Tip: The BIG CANOPY CUT is completed!

Today was a good day. After many days of second guessing myself, laying down the cut line, erasing the cut line, laying down the tape, and pulling up the tape, I finally got my guts up and now I find myself on the other side of THE BIG CUT. Somebody on here said that they were told to "grow a pair" and just cut it. Well, those words also got me through this stressful time...wise words indeed. Actually, I was MORE than ready to do the cut today. I guess I was just tired of thinking about it.

So, the temperature was right. The outside temperature was in the mid to high 80s. Check out the greenhouse effect inside the bubble:



This made for a very happy piece of Plexi.

So I marked the line with a Sharpie, backed it up with yellow tape, then placed blue tape on either side of it. I marked the line about 1/8" forward of the forward bow:



I got myself a 4X8 piece of that particle board type of stuff they use on roofs. Unfortunately, the bubble is very near or beyond 4 feet in width. That is why I installed the "goal posts" you see. I put the sheet on my low saw horses which supported my fuselage for years. It made for a very comfortable height. You can also see my tool of choice for the cut, the Harbor Freight oscillating cutter:



I notched the board so that I would have clearance for the saw:



Let the cutting begin:





And some videos of the job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VdIMWyTNtI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZcY3BO4yus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFnbA0bfh1Q

I worked slow and made three to four passes before I plunged through. Fini:



This was pretty anti-climatic. It came out pretty well and I'm relieved that there were no cracks. I wasn't pleased at first with the consistency between the distance of the cut to the forward bow but I've found that there is a bit of adjustment in the bubble/frame relationship even with the handle hole drilled. I did manage somehow to put a couple of small stress concentrators at the cut but they were easily sanded out. I plan to Sika the canopy and I will wait to make any further adjustments to the cut via sanding until after I've glued it all up.

So get out there and grow a pair!!! WHEW, I'm glad that's over with!

Kelly, good job!!!

Nice tutorial of the cut, good use of photos to illustrate the work, I am sure those who follow in your footsteps will appreciate it.

Congratulations, Kelly! Now be careful with that thing so you don't wind up having to practice your new-found skills again too soon

ArVeeNiner said:

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WHEW, I'm glad that's over with!

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What? Over? It's just the beginning of the Canopy Saga . Congratulations I know it feels good.

Thank you!

I have one of those Harbor-Freight cutting tools as well and it worked quite well at cutting the polycarbonate which is used for the lenses on the landing lights.

And now that I finally have my landing lights done, I was wanting to know if the same tool could be used for the famous "big cut" as well, and now I do know that this tool can be used for canopy cutting as well.

So thanks much for the great tip! That sure is a big help.

You're welcome!

Pretty much everything that I did I got off of VAF or builder's sites. I just kind of put it all together for everybody to see, including a few videos of the HF tool in action.

I bought that tool a while ago in anticipation of the big cut. I really didn't think it would be the best tool for the job. I made several practice cuts on scrap using a Dremmel knock off and a cut off wheel, the wobbly Van's cutoff wheel in the Dremmel and in a corded drill, die grinder, and finally the HF cutter. They all worked but I felt the most comfortable with the HF tool.

I like to document my experiences for the next guy and I'm glad this will help. There is such a wealth of knowledge out there on this site and without it, I'm not sure I would have ever attempted this project.

Build on!

ArVeeNiner said:

Somebody on here said that they were told to "grow a pair"

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That would be me...and my mentor, Darwin Barrie. Of all the many words of instruction I've gotten in the 9 years I've been building, those may be the most helpful.

HF multi tool which bit?

I used the HF multi tool for my lens and thought about using it for the canopy with the diamond blade rather than a toothed blade.

Did you guys try the diamond blade?

Way to go Kelly

Attaboy Kelly,

I cut mine last summer using a die-grinder and the cutting disks in the finishing kit. I will fit the front section this summer after I get a little more wiring done. Cutting it in half is the easy part. Fitting it to the frame is the real work. Keep at it - your almost in the air.

I'm currently screwing with the cowling. I need to make some surgical cuts to get the front air inlets to match up decently.

By the way nice neighborhood.

Fearless said:

By the way nice neighborhood.

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Thanks. It was nicer before this guy got this harebrained idea about building an airplane in his garage! Now all we hear is endless riveting, drilling, cutting, and muttering punctuated by the occasional swear word!

I also used the HF tool with the sand paper attachment for fine tuning the fit between the cowl and the fuselage. It allowed me to leave the majority of the cowl attached to the fuselage for these minor adjustments. It was much more convenient than pulling it completely off every time I wanted to sand a little bit...although I did a lot of that too.

I didn't know about the diamond blade so all I tried was the blade that came with the tool. You'll have plenty of opportunity to make some test cuts with both blades to decide which you like best. The regular blade is very controllable so I really like it. I just did some more trimming of the sides with it the other night with the Plexi clamped to the frame.