Tip Up Confusion

[Louavul]

Attempting to fit and drill the fwd canopy frame (Wd-716) hinge points to the fuse attach pivots. I am confused by what the instructions mean when it says to tape the frame "pulling it tight down on the fuse".

Pulling it down it only contacts the F-721 fwd canopy deck at the aft end of the welded assy, about a 3/16 of an inch gap at the fwd end where the deck piece meets the F-768 subpanel. This is the space for the weather striping I suppose, causing me to think the welded assy should parrallel the fwd deck.

I have read many posts about fitting this piece and the .125 spacers that are supposed to go under the canopy side rails.

Am I also supposed to put a spacer under the aft end of the welded assy where it meets the fwd canopy deck? Seems this would allow for a good transition to the side rails. The plans don't say to do this however, that does not mean that it doesn't need to be done.

I'll freely admitt I'm over thinking this task and the intimidation factor is growing. It's just that I've had this piece welded up previously for stupid mistakes (my welder has added me to his will) and am trying to avoid another.

Many Thanks in advance for any words of direction.

Steven Hild
Belen, NM
RV-7 finish
590SC res

 

[Noah]

Hi Steven-

If I understand your problem correctly, you are right, you need spacers at the fore and aft ends of the horizontal decks, and also a spacer at the rear end of the forward decks - goal is to create an even gap for weatherstrip between the canopy and frame. Between the panel and subpanel on the forward decks, having parallel surfaces wasn't possible on my kit - design / tooling error on Vans part I believe (and others have commented IIRC). I've been through exactly what you're going through, I also weld filled the goosenecks a couple of times. Keep at it, that canopy will definitely test your gumption, just keep working at it! Eventually things will fall into place.

Be careful how much tension you put on that strap when you pull the canopy down. This temporarily bends the top skin a little in the middle, and when you go to open the canopy, rather than that skin lifting up, it just "unsprings", releasing its preload. Instead of lifting up and clearing the forward skin, it slides forward as it unsprings, and catches on the front skin. This requires that the gap between the fuse and canopy skins be larger than necessary. A lot of people damage their canopy skin because it gets caught like this. The root cause, I believe, is putting too much preload with the strap whiled drilling the goosenecks.

Los Lunas brings back some memories, I did some balloon test flights there once - very nice area!

 

[shiney]

Tip Up

Steve, don't drill anything until you are 100% happywith how it looks, particullaly don't drill the C 614 this is the key to getting it the frame to fit right.

Take your time, look at it and check it as many times as you need to before drilling. Oh, and when you have it all in place and you put the gas struts on, it'll all go out of shape again!

 

[Bavafa]

don't drill 617 block just yet

For the best fit (if that ever was possible) you want a rather constant gap (.125) along the entire side rails where it meets the canopy deck. I went about it differently, first built the canopy frame all together and drilled my hinges exactly where it needed to be drilled. Then fitted the canopy with the spacers all along the sides and the back. Attached the c-617, 618 and c-619 to the hinges and then slided those blocks in place and when I was happy with the fit, I drilled the C-617, 618 and 619 to the ribs. If you don't do this, you may end up with little edge distance on your hinges and that is noooo good.


If you like, give me a call and I can share with you a few things to avoid or watch out. These are things I wish I knew then but all in all my canopy fit is very close.

Mehrdad
RV-7A
N825SM
530-677-3974