Peter Drake wrote: >>I am planning on doing my canopy frame and hinges in a similar way to Mark >>L . I noticed he attached the frame to the plexiglass with epoxy. What >>type is best and should I rough the plexiglass up to get it to stick?<<
Yep, you'd definitely want to rough up the edges of the canopy to help with adhesion. I certainly did, using 50 grit or so, I believe. Mask over the area adjacent to ensure that you don't accidently scratch it though. I proved it's good to 245 mph, if that'll work for you. I used Aeropoxy for that connection, as I did the whole rest of the composite parts of the plane, and there was never so much as a hint of separation with that connection, but I'd think that most any high strength epoxy would work as well. Drilling holes in it is asking for trouble. One thing I'd do differently is to move the canopy hinge attach points out to the longerons to stabilize things to the max, while lightening and simplifying things, as done on the Bambi and also John Martindale's plane. Last time I went looking, John's link was dead, so if somebody knows what it is now, please update me. http://www.flycorvair.com/martindale.html shows some good shots of his Corvair engine (and canopy hinge arrangement). I'm still wearing my LAA (Light Aircraft Association) fleece with pride, and just last night an old-timer aviator asked what the Light Aircraft Association was. I had to explain the whole arrangement, and how the LAA (former PFA) and Francis Donaldson have to walk a tightrope to keep the feds happy, while allowing at least a little aviation to happen! I heard a lot of stories there regarding ultra-conservative "engineering" that didn't make much sense to me, I must confess. Americans don't realize how lucky we are to be able to build pretty much whatever we want and fly the things. I bought the fleece at the "big" airshow at Sywell. I met Richard Mole there (for probably the 10th time) when I was fortunate enough to have the company paying for a seven month TDY in England. I thoroughly fell in love with the place. Details are at http://www.n56ml.com/england/ , and there's plenty of aviation in there as well... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
