SMUGator

I feel a little bad that I haven't made more progress on the sliding canopy prototype. When we get our usual 8 weeks in Seattle where it doesn't rain every day, I play a lot of golf, do some flying, and [link=http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/WASBikeEvents?px=1726158&pg=personal&fr_id=7600]serve as the Captain for Team Microsoft in the MS 150 Bike Ride.[/link] Want to donate to the cause?

In any case, I did get the sail winch servo over the weekend. The good news is that the pulley wheel is perfect for our needs. With two independent tracks, it will handle each side of the canopy nicely. I worry about two things:
[ul][*] It's bigger and heavier than a standard servo. If someone wants to take a shot at the mod on a standard servo to remove the end points and make it travel continuously, that could be a good option. Danny posted the link earlier.[*] I think that we will want the pulley on the same plane with the servo rails. If we do this, the servo will need to be mounted with the pulley facing the top of the fuselage making it very difficult to service once mounted and the fuse planking is in place.
[/ul]

I do feel like I have a good handle on the canopy rails. I'll make the fixed rail out of 3/16 square brass that is slotted to accept the canopy attach points (Ball links) and a pin that drops in to the retraction block (tractor). The tractor will be made from smaller brass square about 1/4 inch long that has a hole to accept pins from the canopy hard points. This will make the canopy completely detachable. I realize that this may be hard to visualize until I post a drawing or get on with the prototype.

I found some rivets and bushings that should work well as pulleys for the cable. I didn't find anything off the shelf that works as a pulley. If you know of anything, drop me a note.

The next couple of weeks are going to be tough on time due to a 3 day golf tourney and being the best man in Chris's wedding, so I may not have too much to add until after Labor Day.

Tom