Stjohn's RV-7

7 hours.
This is a combo entry, a process that started saturday and finished up sunday.
I finally got the frame lined up as well as I could, with full knowledge that it’s going to change, no matter what. Mainly I wanted to get everything clamped and locked before moving on to what has been built up to be the scariest part of the whole build: Cutting the canopy. Let me reassure you, it’s still scary. You hold in your hands the ability to fark up a $1200 part in less time than it takes to say ‘Oh sh–‘ and while you’re forming that curse, the Grand Ganyon has opened up longitudinally in the canopy, splitting it asunder in a nuclear winter of white plastic dust.
Fortunately, this did not happen. Me mate David came over to lend his critical eye, reputed thoroughness, and practical experience with plexiglass from his boyhood days working on signage at his Dad’s shop. So we measured, and marked, and taped, and checked, and checked, and read the plans, then measured again, and checked, then checked one more time.

until finally, generations of grizzled old homebuilders barked in my head, “Just grow a pair and cut the damned thing already.”
So we did.

Now, I didn’t actually cut the plastic at the angle the grinder’s at right now, I was just getting lined up. It’s pretty good that they give you a lot of extra plastic to practice on. Eventually we make some scrap and wound up with something vaguely canopy-shaped…

…And leaving a bunch of sharp, dangerous scrap plexi all over the floor.

“Nope, haven’t buggered it up yet.”

Through the sliding glass door at the vast mess. Even the lizardbrain responsible for autonomic functions remembered to cover all the exposed holes in the engine on its stand, but my conscious self didn’t get around to throwing a sheet over it until the following day. No harm, no foul, right?

Front’s trimmed, sides are trimmed back a bit, and it’s nearly time. By this time, we had decided to knock off, I think, and hit it the next day.
At this point, there’s some more measuring, puzzling, and visualizing, because we want to make damn sure we don’t lop off something that’s needed to actually hold the thing on there. So on Sunday we actually got round to it.

There it is. That strip of blue tape is the where the cut is going to happen. The arrows clearly mark which side of the tape to cut. We found out that I can make nice, straight cuts if I have the tape as a guide. The sharpie line isn’t as good for that, and this worked fine. Also written there are things like “Cut this side” and “Don’t F— The Goose!” I’ll let Dave explain that one. This tape line goes right down the middle of the cabin frame/roll bar. It’s actually on the plans and in the instructions, and it’s one of the few absolutes called out, unlike everything else at this point which is ‘Just kinda make it fit.’

This is the last time the canopy will be in once piece, other than the cut-off babyslicers all over the floor. Here, Dave’s clamping down some rails on either side to relieve the bubble’s tendency to spread outward. Behind his head, you can see the space heater going full tilt, keeping the shop at a plexi-comfortable 80 degrees.

Woot! There it is! The canopy is severed into two halves. So there you have it.. Steady hand, clean cut, no cracks. Phew! We did remember to break the edges, but they still need some more work.

OK, but how does it fit? Let’s find out.

Not bad. Nothing a little trimming and fudging won’t fix. Came damn close to trimming off too much on that left rear side though.
That was huge. Next comes all the fiddling and trimming to get it locked in, then the ugliness of drilling it to the canopy frame.

David came over today and we managed to mark the centerline on the canopy bubble. We dropped it on the plane, and realized that we were in no position to begin cutting anything until some more research was done. So now I’m scouring the net for tips and tricks.
BTW, this entry will grow as I find more things.
1: I’ve fitted eight canopies, and have it down now where I can get the job done in about 2 hours. My advice is don’t trim anything off the back until you are satisfied with the fit at the front and sides. The rear edge will come forward as you trim the front. -rocketbob on VAF.
2: Looks like the whole damn flange goes, up front there. http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=hydroguy2&project=294&category=2793&log=61594&row=37
3: Just a hint for all of you who are starting to cut your canopies on the side x sides. Don’t follow Van’s instructions on the order of the cuts. Make the “big cut” BEFORE you trim the sides up to the lower edge of the side canopy rail. If you make the big cut first, you will have a lot more material to work with when fitting the windscreen. If you follow Van’s instructions, you essentially be forced into a position where you will not be able to bring the side of the windscreen down over the sides of the forward skin. In some cases, being able to do so will allow for more fitting options and lead to a better fit for the windscreen. Hope this helps. -alpinelakespilot2000 on VAF
4: Heat up the shop. 75 degrees.

2.5 hours.
Got the side rails riveted to the forward frame. Quit before clecoing the skin back on. The Big Cut is coming up, and I’m realizing that I don’t have the proper space for that operation. I don’t have a surface large enough to set the canopy on while I actually do the cutting, other than the floor in the guest house bedroom. I’m not stoked about that, but I can make it work. No pics, because today’s work wasn’t that interesting.

