Well.... I did it today.... made the first canopy cut..... it was just about as slow as watching paint dry!!
I used a propane heater to warm the garage to above 75 and a fan to circulate the air so all the hot air wasn't against the ceiling. I also used a small electric heater inside the canopy on the bench to directly warm the plexiglass. Inside canopy air temp was 85-90. You definitely need to use a table jig to hold the canopy sides to the correct width, otherwise it really spreads out and is totally out of control.... I learned this the hard way!! Plus, it will hold the canopy to the correct width as it cools down after the cutting pre-heat.
It took about 30-40 min to cut each end.... making about 4-5 passes with my Harbor Freight die grinder and the cut off wheel supplied by Van's. I'd swear the die grinder consumes thousands of SCFM of air!! Had to wait more for the compressor to catch up than the actually cutting time. The "cuttings" are pretty fine particles and is rather acrid smelling during the cut.... so be sure to use full goggles and a painter's type 1/2 mask organic cartridge respirator. (Didn't smell anything with it on).
For the last cutting pass, I punched all the way through about every 8" then put duct tape over the penetrations to hold the piece I place as I went along and made the final cutting pass to release the part. The front section has a fair amount of stress in it when it released from the canopy. After cutting I used 100 grit sand paper to smooth the cut edge to eliminate stress risers along the cut edge before removing it from the cutting jig.
Cutting these end flanges off should allow the canopy to sit close to the fuselage skin for the next set of trim markings.......... As they say, film at 11.............
Small electric heating fan to warm the inside of the canopy
