Hole for Canopy Release Handle RV-14

Before I go drill a hole in my new awesome panel I thought I would check to see if anyone had any suggestions or guidance on where and how to drill the hole for my canopy release/jettison handle.

Do I just eyeball it by extending out the temporary handle? I went to the downloads site but unable to figure out how to use the Dassault program

There are alternatives besides having the handle through the instrument panel. Based on suggestions from some on this forum, we engineered a t handle with cable release mechanism that is mounted on the sub panel above the pilots left knee. It?s on an RV-7 but the 14 isn?t substantially different as I recall.

Pull

I agree,
If I do another panel, I would put the pull handle on a cable and mount it below the panel with easy access to the pilot.

If you use the "T" handle from Van's be sure the hole is low enough below top edge of panel to clear the canopy structure that extends below top of the panel frame when the canopy is lowered. I had Stein move mine up a small amount from the standard location and found a slight interference - I was able to bend the rod a bit to fix it but if I had moved it any higher it would have been a pain.

A cable of some sort gives you flexibility but a direct pull is the safest/surest way to know you won't be frustrated should the time ever come.

M McGraw said:

I agree,
If I do another panel, I would put the pull handle on a cable and mount it below the panel with easy access to the pilot.

Click to expand...

I planned for and worked on this for the 14 and end up not using it as it became too complicated due to the avionics and other things.
Much like many and on both the 7 and the new 14, I shortened mine to the subpanel as I can not foresee pulling it in the air. On the ground, it is nearly as easy as it would be sticking thru the panel.