Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  5-29-2013
Number of Hours:  32.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Canopy Frame, Cutting, Tapping, Screws - Part 01

Yahoo! Well, it took two tries, but I am elated to report that the Canopy 2.0 on Ruby 2.0 came out nearly perfect! Rather than using Rivnuts on the canopy frame as I have in the past, I got the great idea to just drill the holes out to #36 and then use a #6 tap directly on the canopy frame steel tubing. The tubing is pretty thick and vary hard so it took a tap very nicely. What a perfect solution! Van's should recommend this as the standard installation. The best part is that you can "retap" the holes slightly to make sure that the flush-head of the screw perfectly aligns with the varying contours of the Plexiglass as you work around from the front to the back. Amazing! The screws seem to have plenty of bite into the steel frame and considering you don't want to ever over tighten them anyway for fear of cracking the Plexiglass, there shouldn't be any problem with the threads holding up. This is easily the best canopy installation I've ever done. The screws look fantastic and alignment is exceptionally good. Next up, I have to fit and drill the fiberglass skirts onto the sides of the canopy frame. While that's somewhat of a trick to do well, the stress level is very low compared to working with the Plexiglass. Ah, whew...
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Canopy Frame Fitting

Canopy Frame Fitting

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Canopy Frame Fitting

Canopy Frame Fitting

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Canopy Frame Fitting

Canopy Frame Fitting

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