A quick update on the rollbar…

One of the “tricks”, if you will, of assembling the rollbar is fitting the top and bottom straps that join together the front and back rollbar channels.

The first task is to drill holes in each channel for the rivets which will eventually hold the whole thing together. Marking a rivet line with the proper 1/4″ edge distance is easily done with an edge-marking tool, but how to lay out hole locations along the curved channel halves? I followed Mike Bullock’s “masking tape” method of laying out the hole spacing on a piece of tape, then transferring that tape to the channel to use as a marking guide. I can’t describe the process better than Mike, so check out his website post for the details.

The straps, like the channels, are 0.063″ thick which makes it a minor challenge to get them clamped into place. I worked from the center to each end, clamping the strap in place after checking that it was the proper height – 1.25″ – from the back surface so that the rollbar will be the correct 1.5″ thickness. I used a lot of clamps, even had to go buy some more from the local aviation hardware store.

Here’s the end result for the aft strap…

Van’s didn’t bend and form the channels halves quite according to their own plans, so the edge distance on some of these strap holes wasn’t quite the usual 2d standard. But according to Gus at Van’s, the strap’s thickness gives a little margin on edge distance so I should be good to go here.