December 9, 2004

Canopy frame… Yes, still at it… Will be at it for a bit longer too. Anyways, I stopped by on the way home tonight and continued with the frame bending fun! Here’s how I rigged up my ’tube bender’. Nice. Proved effective, but you have to be so careful not to go too far. Please don’t copy me on this one, I’d hate for you to ruin your canopy frame by following my example! I know, I know, I did just the opposite and copied someone else!

I’m quite happy with the way this is all turning out now. I fixed the roller assemblies by sanding a bit off the larger bushing that shoulders the roller out from the bracket. This made it so I could tighten the nut and bolt properly, and made for a much more pleasant action of the canopy. I might look for a better looking nut and bolt for this too. I’m also thinking about welding/brazing the roller assemblies into the canopy frame so it looks nicer. I realise I may need the canopy off for an annual or something, so I figured I could cut a round access hole for a socket in the rails so I could just remove the roller bits. This is something I need to mull over a bit. I don’t like to see nuts and bolts all over the place. Being in the auto industry, we have to hide all our fasteners in the cabin and exteriors for obvious reasons. I know nuts and bolts make this look more aeroplaney, but it’s not really for me. I want a ‘production’ look (as I call it). There will be plenty of fasteners on display on the instrument panel, but they’ll be nice ones.

I don’t know why Van’s powder coats these parts. They should save themselves some money and send ’em naked. Bending these things cracks the powdercoat anyway, and most builders will probably paint them the colour they want too. I’m not sure how long these sit around between manufacture and shipping, but my guess is that it ain’t long! A simple film of oil to protect them should be enough to prevent any corosion whilst in transit. Now, I’m going to have to spend time stripping these things. Maybe I can get them blasted somewhere, since the blowtorch takes too long, and the heat might have affect all that bending art I have performed.

Well, the front bow needed to be bent some more in order to get a nice fit in the slide rails. After doing this and trying it about 10 times, it fits nice. Then I moved on to the rear bow. Despite it’s spindly size compared to the front bow, you’d be surprised at how much bending this affects the front bow. By the time I’d done this evening, it was to wide again at the front! Still, I’m heading in the right direction now for sure! Yippee!

Here’s the frame from the front… No more twist!

From the left (Pilot’s left)…

And the right…. On this side, I still have to tweak the rear lower corner, as the longitudinal bar is quite a ways outboard at the back there. I had to go get the ‘Missus’ from the airport (DTW) this evening, so my night was cut short here. It was a bit cold too. All I had on was a short sleeved shirt. Had to have the heater on a lot!