Tip Up Canopy/Panel Queston

PaulR · #1 09-22-2008, 12:13 PM

I?m working on finishing up the upper forward fuselage and have a couple questions concerning the sequencing of it. First of all, I?m building a tip-up and am planning on a Dynon D-100 and D-120 EMS and would like them to be centered in front of the pilot/copilot positions.

I?ve searched here and presume that it?s okay to move the front part of both 745 ribs. It seems that it would be better structurally to move them inboard as opposed to outboard simply because the panel is already attached to the forward canopy deck. Opinions?

I?m assuming that I?m going to have to cut a hole in the 768A subpanel for the radio(SL-40) and xpnder( GTX-327). I don?t have the trays yet, but from research it seems that they are longer than that space. Should I go ahead and rivet the subpanel in and cut it later or bite the bullet and buy them now and get it done?

Any pictures would be helpful.

N941WR · #2 09-22-2008, 01:16 PM

Paul,

There has been a LOT of info posted about this in the past. Rather than repeating it, try a quick search. I'm sure you will find more info than you need.

Also, check out the panel page of my web site for an easy way to move those pesky ribs.

rv9av8tr · #3 09-22-2008, 01:43 PM

I'm trying to freeze my panel design, and this weekend discovered that my audio panel was too high on the panel because of the canopy stiffener brace. You can only put "short" things ( like about 5" deep max) along the top, otherwise that stiffener will hit along the back. Long items need to be about 1.5" below the top of the panel to avoid that canopy stiffener.

My discovery resulted in a whole shuffle.......... urrggg! Ironically however, I think I like the result better than what I had done. Good luck!!!!!! This is a trying process!!

Greg Arehart · #4 09-22-2008, 09:19 PM

I moved my ribs outboard to accommodate a similar setup. Panel mockup is shown here:

As Bill indicated, there are a bunch of threads on this.

greg

Rupester · #5 09-22-2008, 09:26 PM

Paul,
I moved the panel support ribs to the inside for exactly the reasons you note. I moved them inside sufficiently to allow centering a GRT display on both the L and R sides. Not too hard to do, but custom fabrication is always slow work compared to the usual Vans assembly.

kiwipete · #6 09-23-2008, 09:17 AM

Paul

Rather than move the rib I opted to copy an idea from Tim Richardson:

http://www.gapilot.co.uk/build/2005/oct05/25oct05.htm

Quite a simple solution that keeps the panel brace intact and if anything stronger.

Peter