February 21, 2010

So, this past Saturday the wing spars, all four of them were completed and we moved on to the rib prep work, moving toward the assembly of the main wing structure of each wing. Here, looming over the second rear spar, are the wing ribs. Every site I looked at commented on what a dreary drag it was to do the spar prep on all these ribs so I knew what was coming. But, except for a few of the on-purpose missing rivets, the four wings spars were complete and ready to go into the wing.

So, Saturday came and my friend Bill Reid came over to play. We've talked about this little project of mine and he's followed it with interest. He likes airplanes and has seen some other kit planes under construction. He's not a pilot but he has a motorcycle so that's almost as good as having an airplane. So, I lured him over on the pretext of helping. Little did he know we were going to do rib prep.

But, before we got into that, Bill did squeeze the remaining rivets to be done on the rear spar. He practiced a bit on some scrap and then went at the spar rivets like he'd been doing it for a long time. Spars are done.

As much fun as I knew the ribs were going to be, I decided to break the job into two phases. My hoped-for goal for the day long session on Saturday was to prep all the main ribs for both wings. If we got at least one of the wings done we would cleco together that wing section anyways, just as a "big-picture" reward. Each of the wing and leading edge and fuel tank ribs need to have edge finishing, flange straightening, and fluting done.

Bill and I got a little mini-production line thing going. He did the edge finishing on each rib, using a die grinder with a Scotchbrite wheel for the lightening holes and a Scotchbrite wheel for the outside edges.

Then I took the rib and did some fine edge finishing using a Dremel tool with a Scotchbrite attachment and/or sandpaper and/or a file to get some of the finer edge work done. Then, I squared up the flanges using an edge seamer and my cardboard square (easier on the alclad surface than a metal square). Then I used the fluting tool to flatten the ribs and make them straight.

We worked through the ribs one at a time...the whole thing took about six hours for the two sets of main ribs...twelve man hours of work, basically. Here is one stack completed.

The leading edge and fuel tank ribs are set aside for another day. I can work on those slowly in little parts as the main wing structure comes together. I'd rather take small bits of that workload on if I can break up the effort a bit.

So, we did get through both sets of main wing ribs. Thus, as the work day drew to an end, we did cleco together the left wing structure. I had already put the ribs in order so it was just a matter of laying the ribs into position and, after double checking the orientation, clecoing them to each spar. Bill enjoyed the cleco experience.

Okay, that does just look so cool. It actually is a wing. Pretty solid even without skin, at least in my humble opinion. Those Vans guys know what they are doing. And having the extra set of hands made the process go much quicker...thanks Bill and standby with a bucking bar. We'll talk....

It is bigger than I thought once it is assembled. Next step is going to be building the wing stand, perhaps next weekend. I've sketched out what I need. I can also plan a bit better for the pitot system and wiring.

I've been reading up on both systems and have pretty much decided to go with the Dynon pitot tube and AOA (and thus Dynon avionics) and the SafeAir1 pitot-static system and pitot mask. Add to that Duckwork lights and Whelan position lights/strobes and you have a plan of action and a big cash layout. Okay, get the order book ready, guys.

I do some Learjet flying for the next few weeks...not sure how much work I'll be able to get to do on the wings, but here is the better part of the left wing on my workbench so I can stop and ponder the work in progress every once in a while when I stop back in town. Pondering is not a bad thing.

March 15, 2010

I can't believe that it's been three weeks plus since I updated this page, and on the off chance that someone is actually visiting and reading this site, I thought I should add some update stuff. I have not had much chance to work on the wings recently....too many other things going on. My oldest son Adam bought a house on an acre of land, both of which need a bit of work so I've been pitching in there. That, plus much traveling, both personal and professional, have kept me busy. But, here and there, I have done some stuff.

I assembled and drilled the right wing main structure.

Here are the ribs clecoed to the main spar with the aileron bellcrank mounts also shown.

And, a view of the wing structure all assembled after drilling the ribs to spars to size.

Then, it was on to the wing stand. I want this stand to be mobile and to hold both wings. I looked at some examples on a few websites and borrowed what I liked from each. Some guys anchor them to floor and ceiling, as Van's Plans show, but others have had equal success with mobile stands. With the wing structure and skins pre-drilled, the exact alignment of all the parts falls into place when the holes line up. Not to say I won't check things like wing twist and alignment very carefully.

