Stupid Canopy Cracking Mistake

[Jamie]

Ok, so I'll admit this was a very dumb mistake.

I managed to cut my canopy, trim it, drill it and countersink it with no cracks. But I start screwing it on the frame in order to fit the side skirts and it cracks.



The reason it cracked it obvious -- the bottom edge of the plexi it sitting up on the joggle. Doh! It looked fine before I drilled it but I guess it really wasn't (it's sort of hard to see through the canopy with the vinyl still on).

So I guess now my question is -- what would you do about it? Obviously I'm going to trim the lower edge of the canopy to clear the joggle, but what would you do about the crack? I understand that there are some solvents that basically 'melt' the plexi and you can use it to fix cracks like this. Does anyone know of such a product?

Alternatively I was thinking of just using some sort of epoxy (if deemed safe for plexi) or perhaps someone's leftover silkaflex to glue this portion.

[scard]

It seems to me that this is now just a stop drilled crack in a single location. My thought would be just build on. (Disclaimer) I haven't gotten to this point yet.

[rodrv6]

I agree, it's already stop drilled and not likely to go anywhere else. It may be best to leave it alone rather than risk trying to fix it.

[sprucemoose]

I'd recommend you get some Weldon 3 and glue the crack. The stuff is thinner than water and will wick into the crack. I had a similar experience with a crack, except mine occured while drilling, and went towards the canopy middle, not the edge like yours. Some Weldon and a stop drill, and it's holding fine after 300 hours and numerous canopy cycles.

You can get Weldon at any supply house, or see if someone has some locally.

[Bob Axsom]

As you said trim if for a proper fit and the limited crack is something I would take as a wake up call and live with it. The only nagging concern I would have is, is there a microscopic crack somewhere else around the edge of the hole? Just typing as I'm thinking here but at the first level I would get a good magnifying glass and see if there is any visible cracking elsewhere around the hole. If there is, that has to be eliminated. If I found no visible evidence of cracking elsewhere I would still do something to remove the surface of the hole to eliminate any crack starters that are not visible. What tools to use is not clear to me at the moment but something tapered to polish off the edge corners and a cylindrical tool to polish the side walls of the hole seem right. I would be thinking in the area of very low speed hand tools, probably manual (no power at all). The obvious visible crack should only be a problem if differential pressure is applied across the crack.

Bob Axsom

[mlw450802]

Originally Posted by sprucemoose

I'd recommend you get some Weldon 3 and glue the crack. The stuff is thinner than water and will wick into the crack. I had a similar experience with a crack, except mine occured while drilling, and went towards the canopy middle, not the edge like yours. Some Weldon and a stop drill, and it's holding fine after 300 hours and numerous canopy cycles.

You can get Weldon at any supply house, or see if someone has some locally.

Agreed!
Do this before the fracture surface becomes contaminated and the repair will be very strong! I have fabricated many plexi boxes using weldon to glue them together and the seams are usually equal in strength to the base material.