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Larry Winger's 601XL Project
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Date: 8-1-2009
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Number of Hours: 6.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Canopy frame right side cover
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The side cover design on the 601XL and 650 is one of the trickier parts of the project because of the way it must tuck into slots in the top front skin. My advice to any other scratch builder is to drill a 1/4" hole for the bolt to go through, not the 3/4" as specified in the plans. From what I can see on pictures of the factory 650, I believe this is how they do it. My reason is to give yourself a fixed point from which to work, otherwise everything is in flux and very difficult to nail down. Once you've located that hole with the bolt, you can start to trim the front edge until it swings down into the pocket without hitting anything else. Because the side cover and the slot are virtually on the same plane (no pun intended), I found it helpful to crimp the leading edge to bend it in so it would not catch. I've heard horror stories, and even seen one in person, where the side cover gets caught on the slot, resulting in a mangled mess. I hope that this will preven that problem. Another reason for using the 1/4" hole is so that you can make the pivot point rigid (using a washer on each side of the cover), which reduces the chance of flex in your part which could result in misalignment. The last thing I did was put a rubber seal strip from Aircraft Spruce along the front edge of the slot to cover the crimps and help keep out wind and rain. I actually think it will be a good feature. I'll provide the part number later. As with all parts like this, the first one takes forever and the subsequent one(s) are much, much faster. That is my plan for tomorrow. Once these are both installed, I'm free to do the final trimming and installation of the forward canopy.
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Side cover in place
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Canopy frame at full up position
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Fluted edge to tuck under front top skin
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