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idleup

Well Known Member
1. Is there any websites of a -7 or -9 with tip ups that show the gluing process? all the links and wiki's I have looked at with exception of the PH-VIII one are all -8 or -4's or sliders..

2. On the tip up how are people keeping a thick bead as per Sika's recommendations and still able to put the side skirts over the canopy? it seems that the plexi has to be perfectly flat in order for it to fit right.

Still trying to learn more about the processes but seems to be a real lack of pictures and instructions for the tip-ups...

- Matt
 
I don't have pictures of the process (no one available to take them, and I was busy :)

When I built my frame, I offset the side pieces 1/8" inboard with spacers at the front. I adjusted the rear frame width and height so that I had about a 1/4" gap all around.

So I have at least an 1/8" bead along the sides and I also made sure the bottom edge area had plenty of glue as well. When I glued the canopy in place, I put teflon tape on the side skirts, and clecoed them in place to hold the canopy, but attached them later. The exterior side skirts have some glue on them, but I didn't make any attempt to put a thicker bead there - the inside bead and bottom are going to have to do the main structural job.
On the rear canopy, I left over an inch of canopy extending inside the skin, and sanded the edge behind the skin very well to get a few thousandths more glue there, but I also glued the rear canopy to the chanel at the top. I had about a 1/4" gap between it and the canopy. That joint is definitely enough to hold the plexi in place, and there is enough glue along the edges to hold them down very securely.
Glueing the canopy is definitely a roll-your-own affair, since it's not a mainstream process (yet anyway :)
 
What does Sikaflex NOT stick to.

I hope this does not derail your thread but I think it relevant.

When you work with fiberglass you can use wax or cling film to protect surfaces where you do NOT want a bond. Anyone know what works with Sikaflex?

Thaniks.
 
After looking at the canopy frame, in order for the rear skin to fit at the lower part of the roll bar the whole roll bar needs to be smaller. This means that planning would have to be done before the roll bar is riveted and installed. If you put in a 3/16" gap for the rear window, the skin that goes over the window will not meet flush at the sides.

- Matt
 
No primer no stickee

Steve Sampson said:
I hope this does not derail your thread but I think it relevant.

When you work with fiberglass you can use wax or cling film to protect surfaces where you do NOT want a bond. Anyone know what works with Sikaflex?

Thaniks.
Click to expand...
Any unprimed metal surface I accidentally got Sikaflex on, it peeled off quite easily. I used teflon tape on the side skirts when I glued the canopy, and that worked very well.
 
Sikaflex Canopy Pictures

Hi Matt,

There are several pictures and installation information showing how I glued the tip up canopy on my RV9-A on the Matronics Wiki.

Hope this helps.
 
Jim,

I am very curious, do you have close up pictures of the rear window where the side skin meets the rollbar?

Also, with a 3/16" gap around ribs on the rear of the main part of the canopy did it still fit flush on the rollbar? if so, how did you glue the rear windows on the roll bar so it matched up?

Do you have any close up pictures of the rollbar with the canopy open to see some details?

Lastly, did you finish riveting the canopy frame and skin on before doing this?

- Matt
 
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Matt,

I took a dozen pictures but only a few were in focus. Must be something wrong with the camera. The pictures that did turn out ok are not much help in showing how the plexiglass fits around the roll bar.

I know you were concerned about the fit where the canopy rests on the roll bar because of the spacing between the plexiglass and the canopy frame. To make the front and rear plexiglass "match" in height, I covered the roll bar with release tape (3M clear packaging tape), placed shims under the canopy frame, and closed the canopy on a bead of Sikaflex and let it sit overnight. This created a "gasket" on the inside aft edge of the canopy that rests on the roll bar.
 
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Great idea. Thanks. Let me know when you can get some pictures...

Jim Ellis said:
Matt,

I took a dozen pictures but only a few were in focus. Must be something wrong with the camera. The pictures that did turn out ok are not much help in showing how the plexiglass fits around the roll bar.

I know you were concerned about the fit where the canopy rests on the roll bar because of the spacing between the plexiglass and the canopy frame. To make the front and rear plexiglass "match" in height, I covered the roll bar with release tape (3M clear packaging tape), placed shims under the canopy frame, and closed the canopy on a bead of Sikaflex and let it sit overnight. This created a "gasket" on the inside aft edge of the canopy that rests on the roll bar.
Click to expand...
 
