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DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Mon, 27 May 2019 9:21 +0000
by Critter350
Must have been a nasty injury to set you back ~ 8 months, hope you’ve shaken it off now. Nice clean cuts there, makes the weld up much easier.
The rear looks slightly higher, might be my eyes...


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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Mon, 27 May 2019 6:50 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Yep, a doozy
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Nothing wrong with your eyes there mate. Both the front and rear were about an inch taller while sorting out the correct angles and final height. Cutting it down so that both legs of the support hoops were the same length was a bit tricky. I didnt have a straight edge long enough to strike across the the ends so had to use an old and rusty monster sized builders T square, measure off a spirit level for correct height at one end then do the same on the other. Simples :lol:

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Another high tech system in use

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A drill press vice would have been handy
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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Tue, 28 May 2019 5:05 +0000
by TOYZX
Far out, I think I should keep my mouth shut about my sore neck then lol! Glad to see ya ok DB!

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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Tue, 28 May 2019 6:10 +0000
by hiluxxury
DeadlyBeast wrote:Yep, a doozy
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How did you do that?

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Tue, 28 May 2019 11:45 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Years of abuse from being young and unaware of own mortality, a couple concusions and sport related impact accidents catching up

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Tue, 28 May 2019 1:12 +0000
by hiluxxury
Ah yes, I know too well about that.

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sat, 01 Jun 2019 10:10 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Not much fun at the time but pretty good now mate

Slightly annoying problem with the cheap drill press... The last notch ended up looking messy AF :evil:
The chatter from the 50mm bit had caused the press to vibrate the nuts off the stand base.
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Degreased, loctite and well tightened
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A handy work bench - using the offcut hoop leg to flapper disc the rail notch
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Tacked up
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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sat, 01 Jun 2019 2:05 +0000
by Ozwaz
Looks great mate but why to roof level? What is your grand plan?

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 8:47 +0000
by Critter350
Sketchup image at post #375


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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 12:28 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Thanks Critter
Plan is to turn it into a dedicated tourer. Canopy lines will follow those of the cab.
Needs to be same height as cab for air flow to enter canopy vent - to be detailed later.
Drawers and compressor to go in shortly.

Went to engineering shop to get top curve sheet and rear quarter panel pressed.
Wasn't satisfied with the penetration and intermittent porosity of the welds I was achieving so got the structural joints TIG'd while there too.

Progress shots

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26kg without doors
Estimate about 4kg per door, 4-5kg of marine canvas
Looking at around 42kg give or take... not as light as I thought it would be but its solid

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 1:20 +0000
by TOYZX
Very nice job mate! 40+ kgs is still bloody good, imagine how heavy it would've been in steel!

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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Thu, 06 Jun 2019 8:39 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Thanks Luke. True that - about 120kg in steel :shock:

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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Fri, 07 Jun 2019 2:17 +0000
by NZMarkb
That looks great DB

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Fri, 07 Jun 2019 8:45 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Cheers Mark. Fairly happy with how it turned out.
A little more to do down the track

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No ropes or bungee to hold the cover to the front of the tub. Flipped the sail track from the old SR5 style tenneau cover around, replaced rivets with nutserts and 5mm button heads so the trimmer could easily reposition and fit. Removed this in just a few minutes doing a dust and water ingress check.
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Solar input easily accessible
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Canopy vent works very well. Just the one for the moment
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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sat, 08 Jun 2019 7:13 +0000
by TOYZX
Came up mint mate, great job!

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Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Sat, 08 Jun 2019 10:43 +0000
by hiluxxury
That looks really good

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Mon, 10 Jun 2019 5:42 +0000
by Caleebra
Wow, amazingly done DB!
This is something i'd want to do similar to!
Especially with the canvas cover! really dig that look!

Again, kudos to you mate, what a neat job! I'm blown away!

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 5:33 +0000
by DeadlyBeast
Thanks guys. I had plenty of time to think about it :lol:

The dust test. Having run a tonneau cover for near on 10 years I have tried dust seal kits, rubber adhesive moldings, blankets and towels around the tail gate gap to stop dust from coming in. What worked the best was a off cut of 2.5" PC pipe and a 90° bend to form a cheap snorkel. That only cost a few dollars but worked well... as long as it had unobstructed air flow and the gear underneath didn't block it.
It looked a bit stupid but only used it when going Bush.
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So I found a good 40km bull dust track to test out the ARB vent
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The dust is ultra fine. Was talking to a bloke who did outback vehicle testing for Toyota - apparently Zthe engineers at Toyota say the Australian dust particulate size of the red dust is the smallest anywhere in the world. Has implications on air filter micron.
Anyway, this was a semi used piece of wet wipe after 40km track

Image yep, still had a towel over the rear gear... old habits. Without any positive air flow or dust seal this entire area would be completely covered in dust even thicker than the outside tailgate panel

The system relies on clean air coming into the vent. Passing the occasional on coming vehicle quickly allows very little dust ingress but following a convoy or road train for any decent distance will fill the canopy with dust.
Have seen air filters and fans added to canopy vents but it's more sh#t to do and more to go wrong. Will run this for a season and go from there

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 8:45 +0000
by hiluxxury
The snorkel looks like a neat solution.

Re: DB's Cage Canopy Build

PostPosted: Thu, 13 Jun 2019 5:25 +0000
by William_Foster
Much better than my last trip DB, some how dust managed to make its way into my closed tool boxes.

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