2 hours.
Most of the time was spent cleaning the shop, after I drilled the WD-725’s to the forward frame and the aft channels, but what I really want to show off is this:

Canopy down.

Canopy Up!
Still clecoed, of course, but I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean the shop. I policed up all the clecoes that had rolled under the furniture, vacuumed behind everything, emptied the trash, and sorted out a couple of the messier tool drawers in the toolbox. I vacuumed out the plane and went over the shop with the vacuum again. The goal was to hav the workbench completely clear, because the next fun thing that happens is the Big Cut!

4 hours.
Today I fiddled, tweaked, clamped, nudged, pushed, and wiggled the canopy frame for what seemed like forever, until I was finally ready to drill the forward splice plates. Basically, what needs to be done is the canopy frame has to be put in place using spacers and clamps for alignment, then it gets match-drilled at a few connecting points. The side rails have to be made to be flush with the fuselage side skin, less the thickness of the canopy sides. Now, you can tweak and wiggle all you want, the alignment still going to change when everything rivets up. If you cast the right bones and sacrifice the proper breed of chicken, everything just works when it comes time for final riveting. I’m beginning to see the method to the madness now, but the instructions still suck. For instance, here’s a shot of the whole biz, fit up and clamped down:

All the alignments are good, all the clearances are tested, all the bits line up like they’re supposed to. Now, here’s the part that burns my ass: After you’ve painstakingly fit all this up, they have you take it all apart so you can drill the aft hole pattern on the attachment points of the side rails. WTF?

Here are the instructions. Those scraggly black arrows I’ve drawn denote where these two steps, drilling the splice plates and the WD-725 side rails, SHOULD go. Maybe this is a test. Read, understand, prioritize. I guess I failed this one. I’d have preferred to drill these parts with their arbitrary hole pattern before I did all the fitting and tweaking. The canopy frame process is full of crap like this.

Splice plates, drilled and ready to go.

And after a bunch more checking, fitting, tweaking, and locking down, here’s the left splice plate, drilled to the canopy frame sections. It’s worth noting that you have to peel the skin back so you don’t drill through it Fortunately, I had a drill stop and good access.

Slightly wider shot. This is all going to come off in a bit.

Right side done the same way.
I’m not drilling the aft of the rails to the C-631 channels yet. Those are the c-channels that follow the line of the roll bar. Here, I’m guessing the drilling isn’t done until there’s a lot more fitment, probably involving the canopy itself. Next step is to deburr, countersink, and rivet the side rails to the forward frame. After that, look out, because it’s time to measure and cut the canopy itself. Yeah, that’s freakin’ scary right there. One wrong move and I turn on the tap to the tune of $1200.

6 hours.
Six arduous, terrifying, frustrating hours of clecoing, unclecoing, reclecoing, and of course filing. I did, however, get the hinges drilled and got started on the rest of the canopy frame. I did it like the plans said, I got the hinges placed. Thanks to VAF, I picked up a few tips and advice from those who have gone before. For instance, I was able to make 1/4″ angle drill out of my die grinder that has heretofore been useless except as a deburring tool. Works great as long as you only need 1/4″ holes drilled. All I needed it for was to mark the spot on the hinge where the drill goes through, not actually drill anything. But I have to agree with many others; The plans and instructions for this part of the kit blow chunks. The sequence is vague, the suggested methods are weird, and it’s really difficult to picture a group of brilliant, rational men arriving at the decision that this is the way to go. But enough bitching. This is one of those things where you just have to sack up and dive in, and hope you don’t drill or cut anything past the point of ordering new parts. It’s an iterative process, a tweak here, bend a little there. and just try to get the best fit possible. Eventually, I got a result I can live with, for the most part.

After one of the numerous times the skin comes off the frame, the frame is clamped down onto the drill press table, where I’m driving a 3/8″ bit through a pilot hole I made by using a block of MDF drilled #30 in that same drill press. With 3/8″ holes drilled in the frame, the hinge bushings are press-fit into them by means of a pneumatic rivet squeezer loaded with flat dies.

So back on the fuse goes the frame, where the pins had to go through the bearing blocks and the bushings just right. This is tricky until you get the hang of it, and by tricky, I mean swearing, tool-throwing, demon-calling frustrating. But in the end, it hinges up just like it’s supposed to. Or not. In the down position, the hinge gooseneck makes contact with the bearing block spacer, which blows, although is quite easily fixed. I just had to shave off a little of the bearing block spacer at the point of contact and everything became irie.

This is a shot of one of the hinge pins. I opted not to have a canopy jettison system. It’s complex, it adds weight, and the chances of me needing to jettison the canopy and bail out don’t merit all the extra work and weight. Not only that, if I have to make the canopy go away, I can hit it with a canopy cracker and the wind will take care of the rest. So this method has the hinge pin linkage folded back and fastened to the F-745 (or 740-something– I can’t remember part numbers off the top of my head) rib, where it’s secured by an Adel clamp. The other end of the pin will take an AN365 stop nut and washer.