I just installed my tip-up this weekend using Sikaflex. I was also concerned with the lack of spacing along the aft canopy frame sides. I set a 1/8" washer about 7" above the side rails on the cabin frame. This allowed a tapering sikaflex bead down the side. My Cabin frame and aft canopy frame were built to plans, but I did set the canopy frame slightly lower than the cabin frame. I ended up with a 3/16" bead around the aft canopy frame. By setting washers on the cabin frame instead of the aft canopy frame we were able to get a continuous bead to be set around the canopy frame. The next day I filled the holes in the front where the washers had been removed and made a small fillet. Hope this helps

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/82/img0059jy9.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/6/img0060vb2.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/6581/img0056ny8.jpg
 
Thanks Rocky, Do you have pictures of the sides? How did you make the sides so the skirts will be flush with the side skin?

Also, did you still use bolts on the side skirts?

- Matt
 
Matt,
On the side rails what we did was to lay a small bead in the middle of flange and then I used a popsicle stick to coat the flange. I laid another small bead near the joggle at the lower end of the plexi. I'm going to do a slider on my buddies RV7 in the near future so I'm waiting to finish my sides and aft window. I'm not sure what the shelf life is on opened tubes. It's probably fine, but I want to finish wiring before putting the aft window in. When I finish I will lay a thin coat on the plexi after priming and fill the joggle, then cleco and clamp the side skirt skin. I don't think I'll use any screws, I can't imagine it coming loose especially sandwiched between metal on the sides, but I have time to think about it. Today I installed the struts fine tuned the canopy locks. It looks great and works great. My son actually laid the Sikaflex on the aft canopy frame and really put a bunch up there. Here are some other pictures.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4789/img0049eu3.jpg
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2943/img0080ye4.jpg
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3039/img0083jq8.jpg
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7396/img0082cc2.jpg
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4886/img0067kv9.jpg
 
Just done the main canopy on our 7 tip up. Laid a bead around the hoop and protected the roll bar with Saran wrap. On top of this I put a 2" wide strip of peel ply. We set the canopy down with 2 ratchet straps, one at 30 degrees over the front of the bubble, secured to the spar holes, the other at 90 degrees just in front of the hoop secured under the rear spar stubs. We then put every cleco into the side pieces. We didn't use any other clamps or straps at all and ended up with a perfect and ultra simple pull down.

Rubbed the excess off first thing next day using a square ended piece of 1/16 ply - that took the Sika off without scratching the canopy.

The canopy lifted clean away and after removing the peel ply a good finish was left. May squeegee some more Sika over later to finish off.

We are doing the rear window tomorrow and have again found a simple way of forcing the window out.

A 9" x 1" plank across the top longeron angle, midway along the window. Set 2 pieces of 2" x 1" fore and aft about a foot in from either end. Make up some 2" wide strips of springy 1/16" ply, with sponge or carpet protection on the canopy end. Adjust the length until a moderate amount of pressure is applied to the canopy when they are jammed into the 2" x 1". 2 each side provide a perfect pressure to completely hold the window out against the fuselage.
 
Great questions. Not everybody does this the same, but...

1) What did we do about fit on side skirts and such?
Essentially you're asking about whether and how 3/8" thickness rule is applied around the full circumference of the canopy. In my case, I have the required thickness at the front and along 95% of the rollbar. The canopy and rollbar slowly converge to touching at the longeron, so the amount of glue at that juncture is thin. Same for the side skirts. I have no screws on the side skirts. I did put primer and glue in the slot between skirt and canopy rail, but it's just a thin layer. Am I concerned about bonding strenghth or structural weakness? Absolutely not. In these areas, the skirt/rail structure and the thin layer of glue on both sides of the plexi provide a lot of combined holding force. On the rear canopy, I also put a thin layer of sika around the back edge, but I'm relying on screws to hold the rear glass in place. Of course along the roll bar, it's all sika as with the front half.

2) How do we make sure the front and rear are flush?
During the trimming/fitting process, I tested the fit of the front/rear halves with some shims taped in place along the roll bar. Then in the gluing phase, I glued the front canopy first. When I glued the rear canopy, I checked the "flushness" immediately after gluing. I found it necessary to adjust the shims here and there to get everything flush, and I found it helped also to tie a strap across the canopy (hooked at the rear spar on both sides). With the strap in place, I could add towels here and there to adjust the pressing force on specific parts of the canopy.

I found the canopy installation to be the most fiddly, least enjoyable part of the project. Definitely one of those 'earn your stripes' kind of efforts. Now that it's behind me, I'm satisfied with the result, and all that sweating over unachievable perfection was worth it. One funny thing is that when I see someone posting a picture of a bird-strike, I'm immediately traumatized at the thought of ever having to redo a canopy, and then my second thought is the much more important stuff like hoping everyone is ok and wondering what it would be like to land a plane with bird gore all over and a giant hole in the plexi.


http://donka.net/gallery/rv7canopy/DSCN0199_001
 
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