rivets or screws?

[erich weaver]

The plans call for #6 screws to fasten the windscreen to the roll bar, but rivets to fasten the front of the canopy to the slider frame. I am slowly rehabilitating my less-than-perfect canopy and need to re-do some of these rivets and probably add a few ones where a re-do wont cut it. I would rather use the #6 screws than pop rivets. Is there a good reason NOT to do this on the canopy frame?

The canopy frame stock is signficantly smaller diameter than the roll bar and probably has thinner wall thickness, so maybe tapping the #6 threads into it just isnt as secure as it is in the roll bar?

thanks for any thoughts you may have on this

erich

 

[Captain Avgas]

The plans call for #6 screws to fasten the windscreen to the roll bar, but rivets to fasten the front of the canopy to the slider frame. I am slowly rehabilitating my less-than-perfect canopy and need to re-do some of these rivets and probably add a few ones where a re-do wont cut it. I would rather use the #6 screws than pop rivets. Is there a good reason NOT to do this on the canopy frame?

The canopy frame stock is signficantly smaller diameter than the roll bar and probably has thinner wall thickness, so maybe tapping the #6 threads into it just isnt as secure as it is in the roll bar?

thanks for any thoughts you may have on this

erich

Erich, I think you might have answered your own question. Vans doesn't provide info on the steel tube in the roll bar but judging from my RV7 drawings the wall on the roll bar is considerably thicker than the wall on the sliding canopy frame (which I measured at about .035"). I doubt .035 is sufficient to prevent the thread stripping under even very modest loads.