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Heating the canopy with an electric blanket

AeroDog

AeroDog

Well Known Member
Friend
The KAI says to heat the hangar to 80 F before drilling or cutting the Plexiglas in order to prevent cracking. This is not possible for me. Has anyone tried heating the canopy with an electric blanket prior to drilling? I used the search tool but couldn't fine anything. Thanks.

Jerre
 
I've heard of people putting a small space heater on low and slowly heating the canopy from inside. I don't know if the blanket would work or not. In particular you want the plexiglass warm where you are drilling/cutting.
 
Robin8er said:
I've heard of people putting a small space heater on low and slowly heating the canopy from inside. I don't know if the blanket would work or not. In particular you want the plexiglass warm where you are drilling/cutting.
Click to expand...

I used the space heater trick. Of course, I don't live in Colorado.

If I was in a cold climate, I'd consider using a space heater inside the cabin with a couple of packing blankets over the canopy and only peel back the blankets in very localized areas for drilling.
 
Spring

Or wait till spring.
If you mess up a canopy, it will be spring anyways when the replacement arrives.
My climate is not as cold as yours, but I was going to get the frame done and then decide to wait or not. I still have firewall forward to do instead. JMHO
 
I would wait till a little warmer day. Could also use a couple of the 500 watt halogen construction lamps from your favorite home store. They project quite a bit of heat and would be more consistent than a space heater. Placed several feet away of course.

You don?t want some areas heated differently than others, as a space heater would do.
 
It would be difficult to warm the entire canopy evenly...and uneven heating would create temporary stress where there was none before.
 
What you don't want to do is point a heat source directly at the plexiglas.

What you want to do is put the space heater in the baggage area or footwell so the warm air will diffuse and warm the entire interior. It might take 20 minutes with a closed canopy to bring everything up to temp.
 
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