March 17, 2007 - Gas Strut Mounts
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The "F" bit I was waiting on showed up so I was able to resume progress on
the canopy gas strut forward blocks. I drilled the center hole with the "F"
bit, then tapped it to 5/16".
Next I match-drilled it to the canopy frame. |
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Next
I countersunk the canopy frame and screwed the blocks down.
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These are side panels off Bruce's Corben Baby Ace. I put some
nutplates on them, replacing these pop-rivet blind-nut things that had
worked loose. Yeah, if there is one thing I know how to do, it's
install nutplates! |
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I had to do a little cosmetic work on the Ka-8 glider canopy.
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| With the gas strut forward mounts
in place, I could match-drill the rear mounts. There has to be a
certain exact distance between the forward and rear mounts -- which is the
max contraction of the gas struts.
Before I drilled the rear mounts, I saw on the Vans Air Force forums that
getting a nut on the mount screws was a bear; because of the way the side
canopy decks are, you can't get your fingers or a wrench back there.
Someone suggested making a little aluminum strip and put nutplates on it.
So that's what I did, shown below. We'll see how it works out. |
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| Using the main rear mount as a
template, I match-drilled the holes in the spacers. |
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| Then I sat in the plane and
match-drilled the side canopy decks, using the main rear mount as a
template. You can see the two horizontal holes on the canopy deck.
I won't know if the holes are correctly positioned for a while. You
see, I can't put the gas struts on yet, because the basement ceiling isn't
high enough. I'll have to wait until the fuse is in the garage. |
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