TipUp Canopy Frame Tube Weld

[WenEng]

I am positioning the forward canopy frame skin (e.g. instrument panel sunshade/dashboard...) and its trailing edge gets drilled to and riveted to the tube. Trouble is the hinge arm that is welded to the ''tube'' is not flush, not even close to flush with the tube. The skin looks like it hit a speed bump trying to get over that poor weld. My brain tells me the weld is bad and it must be cut and rewelded more or less flush to the tube. Is there another option I cannot see to eliminate the speed bump in the dashboard? Why does it have to sit in front of my eyes 24/7 when I would be flying. All right. Complaining over. How has anyone else dealt with solving this? I am not a welder, but could find one I guess. Thanks.

The co pilot side is much better and can be filed a little to make it work fine.

 

[Sam Staton]

Call me

Wendell -
I have a welder that can take care of this if you decide you want to cut it and reweld it.

 

[WenEng]

Thanks Sam.....

Vans replied that the preferred fix is cut and re weld. They remarked the weld should have been made underneath the hinge arm with the arm flush to tube top. Obviously a mistake during manufacture. I guess I am not the only one who makes mistakes. I must remember that all parts are also made by other humans... and no one is perfect. Just frustrating. I'll get it fixed and move on. I'll call you for welder info.

 

[Seamus]

Re-welded ours so it was flush. Also while it was out, this thing flexes all over the place and added some more strength to the corners to eliminate that. Made the rest of the layout much easier to index from.

 

[WenEng]

Wish I could weld.....

$200 quote to weld it. No way. Vans said a gusset would work too so I made a gusset and put it together. Worked fine and cost me 50cents in materials and an 30 minutes time. But, I became interested in welding, so it will probably cost me hundreds more later.

 

[bruceh]

$200 bucks for an inch of welding!

I had an aluminum swing arm on my ATV that cracked. A local guy did that weld job for $40, and it was a lot more work.

 

[ty1295]

Too bad you were not local, I would have charged you a handshake.

 

[jsharkey]

Shims

That certainly looks like a bad case but even although mine was better I did do some major shimming to make the canopy forward skin fit well - especially around the "shoulders".

Jim Sharkey
RV-6