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Zeppelinium · 06-09-2009, 02:36 PM

Anyone out there know of a busted ZipDee awning that has good slats? I need a slat that is 20' 8-1/2" long. Cost of shipping from ZipDee is prohibitive. I will pick up a slat in the Albuquerque-LA-Seattle trriangle.

The problem is that the slot the fabric slides into is so crimped that I'll never get the fabric back in. Anyone got a nice tapered steel rod tool that I can slide inside the slot and tap the edges back into a cylinder?

Now that I've taken it apart, I can also use two shorter slats and cut them to fit the required length.

Thanks, Zep

Aerowood · 06-09-2009, 04:23 PM

What is the ID of the slat? couldn't you just grind a taper on a piece of steel rod driving it through using another piece of steel that would pass through the slot, stricking it on the outside. You follow me here or am I talking Greek again. Call me on my cell as I'm currently carrying it in my pocket.

Zeppelinium · 06-09-2009, 08:54 PM

the ID is about 7mm. Your tool idea is exactly what I was thinking about. The ZipDee maintenance folks said the crimps could be undone using a flat blade screw driver and vise grips.

I'm thinking a long taper rod (like a bullet) that is a slight under size, a flat piece of steel that fits in the slot and can be used to coax the rod along, and a body hammer to tap the aluminum against the rod to bring it back into round.

I tried prying the crimp out with a screw driver today and it's not very effective and has a lot of potential to make things worse.

Zep

Bowmans · 06-09-2009, 09:03 PM

Can you swap the crimped slat with one of the other slats or is the groove too tight for the male side of another slat? Or you may be able to work in the metal slat where the cloth can't...

I had a similar issue when I pulled mine apart last week. Someone crimped the last slat with the fabric every foot or so with plyers and TIGHT. I had to use a flat blade screwdriver to open them up to get the cloth out. Many of the places it was crimped, the aluminum had given away and cracked. What I am going to do is use this damaged slat as a middle slat and use one of the good slats for the fabric since the majority of the damaged slat is fine. I figure the cloth would pull out of the breaks but the other slats would hold fine since they are stiff.

Zeppelinium · 06-10-2009, 09:10 AM

If I can't find a used slat, I'm going to take one of two paths.

First, I'm considering just using 4 slats. That will leave the fabric slightly exposed when it's rolled up, but the nylon is pretty robust, water-damage wise. I thought this might cause a geometry problem, but on further thought I think the roller with roll to exactly the same spot against the shell.

Second, since the shipping costs on anything longer than 8' are prohibitive, I'm contemplating using three 7' sections to build the equivalent of a full length slat. I'd throw away the current damaged cloth edge slat, use one of the middle slats for the cloth edge, and put the three sections in place of a middle slat. If necessary, I could patch the three sections together with small doublers and solid rivets. When you look at the cross section of a rolled up roller and cloth, the case (made from the slats) is only touchig the cloth at the joints. There is plenty of room for rivets and a doubler without causing interference or rubbing.

The real issue is getting a new cord into the edge of the fabric. I don't know when ZipDee started using a poly tube in the edge, but in my 1975 that cord was cotton and is mostly gone. I ordered a new poly tube from ZipDee, but it's just a hair to large for the diameter of the existing sewn edge. I've ordered some 1/8" and 5/32" nylon tube to see if I can get that in there.

Zep

Bowmans · 06-10-2009, 02:09 PM

Sounds like a good plan on the 3 7' pieces. I am having the same issue with the cord in our streeside awning. We have a 1979 with ZipDee and they used that same cotton cord that is all gone in ours. I bought some nylon/poly cord to replace it with and am not looking forward to fishing it through the loop this weekend.

adonh · 06-10-2009, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

I'm contemplating using three 7' sections to build the equivalent of a full length slat. Zep

When you refer to "slat", is the aluminum sections that run the length of the Zip Dee awning at the top that wraps around the awning when it is in the rolled up position.

Thanks

Don

Zeppelinium · 06-10-2009, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adonh

When you refer to "slat", is the aluminum sections that run the length of the Zip Dee awning at the top that wraps around the awning when it is in the rolled up position.
...

Yes, that's right. There are five of them that make up the "case." They are identical. The first one has a flex hinge piece attached to it and the last one has the fabric slipped into the mating tube, then crimped to hold the fabric in place.

You can easily remove a ZipDee roller from the trailer by drilling out the two rivets n the ends of the mating tube/slot, then pulling out one of the middle slats. That way you can support the tube in place with the arms until it's completely disconnected from the trailer.

Zep