Canopy countersink and frame prep
I started doing the machine countersinking for the screws on the canopy. I took a little time to ponder the situation and do a bit of experimentation. The holes are drilled in the plexiglas with a 1/8″ plexi bit. I’m going to use a countersink bit with a #30 pilot (this is a little bigger than 1/8″). No way am I going to just cram it in there as it will surely crack the plexi. There doesn’t exist (easily) a #30 plexi drill bit, and you’re not generally supposed to use standard tip drill bits on this stuff because they grab too much material too quickly, hence the deep taper angle of the plexi bits. Through experimentation in scrap, I concluded that the standard #30 bit is close enough to the existing 1/8″ holes that it can be safely used to open them up to accept the countersink bit. So that is what I did. Once the holes were a little bigger, the countersink bit was still a little tight but it worked fine. This is a tedious process as is anything with the canopy as I don’t want to produce a crack in the process.
I also spent a little time final drilling the rear canopy frame splice plate and deburring the frame channel. If you’re doing this stuff, make sure you edge deburr the canopy frame channel *before* fluting it for shape (unlike I did). It is obviously much easier to deburr without the flutes already in place as with any other part.
Next, the rear window is going to come back out for some more minor trimming and machine countersinking. I placed a small tool order this week containing the correct drill bit to open up the screw holes (5/32″ plexi) in the canopy and window. That won’t be here until Monday, so the plexi work will have to wait. Maybe I’ll look into riveting the forward top skin on the canopy frame.
One other thing I ordered is a new mini quick connect for my small air hose. The one that I’ve been using since the start of the project has failed. It is made out of a relatively soft brass or something and I guess the end of the air hose has been dropped on the floor a few too many times. I’m very eager to get this replaced.
