Brief Description: More fitting of canopy after big cut - Recommendat
Trial fit canopy on fuselage and found poor fit at +- 45 degrees areas between roll bar and canopy frame. Decided to rebend canopy frame hoop with jigs screwed to table. After many on-off-measure-bend-fit cycles, fit was much improved. Found that weight and stress from plexi on frame resulted in rollers spreading out and rubbing on tracks. Rebent front hoop of canopy frame one more time to ~3/8" less width than original canopy frame only width. Trial fit side skirts - looks like they will fit well...
Recommendation for Slider Frame Fit.
Recommend to do initial fit of tracks on fuselage primarily based on fuselage width at rear of tracks. Make scallop cuts per plans and lay out positions for parallel tracks. Also, when initially bending width of front canopy frame hoop, bend to fit contour of plexi and roll bar - not just width. N457RV bends should have all been made inthe +- 45 degree areas (at 11-10 and 1-2 oclock positions). Use shaped blocks screwed to table to bend. My initial bend was just to squeeze together sides resulting in a "peaking" at the 12 o'clock (top) position. Lastly, my cuts of canopy frame hoop legs at the roller brackets were too early. Plans are confusing in that they call out making heights between roller track and frame square tube equal to within 1/8". I did this too early by cutting (what turned out to be ) too much off the front hoop legs. Cut to at least 3/4" higher canopy hoop vs roll bar measurement initially. Plans call out 3/8". Final fit later (also as plans say) for final windscreen to slider plexi fit.
