Earlier, (c hinds) wrote:

I know this has been beat to death
over the years, but, I am ready to
proceed with canopy fabrication.
I am fortunate enough to have a
canopy tool (female mold) but am
unsure how to proceed.

My recommendation, based on my own direct experience, for whatever
it's worth:

Unless you are planning to make more than about ten units a year, I
believe that it just doesn't pay to try to climb the learning curve of
making your own acrylic or polycarb transparencies. Instead, I
recommend this procedu

Take your female mold, and use it to make a male plug. Make sure that
the male plug embodies at least 2" of perimeter outside the line of
the required finished transparency. Smooth and polish the plug the
level of smoothness commensurate with the optical clarity you want.

Now, this is the hard step: Take that plug and send it to a reputable
aircraft transparency company and tell them to make you one of those.
You will save a ton of time and trouble, and get a good (or at least
usable, depending on your plug) transparency the first time. It's what
I do, and it's always worked for me.

If you're near Southern California, I recommend Aircraft Windshields
Inc. in Los Alamitos. They've made transparencies for the new HP-24,
the HP-18 and HP-11, and other gliders, and I've always been happy
with their work.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com