Brief Description: Trimming of inner stiffener and canopy preparation
Inner stiffener was adjusted to properly fit against fuselage. Then, inner flange was trimmed to result in consistant, symmetrical and even contour. Once this was accomplished, canopy was placed on top and moved around until it nested as good as possible. Attention was paid to ensure there is excess canopy material in all directions past bonding flange. This will be of importance during bonding process to ensure maximum bonding properties are realized.
Important part here was to remember that drilling into canopy for any reason is unacceptable. Failing to comply with this can cause stress to the canopy that can result in cracks under load.
Once canopy was aligned, inside flange of the stiffener was transferred onto canopy using sharpie. This becomes the starting point for determining trim line for canopy as well as serves as tape off line for bonding further down the road. Transferred line is offset out for the width of the flange it will be bonded to. This new line becomes the trim line to which canopy is cut. This was accomplished using rotozip cutting tool with universal cutting bit, followed by belt sanding over the cut edge to remove stress. Edges of the cut were also slightly rounded for the same reason. Canopy bonding flange was sanded lightly in preparation for bonding.
