Craig23

Craig23

Well Known Member
Hello Everyone,

I am looking for help with a problem I ran into fitting my canopy frame to the fuselage. When I slide the frame forward into the closed position, the forward roll bar of the frame hits the aft edges of the F-821 skin. In order to push the frame into a fully closed position, it has to rest inside the edges of the skin, which pushes them out and causes them to slice into the powdercoating of the canopy frame.

It looks like I should be able to trim away the aft edges of the skin, especially since I will be fiberglassing that area to match the canopy skirt. I have not found anything about it in the plans or drawings though, so before I cut metal I wanted to get advice from people who have gone before me. What do you think? Am I safe in trimming that part of the skin? I've checked the width of the frame to make sure it matches the width of the fuselage. I included a picture below showing the area I am thinking about trimming.


canopyframe821skinproblej5.jpg


Thanks,
 
Craig,
You have to get creative her because the plans don't give a clear path to follow. I cut the skin off just in front of the canopy bow and made a fiberglass lip for it to slide under. as I said there are several different ways to approach this as I've seen them in the field. Check my Post: What to do on a rainy Day in the RV 8 forum to see how I handled it.
Thanks,
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Now another problem

Thanks for the answers guys. I checked a few different builder's websites and found that they had cut the skins in that area, so I made an initial clearance cut on them today. Then I ran into another obstacle.:(

I guess I didn't do as good a job bending my longerons as I thought. When I put on my C-803 rails today, I found that they are difficult to fit. It looks like the longerons are not twisted enough, so my 816 sill sits angled outward instead of level when measured across the width of the fuselage. If I cleco the bottom of the 803 firmly against the 816 sill, the canopy rail is difficult to move forward or back. I think I will need to use shims between the 816 and the 803 rails.

Has anyone else had this problem? My first thought is to use some sort of liquid shim, or maybe resin and microballoons, to fill in the gap between the bottom of the 803 and the 816. The shims would have to take a wedge shape, and I want to fill any visible gaps between the two parts. I tried to take a picture of the problem, but the photos didn't come out very well.

Any ideas?
 
Trim It

I was faced with the same situation. I simply cut some of the material away and am going to cover it with the fiberglass window frame. It has worked out well so far.
Jeff
 
confused

I'm afraid I don't follow you Jeff. What did you cut away? Do you have any pictures?
 
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