Canopy 'STAY' arm geometry

[FabricGATOR]

I am asking about the arm that holds the canopy from flopping over onto the RH side.
A friend asked me to fix a glitch during the annual inspection. It looked like a simple adjustment, a screw backing out and a misplaced bushing...

Hindsight is absolutely 20/20... I should have been seated inside when I closed the canopy... all I did was put a drip of Loctite 242 medium on the #10 pivot screw that I just reinstalled the bushing I found under the rear seat....

That arm somehow flipped to the rh side, went over center, and locked up the canopy in the closed position AARRRG!
This was worse than trying to get into a Chevy Avalanche when the kids locked the keys inside with a coat hangar and a piece of andante spaghetti.

The canopy would raise about a half my forearms width and then somehow get stuck. The screw (fuselage A frame side) would bind with the canopy cross member bolt. I could manipulate the canopy forward to clear the bind but then there was a 'clunk' of it binding in another section that I couldn't ascertain by myself working in a remote located hangar...

Does anyone have a solution or can someone supply a drawing or dimensions?

It worked pretty crappily before I "fixed it" by reinstalling the forward pivot bushing that I found.

 

[Snowflake]

Can you pull the piano wire out of the hinge?

 

[FabricGATOR]

Can you pull the piano wire out of the hinge?

Thanks, yes, maybe could, I looked at it but it was turned inside and couldn't see if it was safetied. Has a beautiful JetGlow paint job, have to be careful to not chip it.

I eventually got it unbolted by using a few extensions and my 80º 1/4" gear, offset, tip driver, unscrewed the canopy cross member 'bolt block' and pushed with something through the little opening as best I could. I was spitting tacks I was frustrated...

No good deed goes unpunished...

Then I was smarter! I was going to try from inside the next time, but I have to remember to bring a helper/witness OR my cell phone so I can call Fire Rescue with their chain saw.


So, I am still hoping someone can show a drawing of this scissor support or pictures, measurements. a short video of it operating...

Does it (is it supposed to go one way (left or right) or up/down? I am writing this from memory

Paul's does not have a canopy release handle for the aft occupant ...

 

[HFS]

I think you'll find "anything" RV-4 is going to be pretty much a custom, one-off build. Van's original design was to to have small diameter rope or "lanyard" as a canopy hold open option - that idea didn't last very long before individualism took over from scissor lifts to gas springs. So ... I'll be very surprised if someone has an "engineered" drawing depicting your situation.

YYMV - but I bet not by much ...

HFS
RV-4 S/N 1136 Flying since 1989

 

[FabricGATOR]

Gotcha, I suppose I could come up with something like this:
Oh, oh, I see it now... yours? I just found my Adel vundertool this afternoon...

I saw a Harmon Rocket this afternoon and his (theirs, a couple) had the scissor stiff arm at the top of the 'roll bar' and when closed it was in perfect alignment with the 'A'

I like the idea of a gas strut too.
Anybody can show me a picture of how you did a gas strut (and perhaps a quality model/part number (source))

Wow HFS, I love your Do Hickey...

 

[Flyhud]

The strut I am using is from McMaster Carr part# 4138T561 it is a 15 pound strut and it seems just about right.

 

[FabricGATOR]

The strut I am using is from McMaster Carr part# 4138T561 it is a 15 pound strut and it seems just about right.

I love it...
Does it parallel the rollbar cross member when closed?
How about view obstruction forward?
The last thing we want is to make a bunch of holes in our baby... If you were to do it again, would you consider changing anything? (like is there constant structural tension that may be undesirable, or, I don't know, perhaps a pinch point concern for the passenger...)

Another question... Is that a strip of LED's along your canopy? (I think it could also be something I see through the canopy laying on the hangar floor)

Regardless, great contribution to the discussion Flyhud.
Thank you for sharing...

 

[Roadjunkie1]

SuzieQ's gas strut.....LOVE it........!!! From a cabin baggage door on an older Boeing 737. Compact. Works well.

This has been discussed before. Search RV-4 gas strut.....

 

[FabricGATOR]

SuzieQ's gas strut.....LOVE it........!!! From a cabin baggage door on an older Boeing 737. Compact. Works well.

This has been discussed before. Search RV-4 gas strut.....

Now if only I figure how to get a few tools past TSA on my next commercial flight to Houston...

 

[FabricGATOR]

Now if only I figure how to get a few tools past TSA on my next commercial flight to Houston...

Dear TSA / NSA / DHS, et al... I am only saying this, here, in a public forum, in a comical sense for the purpose of amusement, and I do not condone nor suggest that attempting to board a commercial aircraft (or enter a secure area of an airport) with unacceptable items is in any way encouraged nor 'fun' in any way.

Just say no...

Regards,
John Doe

 

[Flyhud]

I love it...
Does it parallel the rollbar cross member when closed?
How about view obstruction forward?
The last thing we want is to make a bunch of holes in our baby... If you were to do it again, would you consider changing anything? (like is there constant structural tension that may be undesirable, or, I don't know, perhaps a pinch point concern for the passenger...)

Another question... Is that a strip of LED's along your canopy? (I think it could also be something I see through the canopy laying on the hangar floor)

Regardless, great contribution to the discussion Flyhud.
Thank you for sharing...

The gas strut collapses and lays sorta parallel to the crossmember. In the closed position it sits between the roll bar and the canopy bulkhead, it’s almost completely hidden with the canopy closed. I wouldn’t change a thing on this setup it really works well.

I think what you are seeing that looks like led’s are the plastic slider knobs on the Koger canopy shade.

 

[FabricGATOR]

The gas strut collapses and lays sorta parallel to the crossmmember. In the closed position it sits between the roll bar and the canopy bulkhead, it’s almost completely hidden with the canopy closed. I wouldn’t change a thing on this setup it really works well.

I think what you are seeing that looks like led’s are the plastic slider knobs on the Kroger canopy shade.

I luv your gas strut installation.

Thanks for getting me (us) that extra picture.

Well done sir, on both counts!
Cheers!