Here’s the assemblage with the skin clecoed on and the deck skin partially clecoed on. This is where the freakout happened. At one point I did this without putting any clecoes along the middle of the forward deck skin because I wanted to see the whole clecoed assemblage open and close with the skin on it. So what happens? I go to open it and the canopy frame skin collides with the forward deck skin. WTF? I started shaving off edges, wiggling parts, and I even got so freaked out I drilled off the splice plate to see if I could push the canopy frame ribs upward enough to buy me the clearance I needed. I rolled the canopy deck skin up along the edge just a hair. AT the end of it all, I clecoed the forward skin on in the middle, and yeah, there was enough clearance for the canopy frame skin to get by. Just.

As you might guess, this process leaves a hell of a mess. I had a clean shop a couple of days ago. This is going to have to wait til morning.
After all that, I was still looking for more punishment, so I got started on the rest of the frame. I made the requisite spacers and placed them around the longerons as specified. Then I made the splice plate for the two F631 channels (which are copies of the channels used in the roll bar) that form the aft frame of the canopy.

Like so.
That’s it for now, I’m going to chill out with some sake and some spicy snacks, maybe watch a little TV, then have that dinner thing.

5 hours.
Finally got the fuselage latch mechanism done. Managed to get the stupid yellow knob on there without mangling the screw much, and it opens and closes the aft latch arm just like it’s supposed to. The bolts are cotter-pinned, the brackets are riveted, the UHMW tape is applied. OK, maybe it’s not ALL done; the little spring-loaded rod pushing the latch ratchet closed isn’t on there. I still have to blind-rivet the center-section covers on, but I hate closing things I might need to get at later. So here’s that bit:

Latch in closed position. I know, this is filler, but it at least gives you an idea of how the canopy is held down, keeping it from becoming… drafty.

Open position. Silly knob pulls the latch backwards and releases the hooks aft.
So with that done, it was time to move on to the next fun bit: The canopy frame. I’ve only got one photo. This process is fairly uninteresting, and it all looks the same.

This is all about clecoing and unclecoing and re-clecoing. If you’re just joining us, a cleco is a temporary faster that pokes through a hole drilled through two pieces of metal and holds them together. That’s what the chrome bristles are in a lot of these photographs. This process is about incrementally tightening slop. Various arcane voodoo rituals are performed to insure that the skin of the canopy frame fits up to the forward fuse skin, the hinges are in the right position, and the frame is the width of the fuselage, etc. etc. Then you put in the splice plate, drill it to #40. Un-cleco, remove chips and burrs, check fit again, drill to #30. This is NOT easy. All kinds of things are waiting to shift, move, drift, and jump. But at the end of it, if you do it right, you have your canopy frame to the point where you can drill the holes for the hinges. This is where I’m at right now. I think. A couple more hours of this and I’ll be ready to drill the hinges, which is kind of scary. Screw this up and it’s two days down the rabbit hole.

2 hours.
Before I left for Japan, I started working on the aft canopy latch.. This is a big steel bar with a claw on each end and the idea is that when you secure the latch on the side, these claws hold the canopy bubble down in flight. Honestly, aerodynamic forces hold the canopy bubble down in flight, but this keeps everything sealed and comfy. I only screwed up once: the 6061T6 tube that goes between the canopy latch handle and the idler arm connected to the latch bar got tapped to 1/4-20 instead of 1/4-28. After I got back from Japan (yesterday) my replacement bits had come in, and I was able to get the proper drill and tap from the hardware store, so I finished the canopy latch pushrod. No worries. I also had to order some bolts from ACS, since I misplaced (and have since found) the drawer with all the ones in it necessary to complete this op. So everything’s good to go, I just need to install the idler arm and we can move on to the canopy frame.

3 hours.
More canopy latch work. I buggered up the 6061 T6 tubing by tapping it with 1/4-20 instead of 1/4-28, the threads needed to accept the rod-end bearing and the latch idler clevis. I did get the latch hardware drilled and fitted, and it all goes back into the box for now.
Note: I’m publishing this on Dec 22, but the actual events happened on Dec 5. I had to go to Japan for a week, and it’s only now that I’ve been able to get caught up.

This is the canopy latch hardware temp-installed. This is truly a situation of kneebone-connected-to-the-thighbone. From one or two reference points, you have to spider your way down the decision chain through a series of matchdrills, and if you do it right, you get a setup that looks a little like this. The yellow handle pulls back and releases the claws on the canopy bubble.

Outboard, there are two metal tabs. when you squeeze them together, they release a spring-loaded ratchet. Once that’s done, you push the aft tab in and it exposes a lever, which is the same piece of metal the yellow handle’s connected to. This lets you open the canopy from the outside.