Canopy Hinge Idea

[rmaddy]

I'm a long way off for this but all this talk about hiding the canopy hinges left me thinking.

 

Why use two, 10" length of hinge for the canopy? I presume you need that much to hold the canopy on, right?

 

What about using two short pieces of hinge, enough so the canopy can open properly but small enough to be hidden. Then add a locking mechanism, similar to the pilot's side, on the passenger side. This way the canopy will be very secure but no visible hinges (or much less so).

 

Somehow the two can be interconnected to avoid trying to open the canopy while the passenger side is locked down.

 

Just an idea. Please feel free to agree or shoot it to hell.

[John Slade]

Sounds like a doable, but complicated, idea Rick.

If I were doing this again I'd do a front opening canopy. I've seen four or five examples of this in various stages of construction and I think they're worth the effort.

By the way, my hinges are totally hidden.... but I'll have to do a kind of "starstky & Hutch" dive to get into the plane.

[Wayne Hicks]

One of the good things about the Cozy is that the forward hinge is immediately at the canopy opening line. That will keep that corner from lifting. Even though the starboard longerons on the Long EZ are more straight than the Cozy, their curvature forward of the seatback keeps the hinges from being mounted at the front-opening of the canopy. So some of them get lifting problems.

 

For the Cozy, it would have helped to have mounted those hinges before carving the exterior sides in chapter 7. At least we wouldn't be so tempted to get a nicely carved edge at the hinge locations, especially the forward hinge. Also, there's the subtle suggestion in Chapter 18: "when carving the foam, leave a little extra for the hinges." A key suggestion would be to install the hinges, then install and carve the deck foam using the hinge as a guide. I just natrually thought that we are to remove the hinges so we don't tear them up when carving the foam.

 

All in all, I feel confident that I'll be able to micro fill enough to avoid cosmetically challenged hinges. And my canopy will still open all the way with no binding. Until then, just be ready to cite the Top Ten list when pilots ask why the hinges stick out so far! :-)

 

A forward opening canopy is a tempting idea, but I didn't like the idea of all that canopy acting as a sail, wafting in the breeze while on the ground. I almost, almost, almost went with this: (1) permanently install the my beefed-up T-back bulkhead to function as a roller bar support over the shoulder/seat back; (2) whack the forward canopy off just before the T-back bulkhead and make it forward-opening; and (3) leave the aft canopy portion as side opening.

 

Wayne Hicks

[Jack Wilhelmson]

The aluminium hinges could be replaced with SS hinges of the same size but shorter. Especially the front one. Does anyone know of a source for these hinges in stainless steel. I have made hinges like this from carbon graphite\epoxy composite for my ailerions and rudder. I could also make much more robust carbon grafite hinges for the canopy. The hinge pins could be increased in diameter to offset the shorter length and the thickness of the hinge itself increased also. The process of making carbon graphite piano hinges is not to complicated but it requires a lot of time and some machine tools to make the molds and cut the slots. A friend of mine NICK Ugolini made a jig to cut the slots on his table saw. In any case making hinges is not the subject of this thread. If there is interested I could start one.

[Wayne Hicks]

What we really, really need are blind hinges similar to what's installed on most kitchen cabinets. These hinges move the door away from the cabinet first, then allow the door to swing open. Essentially, the hinges move the geometric hinge line up away from the cabinet frame far enough to allow enough space for the door to open without binding.

 

Problem is, the hinge mechanism has either a 4-bar linkage or some funky ball bearing detent thinga-ma-bob.

 

Has anyone investigated if the Dragonfly hinges advertised in Wicks or ACS are blind hinges? The picture in the catalog is too small to tell.

 

Wayne Hicks