SHP-18 Canopy Frame Construction

By Udo Rumpf

The materials are 1/8" hardboard, Plexiglas and aluminum. After waxing the rail the inboard fence along the rail is secured with wood blocks and hot melt glued to the rail. All other perimeter fences are glecoed. It takes a bit of fiddle work to get it all set up.

The lay up is done with roving, in my case I used Carbon fiber from a 5 lbs spool. I had it in my shop for over ten years. The material is continues wetted and taken up on a flat spool. (3/4" square steel tube 48" long with two 5/8" steel rods about 5" long attached to the each end of the 48" tube and at the centre is an offset axle to allow for rotation.) once I thought I had enough material taken up I would cut it top and bottom and proceeded to lay it up. The lay-up takes 5 to 6 hours. I used an epoxy that has a six hour Pot life, a 3 hour epoxy will do as well but it should have low exotherm.