Brett Proctor
Well-known member
I've had a few people ask on the progress of the canopy arms so instead of up dateing the post I thought I'd start a build journal.
The arms are about 90% done. They took a little longer than anticipated. I didn't have the correct wire for welding chromoly and none of the welding shops here in town had any so I had to order it, plus I did some design changes as I got into it.
The arms are made from 1" .065 4130 chromoly and the ends are 1" .095 4130 chromoly machined for the needle bearings(22mmX14mm). I don't have a lathe(wish I did) so I used my mill. The inserts are machined from 1" 4130 chromoly. If I had to do it again I think I would use stainless steel for the inserts. The chromoly will rust with time but living in vegas I don't think that will be an issue.
The gas strut attachment points on the arms will have removable studs so they can be replaced if they should ever wear out(my stock ones were so worn out that someone used cotter keys intead of the nuts to hold them on because the threads were worn down to nothing.(I'm waiting on the studs right now).
Well thats it for the arms. If I didn't cover something let me know and I'll update the post.
The pictures show various stages of the build including the jig I made. I machined where the ends go creating a socket in the jig. The ends fit in the machined part and are then bolted in place to make sure they don't go anywhere.
Later
Brett
The arms are about 90% done. They took a little longer than anticipated. I didn't have the correct wire for welding chromoly and none of the welding shops here in town had any so I had to order it, plus I did some design changes as I got into it.
The arms are made from 1" .065 4130 chromoly and the ends are 1" .095 4130 chromoly machined for the needle bearings(22mmX14mm). I don't have a lathe(wish I did) so I used my mill. The inserts are machined from 1" 4130 chromoly. If I had to do it again I think I would use stainless steel for the inserts. The chromoly will rust with time but living in vegas I don't think that will be an issue.
The gas strut attachment points on the arms will have removable studs so they can be replaced if they should ever wear out(my stock ones were so worn out that someone used cotter keys intead of the nuts to hold them on because the threads were worn down to nothing.(I'm waiting on the studs right now).
Well thats it for the arms. If I didn't cover something let me know and I'll update the post.
The pictures show various stages of the build including the jig I made. I machined where the ends go creating a socket in the jig. The ends fit in the machined part and are then bolted in place to make sure they don't go anywhere.
Later
Brett