March 3, 2007 - Canopy Frame Prep
With the side skirts drilled, I turned my attention to the canopy skin.  I had to drill the "ears" to the canopy frame, as well as a number of holes on the skin side that I hadn't match-drilled to the frame. 
All done.  The ears fit to the frame surprisingly well. 
I was aware from other builder web pages that one of the canopy skin holes might interfere with the splice plate rivets.  I measured the location of this hole carefully and was confident that it wouldn't interfere with existing rivets.  I drilled it and it came out fine.  The arrow points to where the cleco end is sticking out the hole. 
With the canopy frame drilled, I resumed work on the gas strut bracket and spacers.  I decided to drill the bracket before trimming it to the final shape.  I used an old piece of angle as a fence on the drill press.
One of the holes was big -- 5/16".  I was nervous about it but the Unibit a nice job on it.  I did have to flip the piece over and drill it from the other side because it was too thick for the Unibit to get through it in one fell swoop.
After drilling the holes, I used the band saw and file to trim the brackets to final shape. 
All done. 
I started working on the gas strut blocks.  I figured it would be easier to drill the holes with the big piece of stock, before cutting it.  I cut the two holes below to #21.  Unfortunately, I didn't have an "F" bit to drill the middle hole.  A trip to the local hardware stores proved fruitless.  So the blocks are on hold until I score an "F" bit. 
Back to the canopy skin.  I drilled the rear line of holes to #30. 
All done. 
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