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drills for canopy

plexi holes

I've just been working on this, I used a std though slightly dulled #40 (not a plexi drill) for all initial holes. This allowed me to continue through the frame (rather than swapping drill bits or removing the canopy before drilling the frame). I'd read about others using this method so I practiced on scrap with good results...then went for it. I never had a single problem (cracking or otherwise) on any of the holes (and I drilled twice as many as I needed to in the roll-bar, I continued with 2" spacing, you only need 4" spacing :mad:).

One note - on two holes, the drill wanted to slide around the frame (must not have been perfectly square). When this happens, the drill will quickly eat into and/or melt the canopy elongating the hole. Just be cautious of this, and re-align the drill to be square and you'll be fine - you are going to enlarge the holes anyway.

The canopy holes will all be enlarged to 5/32" later, I'm using a small unibit for that - again practice on scrap, make sure it's warm, etc., etc.

So far so good for me (no plexi drills, just a std #40 and a unibit), but anxious to see what other techniques have been used out there.

Brian
RV-7, N9823W
Wrestling with Canopy
 
I got my plastic drill bits from Avery Tools, you only need the 1/8" and 5/32", but it also comes in a kit with the next two sizes up too. If you use a standard bit you have to dull the bits and go slow, with the plastic bits there is much less worry, especially when opening up a smaller hole.
 
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