"Prepare the C-803 canopy rails for installation by trimming to length and locally relieving the forward ends per the canopy rail detail on DWG 44"
This is the section of the instructions that I got thru with tonight…well sort of. I put the uncut parts on the fuselage to orient myself – making sure that the angled cut is at the aft end and the c-shape is pointing outward. I then measured the left one and cut it to the specified dimension. I was going to use the bandsaw but the rail is fairly thick so I ended up cutting it with a hack saw with the part clamped in the vice. After cutting the left canopy rail, I smoothed it on the scotch brite wheel - then went to measure and mark the right side. I cut the right side and smoothed it as well and set the right canopy rail next to the left canopy rail…and wondered why the left one was shorter? Upon re-measuring, I noticed that I cut the left canopy rail a half inch short!! I measured it more than three times – but the only thing I can think of is that since the part is supposed to be cut to 45 & 7/16 inches – I was so focused on backing it off by that 1/16” from the half inch mark, that I backed up too far and cut it at 44 & 15/16” …Dang it... I put together the other parts of the canopy slide rails and the canopy frame to get a sense of what kind I problem I had – and yes, this will not work with the shortened canopy rail on the left side. Glad this is only a $15 part (before shipping, of course!)
I went ahead and finished on a positive by putting the two canopy rollers together and torqueing the nuts to 35 in/lbs. (Not easy to do with a screw head). Off to order another left canopy rail.
