Wings – Structure

Wings 7 (2.0 hrs)

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I finished one of the two tie down brackets tonight.  The picture below shows the completed tie down bracket after I installed and torqued the bolts.  Unfortunately I could not finish the other tie down bracket because I’m out of AN426 3-7 rivets.  I will have to steal some from another builder or have some sent in my next batch of items from Van’s.  It will be awhile before I’m not able to access that part of the plane so I’ve got time. 20131104-174840.jpg

Here is the other bracket waiting for rivets…20131104-174850.jpg

After the brackets were complete, I set about measuring and cutting the wing walk doublers.  I used a set of tin snips my buddy Denny got for me and then a file to make the dimensions as close to perfect as possible.  I’m a visual person and I had a pretty good idea how the doublers were installed, but since the skins are next, I started hanging the top skins to check the doubler and gain an understanding of how everything is fitting together. 20131104-174904.jpg

Here is one of the two wing walk doublers I made tonight.  All in all a good night in the shop.  On a side note, my wife Maria got her US citizenship today!!!20131104-174915.jpg

Wings 6 (12.0 hrs)

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Not a lot of pictures or proper updating for the blog this weekend.  I’ve combined two sessions into one post.

On Saturday, Jack Savage agreed to help me rivet the spars and ribs together.  One person can do it, but it is much quicker and easier to do it with two people.  One person is fairly likely to make a mistake too.

On Sunday, I made sure the wings were perfectly true using the digital level and some plumb bobs.  This required the installation of the bottom brackets to hold the wing in proper position.  I will probably check everything again before drilling and riveting skins.  I figure the more detailed I am about this now, the less likely I am to have a problem down the road.  I also remade the tie down brackets.  After fabrication, I primed them with the self etching primer in a can I bought for just such occasions.  I was dismayed to learn however, that I do not have enough of the AN426 3-7 rivets required for installation.  No worries.  I will finish what I can and order some from Van’s.  I have a list of other things I need to order anyways. (Like proseal for the tanks!)20131104-144515.jpg

Here is the 50′ of conduit I bought from Van’s for the wing wiring.20131104-144529.jpg

Here’s where the conduit will go.  I’m not installing it just yet though. 20131104-144704.jpg

Wings and plumb bobs.20131104-144720.jpg

1 8/32″ on this end…20131104-144739.jpg

1 8/32″ on the other end…20131104-144752.jpg

Here is my next task.  The wing walk doublers…20131104-144803.jpg

Wings 5 (7.0 hrs)

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Here are the wing ribs prior to priming.  Squire is, as always, extremely excited to be part of the priming process.  If only I could get him to use the HVLP gun. Due to my poor estimation of primer required, priming took more than twice as long as it should have.  I really should take notes so I can properly estimate these things…. 20131027-144855.jpg

My first batch of primer got me almost half way. In a previous post, I mentioned some poor performance of the HVLP gun.  After the thorough cleaning and care I gave it last week, it performed better than it ever has, and I couldn’t be happier with this priming job!20131027-144906.jpg

Finally the ribs and spars are hung on the wing stand!  The outboard ribs still need to be fitted as I don’t have the main spars correctly attached to the stand.  I wanted to see how everything looked first, and give it some thought before proceeding.  Regardless, I’m very happy with the progress this weekend.  Now I need to redo the tie down brackets, and order conduit. 20131027-174821.jpg

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