Canopy lifting idea

[Peter]

-confused*

Your going to have to draw me a picture ,I have no idea what your talking about

Side windows work on a motor and gear the same as your idea, only difference is it powers a pair of scissor frames to lift the window and it's almost impossible to overcome that mechanism and drop the window.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Went to the pick a part yard today and picked up one of these motors(couldn't see buying two if they don't work).
Haven't been able to find any specifications on it, so if it will have enough grunt to lift the canopy is still a mystery but from a few tests done with it, if it does work it will take about 8 seconds to lift the canopy. that was calc'ed with no load.

 

[Peter]

Looks like a direct bevel drive as the motor is centred on the gear as opposed to a screw drive where the motor would be offset to the gear. screw drive (like most wiper motors) gives a lower gearing, slower but more torque and almost impossible to move against the gear.

Looks like a powerful motor though and it's going to be interesting to see what it will lift. increasing the diameter of the quadrant will of course dramatically improve the ratio at the cost of lift speed.
Always a trade off with electrics, lifting power versus speed. *hmmm* (and Mexican *asleep* )

I'm sure you will come up with something brilliant as usual Brett.*rock on*

 

[Brett Proctor]

Looks like a direct bevel drive as the motor is centred on the gear as opposed to a screw drive where the motor would be offset to the gear. screw drive (like most wiper motors) gives a lower gearing, slower but more torque and almost impossible to move against the gear.

Looks like a powerful motor though and it's going to be interesting to see what it will lift. increasing the diameter of the quadrant will of course dramatically improve the ratio at the cost of lift speed.
Always a trade off with electrics, lifting power versus speed. *hmmm* (and Mexican *asleep* )

I'm sure you will come up with something brilliant as usual Brett.*rock on*

I believe it has a bevel drive.

Changing the ratio is being considered. It is a small compact unit so my expectations on its performance isn't that high. Wish I could find some specs on it

Hydraulic or linear actuators would be the easy way to go but there is no backup system to them and as mentioned by David (islandman) he's had failures in his system. He's lucky, he had a way out but others may not be so lucky, so making a system with a backup would be a plus.
Getting stuck in a car here in Las Vegas with temps past the 100's is not fun. You don't have time to figure how to get out or wait for someone to come by to help.
I've seen steering wheels melt from the heat and that large front window just magnifies the heat inside the car more.

I've tried to lift the canopy with no actuators from the inside and its not that easy, now take that and try to override a failed actuator. If in an accident you may not have a lot of time to get out.

It just seems that it should be looked at.

Wont waste sleepless nights on it but if something can be made at a reasonable cost it might just be worth making it.

 

[Peter]

I agree Brett, don't spend more time on it, get the car sorted first, definitely a project in its self and best left for later. I'll keep the grey cells working on it too. On a manual lift the gas struts should make the canopy zero lift force so that would be my first job, then look at a method for moving it.