Tugwell Canopy Modification - Page 1.

Now that I have some real web space, I can clean up some of my recent pages, like these few on the Tugwell canopy opening cable modification.  I have pulled the earlier entries out of the other pages and put them here in sequence.  If you have the Tugwell kit and are having problems,  YOU NEED TO READ ALL FOUR PAGES before you start making these modifications to your RV-7 or RV-9 canopy.  Learn from my efforts and avoid the frustrations.

July 24, 2004: This may be a little out of order, but here it is anyway.  I have been away on business last week.  I got the Tugwell canopy mod kit today in the mail and installed it.  I have some fine tweaking to do before I feel that it will be aligned correctly.  I cut some slots in the center tube at the front and rear to allow the cable to pass through it.  This shows the locking handle with Tug's cable seizure assembly installed on the handle.

Here is cable termination at the aft end of the central tube of the canopy frame.

This photo shows the slot in the rear bracket on the baggage bulkhead.

This one shows the same bracket from the top side.  It is riveted to the top skin and the bulkhead.  The idea is to always get the pulling cable to fall into that slot you see there when the canopy is closed.

And the last photo in this series shows the cable installed with a "nylon" washer stuck to the end of the steel cable with RTV.  As you can see the cable has been bent and I feel that I have an idea to fix it using some safety wire "wickets" through that piece of stainless steel you see.  Tomorrow I am starting a trip north to Wisconsin to visit two cousins, and of course I will get two days at AirVenture 2004 at Oshkosh.  I will post some photos when I have something of interest.  I also hope to see Tug as I pass through the Nashville area to show him how this came out and what he thinks of my idea to fix it.

August 6, 2004:  I have returned from Oshkosh and been busy working for the company (my day job).  This evening was the only time I have put on the RV project.  I mentioned in my return page from Oshkosh that I stopped by to see Robert Tugwell and learn the details that make his canopy opening modification work.  I think I have adjusted the available components to do the job with the differences from an RV-6 to an RV-9.  The distance from the canopy frame above to the lines you see that represents the fuselage skin is 2 and 5/8 inches.  I had to use a slightly longer stainless steel strap that Tug provided, and I added a slot to it and moved my safety wire "wicket" to a location forward of the slot to keep the steel cable on track.   Right after I took these pictures, I put some RTV on the new cable to hold the UHMW washer in place.

Here is the bracket after changing it to a 1" angle that proved to be too high.  I got out my die grinder and took off about 1/8" and it no longer keeps the aft canopy skirt up off the fuselage skin.  I ended up cutting a second slot closer to the slider rail.  The cable works better at that location, but the stainless strap needs to have something to keep it aligned.  That will come with my next modifications that will also keep the aft canopy skirt tight against the fuselage skin.  Come back in a couple of weeks to see what happens with that modification.   By the way, the overhang of the fuselage skin in front of the bulkhead shown is 2 and 5/8 inches also.  That means that from the bulkhead to canopy frame, the Tugwell cable kit has to span 5 and 1/4 inches.  Part of that is done with the bracket shown in the picture below.  The rest of that span is crossed by the cable and the stainless steel strap, which must be kept in alignment with the V-notch in the bracket below.

I almost forgot to tell you that I ordered the Dynon EFIS-D10A today and some accessories for it.  I also ordered the Ameri-King AK-450 ELT emergency locator transmitter.  You can learn about both of those here:  http://www.safeair1.com/index.htm

For now, I am off to see the wizard and all that stuff at my day job on the road in Florida.