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Slider rear pin/nylon block

BGordon

BGordon

Well Known Member
Howdy everyone,
Working on my canopy and am ready to drill my nylon blocks that hold the rear of the canopy down. I know it slopes forward and have marked that out, but the pins are sorta pigeon toed. Should the pins poke inward or do I need to bend them so that the run straight into the blocks?
Thanks in advance,
B
 
BGordon said:
Howdy everyone,
Working on my canopy and am ready to drill my nylon blocks that hold the rear of the canopy down. I know it slopes forward and have marked that out, but the pins are sorta pigeon toed. Should the pins poke inward or do I need to bend them so that the run straight into the blocks?
Thanks in advance,
B
Click to expand...

I wouldn't try to bend them. Pigeon toed helps with the aft canopy security. One thing I do recommend is to make 'em out of a couple of pieces of scrap lumber (1"x2" works, IIRC) first to get the angles right. I went through more than a few chunks of UHMW before I switched to much less expensive and more easily attainable wood to figure out the geometry.
 
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The sliding canopy is a clunky design, and those stinking blocks are the worst part about it.

I'm am dreading replacing mine - they are about worn out after 10 years of use. Oh well, it looks cool :)

Don
 
The pigeon toe design is correct. It helps pull the sides of the canopy in when seated. If this is a -7, see details on drawing 41.
 
I did not get these blocks right the first time either. Something that happens is that the nylon seems to grab the drill bit and pull it in before you can react. What worked for me was to clamp the block in a vise bolted to a drill press table and use the drill press to control the feed speed. Hope this helps.
 
I used the foam that is used for making floral arrangements first. I made the rectangular block from the foam and placed them into the brackets. Once in place I closed the canopy to allow the pins to Polk the holes in the foam blocks. I then stuck a dowel pin in them and clamped the dowel pin in my drill press. With a protractor I was able to measure the angles required. With this data in hand I was able to use a tilting machinists vice in the drill press along with the tilting drill press table to drill the correct compound angle.
 
Other method

I get them glowing hot with propane torch and melt into the block. It won't go all the way so you'll have to go back and clean out with drill and repeat. Of course the powder coat will be ruined but I always changed the color any way.
 
sjhurlbut said:
I get them glowing hot with propane torch and melt into the block. It won't go all the way so you'll have to go back and clean out with drill and repeat. Of course the powder coat will be ruined but I always changed the color any way.
Click to expand...

+1. This method worked well for me too
 
I corrected the pigeon toe. At first I did not. To get the canopy closed, you had to close it with some force to get the canopy secured. After aligning the pins to be parallel with the rails, the canopy slides to the closed position with little effort. My skirts are tight against the sides of the aircraft. You can see pictures in my builders log under canopy.
 
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