to open the hole is to use a unibit. For the initial hole, I used a hand drill and did not have to worry about the bit grabbing and the plexi snapping back as the bit penetrated the last bit thru the hole. See my blog for some detailed research and the methods I used.

The other advantage of using the unibit is it bevels the surface around the hole, relieving at the sharp corner. I went VERY slow with the plexi bits and the unibit. Had perfect results.

Also ensure all holes in the plexi are large enough for the screw to pass easily, to allow for expansion in the sun. (The hole sizes that the plans recommend near the skirt are undersized.)
 
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BuzzJ

I've now drilled all the holes per plan and I'm about to remove the canopy to enlarge the holes per plan. Thanks for all the advice about enlarging the holes! I am concerned, though, about machine countersinking the plexi on the front bow per 34-07 step 3. Isn't this risky? Any sage advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
If you don't have a plex bit, run a standard twist drill into concrete for a 1/4" or so and it will work just fine.

Doug Dahl
 
I've now drilled all the holes per plan and I'm about to remove the canopy to enlarge the holes per plan. Thanks for all the advice about enlarging the holes! I am concerned, though, about machine countersinking the plexi on the front bow per 34-07 step 3. Isn't this risky? Any sage advice would be greatly appreciated!


I found that machine countersinking plexi was real smooth; easier than drilling. Used the same countersinking tool and bit that I used for all the aluminum.
 
I found that machine countersinking plexi was real smooth; easier than drilling. Used the same countersinking tool and bit that I used for all the aluminum.

Use the single hole countersink bit for the best results.

200px-CrossHoleDeburrer.jpg
 
BuzzJ

Just completed the drilling and countersinking in about 75 degree garage. Went well. Used a plexi bit. The drill bit did grab, slightly, on two or three holes....slight, very small chip on those, but I used hand countersink/deburring tool to take care of that...think it will be okay. And, you were so correct, the countersinking was the easiest of all! Thx for the help.

Question for all...is there any concern of cracking the plexi while riveting along the front bow? Can the plexi take that kind of squeezing, safely?
 
I followed the plans and all went very well. You can practice on some scrap first to get your courage up :D
 
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