Hello Lancair
builders and flyers.
We sure would appreciate some
opinions/advice on some Legacy canopy design and construction details,
summarized below:
Canopy Hinge Mod
Behavior?
We’ve incorporated the canopy hinge modification which eliminated the
flexing around the front of the canopy and fuselage. The down side of the mod is that when the
canopy is within about 30 degrees of closed there is no torque left and it just
wants to fall down. Without the mod
it could be stabilized anywhere in this range. Has anyone found a way to improve this
behavior while keeping the mod’s benefits?
Canopy
Locking?
We’d
appreciate concepts, pictures, drawings, etc. of various approaches for locking
the Legacy canopy. I think Rob
Logan has a lock at the top center of the fuselage and Ron Jones has implemented one around the door
handle. Do you guys have any close
up pictures of your concept? Any other ideas out there?
How to Open
Legacy Canopy?
To this point we’ve
been opening our Legacy’s canopy by sticking an arm through the fuselage
hole for the back windows and pushing it up enough to get an edge from the
outside. What are we supposed to do
once the windows are in…? After
unlatching our canopy, it stays well seated, no edge to grab. With the hinge modification the gas
struts aren’t helping much in the closed position. Ron Jones recommended two hands, with
friction, pushing in and up until it gives. Does anyone have any other approaches? Anyone found a way to have the latch
mechanism push up/unseat the canopy when opened?
Canopy Seal
Mount On Canopy Frame?
Every
implementation we’ve seen of the canopy seal has it on the fuselage
canopy joggle where it is somewhat vulnerable to damage from people moving in
and out of the cockpit. Has anyone
looked at mounting it on the canopy itself? It seems like that would help keep it
out of harms way. We’re
planning to use an inflatable seal and it seems like we could have enough
pressure tube to run along the canopy hinge and attach to the seal without
problems opening and closing the canopy. Comments and suggestions on this one…?
Thanks in advance for the help,
Valin Thorn
Legacy Kit 173
Houston