canopy handle

Hi SC, 

do you know which size drill bit I need for the canopy handle rivnuts.

Cheers 

1 hour ago, JDevoy said:

Hi SC, 

do you know which size drill bit I need for the canopy handle rivnuts.

Cheers 

Hi James,

The 2 bolts that secure the handle to the canopy frame are M6 which of course means a M6 rivnut. A M6 rivnut uses a 9mm hole. Technically it's a 8.5mm hole if you can source that size bit across the pond in metric land. 

Hope this helps. 

Brilliant as always Shawn. Yup got an 8.5mm yesterday. Fitting today. Did the canopy guides yesterday. Simple but immense solution. Canopy glides closed now. No more juggling it side to side. 

The imperial/metric thing is a bummer. USA bits on a European design. Need two sets of tools!  

4 hours ago, JDevoy said:

Brilliant as always Shawn. Yup got an 8.5mm yesterday. Fitting today. Did the canopy guides yesterday. Simple but immense solution. Canopy glides closed now. No more juggling it side to side. 

 

The imperial/metric thing is a bummer. USA bits on a European design. Need two sets of tools!  

The canopy guides are totally worth doing however the canopy handle is pretty much worthless. 

5 hours ago, JDevoy said:

Brilliant as always Shawn. Yup got an 8.5mm yesterday. Fitting today. Did the canopy guides yesterday. Simple but immense solution. Canopy glides closed now. No more juggling it side to side. 

The imperial/metric thing is a bummer. USA bits on a European design. Need two sets of tools!  

I so wished we used the metric system. I do so much of my design and work with the metric system, nearly all my components come from overseas and the specs and drawings are in metric. Converting to imperial is a pain. Base 10, how easy is that? No, we have 1/16" and 1/32" and all kinds of crazy fractions, how silly. 

I hear the canopy guides work great and I can't see what that handle is used for at all. It's very, very rare that my canopy doesn't algin when I close it thankfully.

Ha .... metric vs imperial , tell me about it .. 

I had an oil tank go bad ( a mechanic installed a quick oil release valve with not enough clearance between the valve and the exhaust below so the valve kept banging on the exhaust during engine startup , and eventually the oil tank bottom bolt gave out ) so I had to get a new tank  - trouble is they my original tank and fittings were European and I could only get the imperial version here so I kept the European top of the tank ( so it fits the oil lines ) and used imperial bottom of the tank since that’s the only one I could get here heheh - it works fine since the only difference is at the top related to pipe fitting but what a pain ...

On 6/14/2019 at 7:56 AM, ronin5573 said:

The canopy guides are totally worth doing however the canopy handle is pretty much worthless. 

Yeah I’m coming to that conclusion. Doesn’t really add much. Guides are great, aligns every time. 

Before getting the guides, the handle would be somewhat useful to help align and close.  After installing the guides, there really is no need for the handle in my experience.  

Now the canopy basically closes itself, now if it would only latch itself ... 

2 hours ago, Velocity26 said:

Before getting the guides, the handle would be somewhat useful to help align and close.  After installing the guides, there really is no need for the handle in my experience.  

Now the canopy basically closes itself, now if it would only latch itself ... 

I would agree.  However I do like the headset rack.   Makes things in back more organized.  I’m always careful with mine and a passenger if there is one with the headset wires that close to the canopy handle.   I’ve never had a canopy open in flight and would prefer to keep it that way.

5 hours ago, ronin5573 said:

I’ve never had a canopy open in flight and would prefer to keep it that way.

I have.  Fly the airplane. https://lsaeronaut.blogspot.com/2012/09/canopy-latch-handle.html

I watched a video where a CFI would intentionally unlatch the door of his Bonanza trainer, just after take-off, so that all his students could experience the noise and feel of having the door pop open in flight, in a controlled environment.    It sounds extreme, but people have crashed as a result of trying to close the door/canopy in flight and simply forgot to "just fly the airplane" as taught.  He feels that, since most pilots will eventually experience the event, it is better to be familiar with it, and prepared for it, so that you are ready when it happens. 

While I am not sure that an instructor would want to pop open the SportCruiser canopy in flight, I believe that it would be a beneficial experience.  Personally, I have an incredible CFI that drilled me on exactly what to do on such an occasion.   While I am not going to confess to anything, I am not even startled when it happens anymore.  I expect that the first time it happens, you will be startled.  Remember to "just fly the airplane" .