Sunday, August 21st - Windscreen, roll bar handles, glare shield, etc

With the forward skin finally on and no reason to wait any longer, I decided it was time to tackle the windscreen. I need to get this done while it's still warm.

Before I did that I needed to mount the handles I got from Aircraft Extras, and put on the glare shield fabric I got from Cleaveland Tools.

I knew the handles needed to be angled down slightly to clear the slider frame, and I also knew I needed to mount them so they wouldn't interfere with the slider frame when it closed.

I sat inside and marked the roll bar from the inside with the slider closed, then used that line as the upper limit of the holes.

The handles are pretty beefy - 3/16 diameter, so I needed to drill two holes accurately aligned with each other (same angle from the horizontal in other words) and then drill holes for the screws in the opposite side that were #10.

I ended up making a simple jig using some PVC pipe that was almost exactly the same inside diameter as the outside of the roll bar.   What I was most worried about was that the holes would be aligned front to back.

 I used my drill press to drill through the PVC so the holes would be aligned, then split it in half with the band saw.  If I kept everything lined up and drilled in from either side I would be guaranteed to have everything line up.  Plastic isn't very durable, but it's only 4 holes.

Here's the guide.

    Marking the roll bar


I used the forward slider bow to draw a line on the roll bar, and then measured from the center out to make sure they were aligned side to side and the location made sense.

Lousy picture, but the upper line gave me a "go no higher than" limit for the top of the hole, and the thing that looks like a "P" is just a hand drawn location mark.





Guides clamped to the roll bar.  Once I had the one hole drilled I inserted just the end of the handle in the first hole, and used the far end as both a angle guide and location marker for the next hole.






So here's what it looks like after the pilot side is drilled.  Nice snug fit, everything lined up, and super sturdy.





And here is a shot of one side installed.  I used a 1" #10 screw, which fit full length and should make it plenty strong.



Inside view of the results.  Out of the way but plenty of clearance.  Works for me.


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Next on the list was to install the glare shield.  I wasn't sure what was appropriate to secure it to the aluminum, so I gave the mothership a call and talked to Joe.  Turned out he'd used the same 3M spray adhesive on his -6 years before and it worked great.  That was good enough for me.  I made up a trimming template out of shipping paper so I'd be able to trim it without waste.  I had a bit extra, but not so much I could really be very far out.

I just put the windscreen over the top, marked it, then worked the trim line back so it was clear of the windscreen by 1/4" or so.  I plan to use black dye in the micro mix and the first layups, so none of this will be visible from either the inside or outside.

Laying out the template for cutting.