More iterations today on trying to get the nose hatch latch and cable pull operational.  I kicked off a 3D print last night that was 3+ hours long… it being significantly longer now that I added a projecting arm that will allow me to secure the latch cable.

However, in the area that would specifically secure the latch cable my print didn’t turn out so great.  I ended up having to drill it out and cracked it a bit, so I super glued it back together (thus the clothesline pin).  I then repurposed the old canopy latch handle push-pull rod as the rod that will have the handle pull cable on an upper attached arm, and the pull cable to the nose hatch latch on a lower attached arm (I also worked designing and modeling those up in CAD as well).

Here we have the nose hatch latch intermediate cable bracket inside the nose for test fit of the cable.

I also took the opportunity to reinstall the front left CAMLOC receptacle of the aft nose/ avionics cover.  I ensured to drill the major hole were I had marked it in situ with the cover installed, but in the end I may have gained a 0.03″ delta in movement, so not a great return on investment with this task… oh well, pressing forward.

With the aft nose/avionics cover in place, I then taped up the glare shield and the front edge of the canopy skirt (pic 1).  I then closed and locked the canopy, whipped up a small bit of pour foam and slathered up the seam between the two (pic 2).

About 20 minutes later I cut off and sanded the excess pour foam.

I then used my flat (around 0.07″ thick) Perm-A-Grit sanding board to create a gap between the front of the canopy skirt and the newly poured foam.  I also cleaned off all the protective tape.

Once the pour foam above was poured into place, I then got busy on the lathe making a threaded insert out of 5/16″ diameter 2024 aluminum rod and tapped 6-32 threads into one end.  This threaded insert will get floxed into the side wall just behind the canopy latch handle to allow me to install a canopy latch lock.

And with that, I called it a night.  More to come tomorrow.