The task of removing the shards of plexiglas was accomplished as follows:
- With the door frame still hinged to the fuselage, I closed the latch w/ the
door
frame in the closed and locked positionI did this to minimize the potential
for the door frame to distort when heat was applied.
- Working from the exterior, I used a heat gun to apply heat directly to the
acrylic
along its edge in the area of a crack which extended to the edge of the
window.
- In a remarkably short time, the acrylic softened enough to deform and break
the
bond between it and the bed of Redux in the recess, allowing me to remove a
shard and open a gap around the windows perimeter.
- The gap allowed me to grasp the edge of the acrylic with pliers while applying
heat sufficient to radically deform the acrylic without even a hint of
distortion
to the door frame or a softening of the now exposed bed of Redux.
- I also used a thin SS spatula to pry while applying heat to the acrylicthe
acrylic
popped out of the recess in segments.
- The heat sometimes caused the paint to bubble, but the bubbling was confined
to the half inch of paint which was on the acrylic rather than upon the
fiberglass
door frame.
I will await arrival of the new window from LP Aero before dealing with the
existing
bed of Redux.
> On Aug 7, 2022, at 10:57 AM, Erich Trombley <erichdtrombley@juno.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Fred,
>
> You might also try a soldering iron with an Exacto knife attachment. I have
successfully used this tool on other tasks and suspect it would work rather well
on the redux. I would use a chisel point blade and plunge cut from the top
down to the window rebate. Then come in from the side to heat and lift off the
redux working your way around the window. The localized heat from the iron
should soften the redux without distorting the fiberglass window frame.
>
> Good luck with the task at hand,
> Erich
> N28ET Classic Mono 914
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