(Duckworks HID Landing Lights):
Tonight I wanted to get the landing light lenses cut. First
thing, cover the lense with tape to protect it. Then place it
inside the wing centering it inside the opening. After making
sure it's seated completely against the tight curve at the front of the
leading edge, trace the opening onto the tape, and then remove the
lense. Then mark trim lines to cut the width down to 6.5".
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I
used the band saw with a fine toothed metal cutting blade to cut the
plexiglass lenses… works very well! Anyway, after cutting
the lense width, a line is marked about 0.7" above the line for the
upper edge of the skin cutout. This is close to the right
dimension, but intentionally long in order to sand it to a perfect fit.
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Once
the upper portion is cut back to the line, the upper bracket is used to
mark the width of the upper portion of the lense. (I'm glad I
haven't riveted these in the skin yet!) The lense will slide
between the two rivets so the upper corners of the lense need to be
trimmed to fit.
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I
clecoed the bracket back inside the skin and then slid the lense into
place for a trial fit. As mentioned before, the upper portion of
the lense is a little long, as evidenced by the fact the upper mark for
the cutout is slightly below the edge of the cutout. This is a
simple trial and error process... remove, sand, reinstall, and repeat
if necessary.
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Once the upper edge of the lense is taken care of the focus
changes to the lower edge. The lense is reinstalled, again making
sure its seated properly, and using a pen through the 3 screw holes in
the skin, the holes are marked on the tape.
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The 3 holes in the lower bracket are then positioned over the
marked holes, and a line for the lower edge of the lense is marked.
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Being conservative, I cut a little long (I can always sand a
little more, but I can't put any back!). It took a couple of
attempts, but it finally fit pretty good. Here's the lense with
the bracket screwed into place… I should probably remove that
tape huh ;-)
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| There… that's one, now on to the other! Once
they were both done I set the lenses aside. When they're finally
installed they'll be sealed with a small piece of weather stripping to
keep the elements out. |
