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COLIN'S WEB SITE
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Date: 3-27-2011
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Number of Hours: 0.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Canopy Roll Bar 1
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After I finished working the canopy deck, I decided to start fitting the canopy roll bar. The roll bar has to have 3/16" setback from the outside of the fuselage (on each side) to make room for the thickness of the canopy so they are flush when installed.
As delivered my roll bar was about 3/4" to wide. The manual says it is very easy to adjust the width of the roll bar by putting one end on the ground and leaning on the other. Well, I put one end on some wood and leaned on the other, I even put my entire weight and bounced up and down to no avail. After many tries, that thing wouldn't even budge.
So, I decided to use a rachet strap to compress the sides hoping to re-form the roll-bar. I used a 3" strap and took things a little at a time. By the end I made a little progress, I could compress the ends of the roll bar almost 3" narrower than their resting position using the strap. To get this far I had so much tension on the strap I could have used the assembly as a harp or bow. With the 2:1 mechanical advantage of having the strap loop around the roll-bar, there has to be a massive ammount of load on the strap.
With all that, the roll-bar is still about 1/4" to wide. Without using some sort of extension on the rachet, I can't tighten the strap any more. I can't image what would happen if this thing broke. I might have to figure out a different approach like dropping and aircraft carrier on it. If anyone is concerned with the stength of this roll-bar, don't be!
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