Bent Alu-Cab 270 awning arm - fix help

[talkingmeds]

Was camping in some windy conditions in Canyonlands. A big gust came through and somehow one of the arm tethers came loose and one of the awning arms bent right in the middle. I was able to bend it back so it fit back into the bag, but needs some TLC.

My first thought is to find someone to weld a brace around the creased aluminum to strengthen that spot. Can anyone provide thoughts or advise on this one? I'm located in San Diego in case someone has a welder recommendation. I'm not super handy, so DIY would be limited to something very basic.

 

[Superduty]

Photos would be very helpful. I think the arms are aluminum, so TIG welding is your best bet.

Any idea how big the gust of wind was?

 

[Alloy]

If it's a long radius bend it can be straighten using something like a sand bag or a 12 x 12 block of wood that has a large radius in it.

Sharp bends in the 6061 alloy don't bend back unless the aluminum is heated and you get one chance at it.

Heating/welding anneals aluminum which reduces the strength by +/-30%. If that's the case then I might look at buying a new part or you might get lucky and find the extrusion (metric) or something similar on the shelf.

To heat aluminum for bending I draw lines on it with a Sharpie Marker. When the pen lines disappear the alum can be bent. The hardest part is it too hard to heat more than 3-4" up at a time so it needs to be done in sections.

Pictures would be good

 

[57Cessna172]

I've had this happen when I got hit by a microburst. Was able to order the arm through my local alucab vendor. Mine was bent right at the attachment point and then folded in the middle as well. You could go to your local hardware store and pickup some alum angle. Pop rivet it in place. It wouldn't' be pretty. But it would get you going for now.

 

[talkingmeds]

Thanks for all the replies! I'll take some pics later and post. We were able to straighten it in the field to get it back into the bag, but there is still a crease in the aluminum. Will follow up with pics. My guess is gust was ~30-40mph.

 

[emulous74]

I've had it happen too, here are the pics. OK4wd was able to send out replacements at a very reasonable price.