Canopy Lock

It has worried me since I finished my RV-12 that there is no lock to prevent light fingered people gaining access to the cockpit when left unattended.
I have come up with a very simple locking mechanism out of two pieces of stainless steel and a padlock as shown below. It is attached using the two screws beside the handle.
Also shown are my two drink bottle holders.

Canopy Lock...maybe...

I'm not sure mate, but aren't those two Phillips head screws a bit exposed...?

Meade
N612RV
(1/2)

Deterrent

I guess a padlock is just a visible deterrent to those looking for easy pickings. You could always put a loose nylock nut on the other side of the screw so that it spins round when unscrewed from the outside.

I'm looking for a locking solution. And a parking brake would be good too.

Cheers...Keith

lock

now they will just smash the canopy, more work.

This site really sucks! That is the fourth time I spend time to send a note and the site says you are not logged on. Wrong!!! What is it with that anyway?

Anyway Platyius, nice idea on the lock, and good pics to portray the setup. Can it cause a smashed canopy? Sure, but chances are far greater the theft of $7000 worth of avioncs (RV12) occurs when it's easy to just open an unlocked canopy and help yourself with an allen wrench. Also it's stupid for even a perp to risk a federal felony rap for that kind of prize, but they might and it's the easy pickings they look for.
Dick Seiders

Computer problem?

That is the fourth time I spend time to send a note and the site says you are not logged on. Wrong!!! What is it with that anyway?

Click to expand...

The problem might be your computer. I never have a problem with this website.
Regardless, here are some things to try:
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Joe

Thanks for the concept! I'm going to do similar but rather drill a hole through the last 1/4" of the latch handle and position the bracket so you'll no longer need the seperate piece. Thanks

My approach is a bit different. I have the vans canopy latch to keep away the really stupid thieves, if I'm leaving the a/c o'nite I always put the cover on so no-one can easily see what's inside. But I don't have a canopy lock cos if they really want to get in and steal stuff they will, and I'd rather they did as little damage as possible in doing so....but NZ is a bit different from the US as well ;-)

A look at a different Lock installation!

Heres how we solved the lock problem. At Lowes we bought a standard Desk draw lock with a 1 inch shaft. We then drilled out a shaft diameter hole in the side of the fuse below the ¾” Angle making up the upper edge. See the lock after mounting on the outside of the fuse.

Then we cut a channel in the top surface of the edge for the arm of the lock to come up through.


We then put a small length of ¾” angle on the inside lower edge of the f the canopy frame.

Then we cut a slot in the arm of the lock to capture the piece of angle.

That’s it. Caution I would not buy the lock from Aircraft Lowes. It had too much play in it. But we made do with what we had.

John
RV12 N1212K

Very neat solution

Jetguy said:

Heres how we solved the lock problem.
John
RV12 N1212K

Click to expand...

I assume you had to wait until after the inspection to make this modifcation?

Yep!

Oh yes, absolutely! I wouldn't want to break any rules.

John
RV12 N1212K

Oh Great...

Here we go again. Someone comes up with a slick idea and then I have to quit flying and work on the plane again.
Can't you guys just leave well enough alone?!#@$&

Dick

Evolution

If you don't adapt,,,, well you know what happens.

Finally installed lock

Gee...time goes by. I have been planning to install a lock since seeing Jetguy's solution in the above 3-year old thread. I wanted to follow that idea but I was also influenced by Joeri's lock shown here:

Joeri's lock is in the turtledeck skin rather than the side skin. Joeri's lock actually catches on a slot in the bottom of the canopy rail. Jetguy has a piece of angle riveted on the side of the canopy rail that the lock arm engages. I wanted the lock arm to be visible like Jetguys, but wanted to place the lock in the turtledeck skin like Joeri did.

I found a barrel lock (for cabinets) that looked like it would work. It took a bit of tinkering and head scratching to make it work like I envisioned. One problem with this lock and others like it is that the key cannot be removed except when the lock is locked. I fixed that by making a slight mod to the keys. Another issue was that the locking arms furnished with the lock are too short. I had the two locking arms that were furnished welded together to make one long one.

I also painted the locking arm red for visibility. A glance into the closed canopy shows that it is locked.






My main goal here is to deter the quick grab of a headset or iPad while the plane is out of sight for a short time at a lunch stop or bathroom break.

Someone was beta testing a new canopy lock for the -12. I got tired of waiting so started to install one today. I was going to use one of the examples in this thread until my friend suggested that I fabricate a new canopy rail tab and use the existing slot.

in the photo below are the parts (minus one ¾" star washer - on order). The lock is a stainless steel lock made by Medeco with a ⅞" barrel length. The key throw is 180 degrees. This lock also has a 90 degree key throw option, however, with the key in the locked position, the lock does not release the key. I didn't realize this so I had to make the 180 degree throw work, thus changing the geometry of my initial design.

We modified the locking arm by drilling and tapping a 10-32 thread into the end of the arm. We then threaded a bolt into the hole, cut off the head of the bolt, and placed a nut on the outboard threaded end, thus leaving the smooth grip end of the bolt available to engage the slot to be created in the new canopy rail tab.

The photo also shows the original and new tab. It took about 3 tries to get this right.

We also fabricated an anti-rotation bracket for the lock barrel that also serves as a doubler plate for the thin outer skin.

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This photo shows the lock with the anti-rotation bracket loosely in place. The locking arm is in the unlocked position. I had to fiddle with the positioning of the lock because of the 180 degrees of throw.

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Here is a photo of the newly installed canopy rail tab. This tab will slip down through the existing canopy rail slot to be engaged by the bolt shank on the locking arm.

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I'll tack on a photo of the completed installed once I receive the ¾ inch star washer from ACS.

Regards,

Solution similar to Tom's

I used a similar scheme to Tom's posted above. In my case, I used a triple-bit high-security cam loc which had key retention/release only at 0 and 180 degrees. Tom's lock apparently has a key release at 90 degrees.
I therefore had to mount the lock higher than Tom's in order to rotate 180 degrees for key removal, necessitating chopping up the UHMW block:

The modified tab, and a modified UHMW block for needed clearance, along with the 7/8" depth camloc with added washers and bent catch arm:
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Parts installed, in open posiiton:



I didn't get a picture in the locked position--the catch arm, if installed without washers, was lined up precisely with the slot and canopy tab, so I had to stack washers and bend the catch arm back to grab the slotted tab in the locked position.

As with Tom's solution, I mounted the cam loc with a backing plate--I used some .062" aluminum in which I hand-filed the double-D hole (lacking a $300 punch), allowing me to drill a normal 3/4" hole in the fuselage skin while having the security of the double-D hole to keep the lock from rotating.

Finished Lock Install Today

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