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After cutting the hinges to
length, I made myself a 4' long square by clamping together a large square
and a 4' aluminum ruler. I used the long square to align the hinges
parallel to one another. This image shows the square clamped to the
instrument panel and also shows the packing tape I put on the hinges to
prevent them from getting gummed up with epoxy. I used a couple of
stir sticks, cut on the ends, as stops to keep the hinges in the spots there
were supposed to be. |
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Once the hinges were floxed on,
I used blue masking tape to keep them from moving. Now, time for some
weight and another straight edge. |
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The long square I made kept
them aligned in the longitudinal axis, in pitch I used a second straightedge
and some weights to keep them aligned. It took a while to set this all
up but I wanted it to turn out right. |
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Once the flox was cured, I
found a piece of wood that I could affix to both hinges and see how they
worked. |
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Works great! No binding
at all! Bring on the canopy! |
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I was thinking very hard about a front
hinging canopy, and, went so far as to remove these hinges.
As I have thought about this more, I have begun to
consider a side-hinging, electrically-actuated canopy. Given the size
and weight of a front-hinging canopy, almost everyone I know who has
installed one has added an electric actuator. With that idea in mind,
does that solve some of the safety concerns for the side-hinging? I
believe it does, as long as you install some quick releases (inside and out)
in case there's an emergency, the canopy needs to be opened and there is not
electrical power or the actuator fails somehow.
More to come on that topic.
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Chapter 16 Step 5
Chapter
19 Step 1 |