I used lag screws to assemble everything. I figure it will be tighter than nails and come apart easier later when I convert this thing to a wing holder.

And here it is coming together 'right nicely.' This was like two weeks ago. The cross piece on the bottom will, if all goes well, hold the braces to bring the spar and structure up to level. We shall see.

Made a mistake here. Looked at Home Depot at the angle iron. Bent and twisted, trying to be a bit cheap and still rigid on the cross braces. After I got it home and cut up right, there was too much torsional twist...not rigid enough. Penny wise and pound foolish, I will need to replace this angle iron with thicker stuff. More bucks.

While I pondered that little error, I started working on drilling out holes for conduit and the pitot/angle of attack air lines. I decided to go with the Safe Air pitot static system and pitot mast, based on the recommendations of many and a close look at what they offered. Paid money, received pitot static system with much tubes and other stuff. Drilled, as per Van's Plans, a 3/4 inch hole in each rib for the Van's conduit to run wires to the wing tips and mid wing point. Drilled out tooling holes on the forward edge of the rib near the flange where it attaches to the main spar for the static and angle of attack line.

I am a shameless copier of good techniques, including using this little cardboard template to position the conduit hole at the same point on each rib.

So, soon enough, there are all the main ribs on the work bench ready for final preparations for priming.

Numerous hours of deburring and final edge finishing led to several hours of carefully washing each rib in soap and water and then drying and then blow drying and then stacking carefully for priming.

Here they all are laid for a day of drying, then on to Napa 7220 priming.

This past weekend I primed the right (or was it left?) ribs and stacked them here.

And tonight, Monday, I primed the left (or was it right?) ribs, to be carefully stacked in the a.m. to await some riveting. And than, folks, is where I sit right now.

My next step, which I hope will occur next weekend, is to rivet the main ribs to the main spar and then the rear spar. Then, soon enough, they will be hung with care on my wing stand. We'll see whether or not my careful calculations and measurements will make for a level wing spar when mounted on the stand. On to riveting again. Haven't done a 470 rivet for awhile. Need to study some of those "good" websites to make sure all my bases are covered.

May 14, 2010

Okay, now it's been nearly two months since I updated, and nearly that long since I did anything. I've been helping rebuild my son's new house since mid-March, so the RV-8 has had to have been set aside for the time being. Between my job and our own house and other time demands, my spare time has been spent in Elverta, California. However, I have had a bit of time here and there, but haven't posted anything here due to time constraints.

Basically, I finished riveting together the ribs and spars for the main structure for both wings and gotten that into my wing stands to await further work. Here are views of the wing stand being finished up. In mid-March my A&P buddy Greg was able to cut and drill some angle iron to finish out the wing stand. The original material I thought would work was too flimsy, thus the changeout.

And the completed stand ready for the wings.

Back to the riveting, setting the rivets to hold the ribs to the two spars was straightforward with a few stunning exceptions.

A bit closer...

And a view of the front of the spar near the wing tie down structure.

And here is the right wing coming together with the rear spar awaiting rivets.

Here the rivets are almost done. It pays to pay attention to the plans here, as there are several rivets that are not driven in this process. They await later structure.

Because if you don't pay attention and you have to drill a rivet out, this is what it looks like for these rivets, at least for me. Ugly. You can't easily get at the manufacturer's head of the rivet for drilling so you have to come in from the shop head side. I salvaged this hole post-rivet and it turned out okay but right here it looks downright, yep, ugly.

I knew a long break in my work was coming so I wanted to get the wings into the stand before that happened, and organize a few things and clean the shop, er, garage up a bit. Here are the wings in the completed stand.

It seems to me a lot of guys really get carried away with making sure everything is perfectly rigid and perfectly straight. To me, though, the point is to straighten the wing so the skin pre-drilled holes align with the spar pre-drilled holes. That is, after wall, what the plans say. So, this taut string makes sure things are straight.

And this is my leveling gizmo...some threaded rods, a few nuts and washers, and a two-by-four. I want to be able to move this stand around, so this makes it portable to me. Once the skin is on and match drilled it becomes less important to have this perfectly straight, at least until you are ready to rivet.

So, here is where I am right now as I get ready to slowly get back into putting this wing together. It's been a bit frustrating not being able to work on the airplane, but there is a time for everything. