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Canopy Bow Mirror

Saville

Well Known Member
Anyone have a source for those curved rear view mirrors that conform to the curvature of an RV-8 canopy bow?

Thanks!
 
Free to a good home...the mirror...

I made my own. Sorry no better pic on my IPad this weekend. This is Hana, our DIB. (Dog In Back)
I have a few extra of the curved ones in my hangar I will share by snail-mail, no charge! Once you see it you can make the round convex one yourself. I will include an extra bar mount, you supply just the round mirror, if you want. Once you see the simple construction you could make four or five to fill the entire roll bar. Just need address.

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Roll Bar Mirrors

I got out of the mirror game I'm just too busy. However I do have some new old stock ones left. If you pay the shipping and donate to DR for his IFR check I'll Ship them out while they last. They will ship after Reno.:)
 
I got out of the mirror game I'm just too busy. However I do have some new old stock ones left. If you pay the shipping and donate to DR for his IFR check I'll Ship them out while they last. They will ship after Reno.:)

Deal. Please reserve one for me. I'll PM the address.

I'll let you know when the donations to DR are completed.
 
Sure

I've already contributed $100 to DR this year, but I'll do more. Let me know what you want. Just need one.

Jim
N37PK
 
I'm in too.
Please send 1 (one) to address below. let me know shipping and I'll send that directly to you.
Per your request, an extra donation will go to DR

thanks.
Tom Hanaway
116 Trickling Branch Way
Murphy, NC 28906
 
Please send me two.

I got out of the mirror game I'm just too busy. However I do have some new old stock ones left. If you pay the shipping and donate to DR for his IFR check I'll Ship them out while they last. They will ship after Reno.:)

I will gladly pay shipping and donate to DR's IFR check ride. I'm due to pay my annual dues (even though exempt) and I will contribute again this year extra to DR's kids college fund as well.

I have a PM coming your way with my contact information or you can email me at:

[email protected]

Thank you
 
I got out of the mirror game I'm just too busy. However I do have some new old stock ones left. If you pay the shipping and donate to DR for his IFR check I'll Ship them out while they last. They will ship after Reno.:)

Deal. I will take one if there are any left and PM you my contact info.
 
I searched high and low for those nifty curved fighter aircraft mirrors but could not find them. What I finally did was purchase two mirrors from Auto Zone for about $8.00 for the pair. The back on the mirror housing is curved so I cut off the back and replace it with some scrap aluminium. Put some Velcro hooks on the back and some Velcro loop on the canopy bow. From the photo of the installed mirror you can see that I installed them on the aft canopy to give a bit more height and a better view of the back seat. In retrospect I believe I like these better than the larger mirror because they are less on an obstruction looking forward.
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mirrors

I do still have some part to build mirrors. If you come by L36 I'll give you a set since you already donated and I don't have to ship them. I'm in hanger T4 tomorrow from 10 till afternoon.
 
Dan,

Thank you!

I'm not going to be able to make it out to Rio Linda on Saturday.

We have a mutual contact, Lee (RV-7, new AP out of L36). If its not too much trouble can you give them to him?

Lee will be doing the condition inspection on my RV-8 out in Lincoln. I can grab them from him. Let me know if that works.

Thanks again!

Charlie
 
So I got the Kitplane Article written by our own Bruce Eicher and am trying to fashion a couple of canopy bow mirrors.

I got some 1" PVC and cut it to the dimensions in the article. This morning I took it to the plane. The PVC is essentially a "C" when looked at end on.

I slipped the PVC over the canopy bow. It fits ok but rattles a little bit - it's not a tight grip. I figure it will vibrate.

I'm thinking of putting some 3/16" wide, 1" long strips of adhesive-backed felt pads on the inside of the "C" to make things snug. This is the stuff you put on the bottom of furniture legs to keep them from scratching the floor. I'll let you know how that goes.

I had a crummy acrylic mirror and I glued that to a piece of PVC with some silicone adhesive after cleaning both with lacquer thinner. I expected the adhesive to fail because PVC is so slick.

When I tried to pull the mirror off, the mirror broke. The joint was solid. And I didn't even scuff the pvc surface.

I ordered some "shatter-proof" acrylic PVC from Amazon:

Acrylic Mirror Sheet - 12"x12" - Silver - 3mm(1/8") - Laser Polished Edge with film masking - Lightweight Shatter Proof Durable

Sold by: Acrydeal

That arrived today. 12x12 should give me a few tries ;)

So next I'll cut a rectangle from that and shape it. I traced the shape of the canopy bow this morning.

I'll report on the results. I've read and re-read the article to try and understand the dimensions of where the "C" is glued to the back of the mirror.
 
So I got the Kitplane Article written by our own Bruce Eicher and am trying to fashion a couple of canopy bow mirrors.

I got some 1" PVC and cut it to the dimensions in the article. This morning I took it to the plane. The PVC is essentially a "C" when looked at end on.

I slipped the PVC over the canopy bow. It fits ok but rattles a little bit - it's not a tight grip. I figure it will vibrate.

I'm thinking of putting some 3/16" wide, 1" long strips of adhesive-backed felt pads on the inside of the "C" to make things snug. This is the stuff you put on the bottom of furniture legs to keep them from scratching the floor. I'll let you know how that goes.

I had a crummy acrylic mirror and I glued that to a piece of PVC with some silicone adhesive after cleaning both with lacquer thinner. I expected the adhesive to fail because PVC is so slick.

When I tried to pull the mirror off, the mirror broke. The joint was solid. And I didn't even scuff the pvc surface.

I'll report on the results. I've read and re-read the article to try and understand the dimensions of where the "C" is glued to the back of the mirror.

Hi Gregg,
Sounds like you are on the right track. But what class PVC pipe are you using? I used the heavy wall "Schedule 40" and it fit tight with no vibration.
I struggled demonstrating and describing just were to position the open end of the "C". Make a few and position them a little different.
If you need some pipe or mirror I have some precut. No charge!
 
Hi Gregg,
Sounds like you are on the right track. But what class PVC pipe are you using? I used the heavy wall "Schedule 40" and it fit tight with no vibration.
I struggled demonstrating and describing just were to position the open end of the "C". Make a few and position them a little different.
If you need some pipe or mirror I have some precut. No charge!


Hi Bruce,

Yeah I'm using Schedule 40. Couldn't find the thinner stuff.

If you could part with 4-5 inches of pipe and one mirror I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll send my address via PM.

Thanks! Very kind of you to offer.
 
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You got it Gregg.
I have the bow pattern, I'll cut up some extra parts and send them your way.
Any one else, let me know.
Cheers!
 
I'll be happy to pay for your time and materials..only fair.

Thanks for the offer. But think of it as a small contribution to the community that pays back dividends!
I will be in the hangar Monday night and drop them in the mail Tuesday. Hope they work well for you.
 
You got it Gregg.
I have the bow pattern, I'll cut up some extra parts and send them your way.
Any one else, let me know.
Cheers!
Bruce,
I'll be happy to pay for the parts if you have them. We just signed off Phase one on our -8 and I would love to make a mirror. I'll PM my address.
Thanks, JP White
 
You got it Gregg.
I have the bow pattern, I'll cut up some extra parts and send them your way.
Any one else, let me know.
Cheers!
Any idea if what you have can be modified for the side by side bows rather than the 8 bow? I am interested in trying to mount a mirror on my 9A slider. I have tried the small mirrors bought at the auto parts store but can never get the velcro glue strip to stay glued. Would like to find some way to mount a mirror so if your system works for a 9 I would be interested.
 
Any idea if what you have can be modified for the side by side bows rather than the 8 bow? I am interested in trying to mount a mirror on my 9A slider. I have tried the small mirrors bought at the auto parts store but can never get the velcro glue strip to stay glued. Would like to find some way to mount a mirror so if your system works for a 9 I would be interested.

Hi Steve,

I don't know what the -9 or other side-by-sides have for a bow. Is the -8 unique? I use one inch of class 200 PVC pipe with about a 3/4" section cut out to make a clip over the -8's bow. If you check that out, or find another size "clip" to work, silicone glue has worked for to glue on the acrylic mirror to the plastic pipe. I will post some pictures and a link to my "instructions". Let me know if you need some parts.
 
more mirrors...

I had a few ask, so today as it rained I spent an hour in the hangar and cut up some of my acrylic mirror and PVC pipe.

PM your mail address and I will ship you two rough cut mirrors and four PVC clips. Yes, no charge. You supply a convex mirror or two.

If you look at the PDF file attached below (as published in Kitplanes) you will get the instructions needed to complete your mirrors.

(sorry this PDF hosting site is full of advertisements and false places to click, leading to more advertisements, try to find the file marked with the PDF icon and click on "Download original PDF file", good luck)
https://document.li/zHf6

8yatew.jpg


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kal2bt.jpg
 
I had a few ask, so today as it rained I spent an hour in the hangar and cut up some of my acrylic mirror and PVC pipe.

PM your mail address and I will ship you two rough cut mirrors and four PVC clips. Yes, no charge. You supply a convex mirror or two.

If you look at the PDF file attached below (as published in Kitplanes) you will get the instructions needed to complete your mirrors.

(sorry this PDF hosting site is full of advertisements and false places to click, leading to more advertisements, try to find the file marked with the PDF icon and click on "Download original PDF file", good luck)
https://document.li/zHf6

Bruce,

Have you found the convex mirror to be useful?
 
Mirror Blanks

Bruce, I received the mirror blanks and PVC mounts today. Thanks so much for taking the time to make a batch of them. A check is going out to DR to be donated to charity. You're the best!!
 
Any idea if what you have can be modified for the side by side bows rather than the 8 bow? I am interested in trying to mount a mirror on my 9A slider. I have tried the small mirrors bought at the auto parts store but can never get the velcro glue strip to stay glued. Would like to find some way to mount a mirror so if your system works for a 9 I would be interested.
steve,
I just made one. Just make it roughly per Bruce's instructions. It will work just fine on the pilot side to see the pilot side of the airplane and the full left side of the HS. Hard to find a place to put it to see straight out the back though.
 
Bruce,

Received my mirror blanks and PVC yesterday. Beautiful..thanks very much.

Other people have a good idea..since you don't want money I'll add to my yearly dues to DR.

I'm going to try and work out a drawing of the pvc placement based upon the article and post it here.

Thanks!
 
Sounds good! You are all welcome!

Another thought; after glueing up and fitting it to the bar, I trimmed the PVC clip opening some more on one side or the other to adjust the tilt movement.
 
I've been trying to make the canopy bow mirrors a la Bruce's technique and I keep running into failures.

The basic problem can be seen here:



Using the silicone adhesive to glue the PVC semi-circle to the back of the mirror as recommended, the connection fails. The problem is with the strength of the bond of the reflective layer to the acrylic - it's weak. You can see that the reflective stuff adheres to the PVC/silicone.

I need this bond to be very strong as I fly acro and I can't have the mirror falling off.

I'm trying to come up with alternatives. The only successful one so far can be seen here:



I took a piece of scrap PVC and cut it to the shape of the mirror but left 1/2" tabs on the PVC. I then hit them with a heat gun and bent them over the mirror, clamped them lightly, and let them cool and set. I then cut them back so that they don't cover so much of the mirror.

They grip the mirror quite well.

So failing other possibilities I will use this technique to mount the mirror to a PVC backing plate holder the exact size and shape of the mirror. Then I'll use PVC cement to glue the semi-circle to the back of the backing plate. That will be strong enough. I think the mirror curvature is a circle but I'll verify that. if it is then sliding replacement mirrors in and out will be possible.

I tried gluing some vinyl wire cove to the scrap PVC but that failed - PVC glue didn't grip the vinyl. I'm thinking of trying some automobile door edge guard made from PVC - gluing that to the edge of the PVC backing plate along the top and bottom edge. That would be a better looking solution *IF* the PVC cement actually glues them together.

More later.
 
Hi Gregg, Mine has failed just a while ago when I slammed it in the canopy. But I used a lot more silicone glue giving more surface bond to the mirror back. The De- bonding in my case was at the pipe clip so I just re-glued.
Aerobatics have not been a problem for me but Understand the concern

Do you need more mirror?
 
Hi Gregg, Mine has failed just a while ago when I slammed it in the canopy. But I used a lot more silicone glue giving more surface bond to the mirror back. The De- bonding in my case was at the pipe clip so I just re-glued.
Aerobatics have not been a problem for me but Understand the concern

Do you need more mirror?

Hi Bruce,

No don't need more mirror. I bought a 12"x12" sheet of acrylic mirror from Amazon and I have the second blank you gave me.
So I'm good to go on that score. I just need to find a good holder solution

Thanks!
 
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Mirror

I made mine but used a bigger glob of RTV and wrapped it to the top edge. I do minor Acro (just positive G stuff). So far no problems like you have had. Maybe if u used two clips it would hold better for your situation

I was concerned it would vibrate, but that hasn't been the case.

Rod
 
To get a better bond, just bond something to the back of the mirror that is the size of the entire mirror, then bond it to the pvc and It will hold better. Doing this you are contacting a much larger portion of the mirror back and it should hold. You could use some thin aluminum, or maybe some plastic sheet, etc.
Worth a try.
 
PVC U channel

While the 3D printing guys are working very hard to come up with a solution, I thought I'd try one more time for a PVC-based solution.

I saw, on Amazon, this product:

Universal Car Door Edge Guards Edge Trim 16-ft U Shape PVC 3-Color Options (Black)

Since it was PVC I thought there was some chance that it might glue solidly to a 1/8" thick PVC backing plate. So I got some.

I glued a piece of the U-channel to a scrap of PVC and let the glue set. Then I tried to remove the channel - it was stuck there really well. I got it off but some of the channel was left on the scrap PVC. So this looks good.

I cut out a backing plate very slightly larger than my test mirror, cut a piece of the U-channel, put a piece of wax paper on the back of the test mirror and slid the mirror edge (with the wax paper) into the channel.

The wax paper was to prevent any glue from sticking to the mirror.

Then I put a liberal amount of PVC glue on the edge of the backing plate.

Here is a photo of the bottom edge being glued on:



Here is a photo of the setup after the glue set with the rubber bands removed and the mirror partly slid out:



Now I need to locate a mounting ring to the backside of the backing plate. I found that if I used a combination of PVC glue and small screws the ring will stay stuck to a slab of PVC forever.

I'll show that in my next post.
 
Two Mirror Backing Plates

Ok to today I fashioned a second style of backing plate for the Canopy Bow mirror. This one is of solid 1/8" thick PVC and has tabs which were heated and bent into place:

This shows the backing plate drawn out on the 1/8" thick PVC sheet. Holes were drilled in the corners so that there are no sharp corners:



The backing Plate is rough cut out of the sheet:



One by one the tabs were heated with a heat gun, folded over onto the practice mirror and clamped until cooled. Then I sawed off most of the tab so that there is just enough to hold the mirror. Here, two of the tabs are sawn:





Here is the finished backing plate (with tabs), a new mirror cut from the blank with it's protective plastic on, and the practice mirror I've been using:



The new mirror in the holder:



And here we have both backing plates: one with PVC U-channel at the bottom (new mirror installed) and the one with the tabs above it:



So tomorrow I take the backing plates and some mounting rings and mark the best location for the mounting rings onto the backs of the plates.

More later.
 
probably, use at your own risk. It's for RV8. I posted this on the wrong thread. moving it.
 
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Ready for Flight Test

Ok so I took the mirror backing plate with the black PVC U channel and fastened a mounting ring with small brass screws.

I drilled the holes in the PVC such that the screw threads cut threads in the PVC. I cut off the excess screw length, and ground down the ends of the screws with a Dremel tool.

This shows the test mirror in place. The failed reflective surface shows you the location of the countersunk screws:



This next picture is a side view. I used a thicker PVC tubing for the mounting ring so that the screws would have something to bite into. But the I.D. of the tube is a little larger than the canopy bow diameter so I covered the ends of the screws with sticky-back felt. This will protect the canopy bow from scratches as I rotate the mirror as well as take up the slack:




The felt may turn out to be too thick so I might have to find thinner stuff.

The screws themselves hold the mounting ring to the backing plate very well. It's very strong. But after the fit test, if all goes well I will also glue the ring to the plate with PVC glue - and get some glue in the threads of the screws as well.
 
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