Landing light lens...

I thought that I was having a pretty good weekend. Having gotten my left wing mounted to the fuselage on Friday, I finished off the root fairings yesterday and was planning to complete the landing light lens today.

I got as far as drilling it to the wing after the final trimming of the plexiglass only to discover, on unclecoing, that four of the holes had radiating cracks. Now, this is not the first time I've worked with plexiglass (understatement), the temp was near 100F, and I was using a plexiglass drill bit. Still, the miserable thing cracked in four places. WTF?!?

There's no solution other than to order another couple of lenses (I'm not going to roll the dice on just one), but I thought I'd vent the frustration here. Thanks for listening.

Also, what are you guys doing to adhere the nutplate strips to the lenses? My double-sided tape, as suggested by the manual, won't even begin to stick to the plexiglass.

I'd been planning to knock out the wingtip over the next day or two, but won't be able to screw it on for good until the new lens is done. Crapola.

Still, it's just about bourbon time, so there's that.

I had one split,
Of course it was the very last one I was drilling. I was also using plexi bits. I think I just pressed too hard on that last one.
Ordered replacement and the next one went very smooth.
I used clear silicon to adhere the backing plate.

Can?t get just one...

I screwed up a lens. Cut it on the wrong side of the tape I used for my cut line. Ordered another and of course it is actually two because it is one mold with a left and right that you have to separate. Finished both lenses and they had no cracks. Yay! Flew the plane for about 60 hours and then, the cracks started. Oh well.

The left/right lens that we have to separate is the wingtip nav light lens. The leading edge landing light lens comes in two pieces. Unfortunately, it looks as though I?ll need to order a complete kit (two lenses, mounts, etc.). I?ll talk to Van?s tomorrow and see if I can avoid the $70 charge for the whole shebang.

kbalch said:

The left/right lens that we have to separate is the wingtip nav light lens. The leading edge landing light lens comes in two pieces. Unfortunately, it looks as though I?ll need to order a complete kit (two lenses, mounts, etc.). I?ll talk to Van?s tomorrow and see if I can avoid the $70 charge for the whole shebang.

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Call Duckworks Aviation or look them up on the web. They will sell you the individual piece.

I had one crack on the last hole too, but it was pretty small and I drilled it out to a larger size. I ordered two more so I could keep that one as a replacement, but I immediately trashed one of them, drilling too hard. I'm trying to be patient and drill slowly, but it seems that this is a skill I haven't quite mastered yet. I'm keeping my last one until later and I'll probably order another one when I order my next replacement part. I figure it's just good practice for the canopy.

Kyle Boatright said:

Call Duckworks Aviation or look them up on the web. They will sell you the individual piece.

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Will do; thanks!

coffeeguy said:

I had one crack on the last hole too, but it was pretty small and I drilled it out to a larger size. I ordered two more so I could keep that one as a replacement, but I immediately trashed one of them, drilling too hard. I'm trying to be patient and drill slowly, but it seems that this is a skill I haven't quite mastered yet. I'm keeping my last one until later and I'll probably order another one when I order my next replacement part. I figure it's just good practice for the canopy.

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Ironically (thankfully!), I didn?t have any trouble with the canopy. I?m sure you?ll do fine with it, too.

Duh

My bad! I hate redeyes!

I have cracked lenses too, Ken. Mine were fine until after they were installed, then I noticed cracks a few days later. I called Van's and they suggested that maybe I had tightened them too much. That's possible but I hardly tightened them at all. I decided at that point to move on and come back to them later. Too bad they are not of the same material as the nav light covers. That material is softer and seems more forgiving.

I didn't stick the nutplates to the plexiglass at all. My reasoning was that if I ever have to work on the lights then I will probably have to pull the wingtip for adequate access anyway, so gluing the strips to the plexiglass wouldn't help much.

I need to install the aft-most control link for the elevator and the next step after that is to start on the back window and canopy. Given that my only experience with plexiglas so far has been with the landing light lenses, to say I've been dreading the canopy work is an understatement. I am happy to hear your canopy work was successful. I'll keep my fingers crossed.