Since Mother Nature has not received the note
yet regarding calendar Spring, the borrowed shop heaters were blazing away, yet
again, thwarting off the cold in the shop. My original plan was to wait until
warmer weather to finish trimming the Plexiglass landing light lens. However, because of the way it fits and is
installed, thought it best to finalize trimming the lens to final size prior to
installing the left wing’s outboard top skin.
The plans instruct the builder to mark the front
of the lens along the left and right edges of the opening cut into the W-1203L
wing skin. The lens is then to be cut a 1/4" wider on both sides. I
elected to just place blue painters tape on the inside of the lens and then transferred
the measurements from the marks on the front of the lens to the backside of the
lens so I could run the lens through the band saw.
Inside of lens marked with red ink so it can be “rolled”
through the band saw to cut off the excess
material on the left and right sides
… leaving the required 1/4" extra on each side of the lens.
I cheated and got away with cutting the lens in
the cold shop by holding the lens in front of one of the heaters to warm it up prior
to running it through the band saw. The lens was warmed up once again prior to
making the second cut. Not sure if all that was necessary because I do have a
fine toothed saw blade on the band saw but thought it wouldn’t hurt to stack
the deck in my favor. The band saw made quick, easy work of cutting the lens.
Using the band saw to carefully cut the excess
side material off the left landing light lens.
Once the landing light was cut, it was filed to
the proper shape and sandpapered until all the edges were smooth with no groves
or lines. (Still need to get some finer grit sand paper tomorrow to really
polish the edges out nicely).
Finished left landing light lens with backing
strips in place ready for a trial fit.
I decided to temporarily mount the lens using
screws with lots of washers so the screws won’t wear out the nutplates on the
backing strips. Because I’m not totally happy with the fit, a thought that came
to mind is to try heating the lens up now that it is secured in place and see
if it will naturally take the shape of the opening or possibly do so with just a
little pressure from the back along the edge where it does not fit perfectly. Tomorrow
will try placing one of the heaters in front of the lens to get it preheated in
the hopes the tension on the lens will help form it into the opening better
when I apply direct heat to the problem area from the back side with a heat gun.
It appears 280 degrees is the magic number to begin forming … but I just want
to bend it a little, so hoping it can be accomplished at much lower temperature.
Left landing light lens cut to final shape and test
fitted onto the W-1203L wing skin.