First, Build a Shed

[Meyer]

Glad it worked out!!!

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for the warning Eddie. Once trimmed, the windshield will only be touching the air frame along the two side verticals, boot ribs, boot cowl, and skylight angle. Looking forward to finishing drilling the holes, polishing the edges, and moving on to upholstery.

[Cherrybark]

The window turned out to be a very satisfying part of the project. An random orbital sander, with 40 grit, was used for the repeated trims of the two vertical areas. Once the window fit in the frame, and cut lines could be drawn, a Dremel with their EZ-Loc plastic cutting wheel did a great job. The only downside to using a cutting wheel is getting pelted with hot, sharp bits of Acrylic the entire time. Both the cutting wheel and a course sanding drum were used to make the curvy cutouts that give access to the forward spar bolt. A few passes with 120 then 220 paper on a random orbit sander polished around the perimeter of the windshield - holding the sander at a roughly 45 degree angle to "radius" the edges. The curved area was polished by hand, sanding with the same two grits. Finally, all of the holes were chamfered with an over sized ordinary drill bit turned very, very slowly. I don't recommend this but I didn't have a suitable countersink.

I haven't cut the two holes at the back corner to give access to the rear spar bolts. I've been torturing a scrap piece of Acrylic with a step bit and haven't been able to crack it. But when I look at the lovely windshield I cringe at the thought of breaking off one of the corners. Someone pointed out you only need to remove a few machine screws to put the spar bolt in place and I don't have any plans to remove the wing. I may not drill those two holes.

[jiott]

Carl, use an acrylic drill bit to drill those two spar pin holes. The acrylic bits are quite safe to use; I can't speak to step drills as to whether they are an approved way to drill acrylic although I have heard a number of folks have success with them. I used my largest acrylic bit but wanted a somewhat larger hole so I carefully enlarged it with a small sanding drum on a dremel.

[Cherrybark]

Jim, I thought that would be the technique and it would be a safe approach. But my largest of three Acrylic bits makes a hole that is too small for even the tiny Dremel sanding drum. I suppose I could drill, manually ream with a rolled tube of sandpaper, then graduate to the Dremel.

[jrevens]

Carl,
if you have the standard Dremel sanding drums (1/2” dia.?), there are smaller ones available... I think they’re maybe 1/4”. The ones I have aren’t Dremel brand. That being said, I have had good results with careful use of a step drill (Unibit) on acrylic. I wanted an accurate & round hole to be able to use plastic snap-in hole plugs in those holes.

[Cherrybark]

Thanks for mentioning hole plugs John. They hadn't occurred to me and, if I formed a peculiar shaped hole, wouldn't have worked.

I'm at the point in the project where I flip back through the manuals looking for "do this later" notes. It's been 4+ years and it's interesting to see reminders of some of the tasks. Big push to finish now and be flying in the cooler Fall weather.

[Cherrybark]

I've only installed two inspection rings, both on the bell of the fuselage. The kit came with four rings and cover plates. Where am I missing?

[jiott]

I bought several more so I could put them in the following places:

Fuse belly under the elevator push/pull rod swing arm.
Fuse tail sides (both) at the trim jackscrew lower mounting points.
Wing roots near the fuel tank outlet fittings.
Wing bottom near the pitot tube connection.
Some folks have added even more.

I did not cut the fabric out of the center of the rings until I actually wanted to use the inspection hole. Some have never been cut in 7 years.

[Cherrybark]

I'm going to have to cut the two on the belly because the DAR wants to touch the push rod connections with stop nuts. He says he's seen far too many planes where stop nuts were not actually engaged. I have repeatedly checked mine and painted the nuts with a line of bright pink fingernail polish. Once the Kitfox is in the hanger, we'll make burgers for some of the EAA regulars, open a cooler of iced beers, hand them a clipboard, and see what they find. I'll share the DAR's findings with this team of "experts".

The nice thing about Oratex is I don't need to necessarily plan the inspection ports ahead of time. Superglue a ring to a desired spot, cover with pre-glued tape, let everything bond, cut.