Thread: Making a Canopy
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Old January 22nd 14, 02:42 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Making a Canopy

This is not a trivial exercise, a lot of work, a great deal of risk (Canopy = $$$) and a really suboptimal place to start learning composite work.

I have about 5 pages of really minor but very important details on this process that I consult ever time I mount a canopy and this is not my first rodeo.

Cut canopies with abrasive cutoff wheels and disc sanders, never with toothed devices.

Some installers use countersunk metal screws in addition to bonding (epoxy + cotton flox + fumed silica. Screws are mostly to hold alignment and position while the epoxy cures.

Rubber bands made from bike inner tubes are very handy for holding the plexi on the frame while it cures.

I cannot think of a more difficult, detail-critical installation than this.

How far are you from Dave Nelson in MI or M&H in NY?