Did some time on the bucket just thinking things thru - need a new plan of attack for the canopy glass install.
When the canopy bows were made I set everything up for 1/4 inch plex. Due to a mold situation I ended up taking a 3/16 T-18 canopy which I must say fit very well . I had always planned to stika flex the canopies to the frames and screw to prevent any chance of peel. The stika requires 3/16 min application thickness . This 3/16 for stika was accounted for also when the canopy frames were built. Bottom line is that the stika flex will be used to make up an additional 1/16 which is not an issue.
The problem is that the T-18 canopy thickness is not a consistant 3/16 , due to the way canopys are made - streched into or over a mold some areas are 3/16 some are .130 . Making it very difficult to just use some spacers to keep the plex in a faired in hieght . Every spacer would have to be a different thickness , a nearly impossible task.
I have decided to drill the srew holes sparingly around the perimitter of the plex without counter sinking them (yet) and searing them. Befroe the stika arrived I tested several plexiglass bonding glazing products - they worked great for a seal but not a permanant bond . You could peel the plex from the substrate surface with mild effort . The plex would peel cleanly .
So my thought is to test the possibility of bonding non permanant tangs around the outside edge of the canopy plex that will act as a stop when bedding the plex into the stika. Then use the screws to clamp everything in place till cured . This will perfectly fair the canopy in with all surrounding structures accounting for any variances. After everything cures remove the screws , counter sink and sear . At that point I plan on making a carbon fiber /fiberglass skirt by using the existing structure as a mold for layup. The countersunk holes should transfer to the fiber glass layups and will be used to locate the holes and allow everything to be bonded and mechanicaly fastened together .
