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Canopy Frame Problems

Avoca1us

Member
My canopy frame doesn't line up with the roll bar. It sticks out on both sides about 1/8", and is about 1/8" low at the very top. I'm waiting on Van's tech support to get back to me. Puzzling.

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Did you ever get a response from Vans?

It looks like the base of the aft canopy support might have been spread slightly too wide when the canopy handle was attached. That would account for the too wide width dimension and would have contributed to the too short height dimension.

Did the mothership provide any guidance on the cause and the associated fix?

Lance
 
Since everything is pre punched, there isn't a lot I could do about this. Van's said it would be fine. The sides turned out OK, but I had to put shims in between the top of the frame and the plexiglass. Otherwise the canopy would not latch.
 
Is it only on one side? It is probably the part C-01409 rail which sets the curvature of the canopy rail. This part comes together with the L and R part that have to be cut apart. See if they are symmetrical. I bet they are not. The edges are folded down on a press and sometimes they are not pressed correctly. measure two things. the distance of the rivets from the edge. Also, if the relationship of the bottom edge relative to C-01407. The 1407 should come down and be right at the edge of the 1409. Make sense.

I doubt it has anything to do with the aft edge of the canopy since that is set by the the assembly of 1405L/R on 38-14 and that brace is used to make sure that the distance is correct at the aft of the canopy.

I had to get a new part and remove the original one. I only replaced one of them. The other seemed to be fine, which I know does not make sense. Van's knows that this is an issue. Not sure why they don't check each part before putting in a kit.

I had a post about this at the beginning of the summer (2018).
 
I have a question.
Is there any reason why I cannot build the canopy-canopy frame without having possession of the fuselage? My QB fuselage is yet to be delivered. But I have the finish kit.
thanks
 
well, it appears that I have the same issue--I think. I am at the step of tightening the side rails on the canopy--38-27. So the canopy frame with wind screen installed are on the plane. It appears that the canopy has a slight twist, but I am not sure that it is twist as much as the canopy is too wide by about 2 mm on the passenger side. The canopy latches--not smoothly, but latches. The process of latching pulls the canopy in (2mm) and down (2 mm) on the passenger side so that it is almost parallel with the side of the plane, but still about 1/32" too wide. I understand pulling the canopy down is a twisting problem, but pulling in means that the canopy frame is too wide. The latter is determined when the frame and roll bar are assemble by using C-01442C. The pilot side is just fine and does not move when latching

At this point, there is nothing that I know of that I can do to fix this issue and will probably just have to live with it. I assume that the long term issue is that the plastic part that the pin slides into will wear out on the passenger side and will have to be replaced.

I have a call into van's, so we will see where that leads to.
 
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