So you need some gas struts for the door of your canopy or tradesman’s canopy? We get asked this question frequently and we are here to help you with this task.
Typically there are 2 tasks you might be attempting with your tradesman’s canopy. Either replacing fitted gas struts that have stopped working OR fitting new gas struts to your new canopy that was built without attaching gas struts to lift your canopy door. Lets tackle these tasks individually.
Replacing Worn or Failed Tradesman Canopy Gas Struts
If you are replacing worn or failed gas struts you will need to let us know as much of the following information as possible;
- Look for any branding or writing on the body of the worn gas struts. This might be on a label or could be typed directly onto the gas strut itself. This information is likely to include a brand name such as Stabilus or Suspa as well as numbers some of which may indicate the pressure required for your replacement gas struts.
- Then move on to the length of the gas struts that need to be replaced. The best way is to measure this is to get the gas strut in the fully extended position and measure it from tip to tip.
- The length of the body (fatter part of the gas strut) and the shaft length will also be useful but it is the extended length of gas strut that will be of most value when replacing your old worn canopy gas struts.
- Also at this stage it is worth noting the shaft and or body diameter of your old worn gas struts. If other information is missing the shaft and or body diameter will help a lot when it comes to estimating the pressure required for a replacement gas strut.
- Last but not least the end fitting types should be noted. Are your end fittings the traditional ball and socket ends? or are they just a hole or what we call an eye end? Some gas struts may be a clevis style end while others may be attached to unique brackets that allow easy fitting to your canopy. The great majority of canopy gas strut ends will be a ball and socket style end. If this is the case for your gas struts are the ball and socket ends metal or plastic? Also you may be able to ascertain if the ends are 10mm or 13mm which are the standard sizes for almost every gas strut ball end?
In summary you need to provide the following 4 pieces of information to replace a worn canopy gas strut;
- Fully extended length of the gas struts being replaced
- Any words numbers or branding written on your old gas strut
- The diameter of the shaft and or body of your worn canopy gas struts
- A description of the gas strut end fittings and any brackets that may attach to your gas struts for easy fitting
Armed with this information we will be able to help you select the right gas struts to replace your old worn canopy gas struts. Now we can move onto selecting gas struts for a tradesman canopy door that has just been built and needs gas struts to hold it in place.
Retrofitting Gas Struts To New or Existing Tradesman Canopy
You have your new canopy almost ready to go but without gas struts holding up the doors or side flaps, your new tradesman canopy is not easy to use and could be considered a safety risk. For us to help you negate these problems and get your canopy doors to hold up in the open position we will need some information from you about your canopy doors.
First of all we need the “dead weight” of the canopy door. By the term dead weight we are referring to the weight of the door if it was removed from the canopy and individually placed on a set of scales. This weight will be used in some simple calculations to estimate as accurately as possible the pressure required in your gas struts to lift the canopy door. We do understand if you cannot actually remove the door and weigh it so your best guesstimate is more than good enough!
Also required will be the dimensions of the canopy door, you will need the width and height of each door you are mounting gas struts too. This information is important in terms of the leverage required to get your door to the open position in the easiest way. Also an optimal gas strut length for your canopy is easier to ascertain once the dimensions are provided.
Last but not least a description of the door’s “perimeter material” is required. While this term sounds fancy all that is being asked is if the door has reinforcement at its edge such as box section tubing. This information will assist with advice and requirements regards how the gas struts can be mounted to your canopy. Information such as whether the door sits flush with the canopy itself will help us help you position and attach your newly selected gas struts to the canopy in the easiest and easy to use way.
In summary to mount new gas struts to your new tradesman’s canopy you will need the following information :
- The dead weight of the canopy door having gas struts mounted to it
- The dimensions ( width and height ) of the canopy door
- Any materials that have been used to reinforce the edges ( perimeter ) of your canopy door.
We hope this has been helpful in explaining how to determine which gas struts are required to replace or retrofit gas struts to a tradesman’s canopy. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us on (08) 6107 8133.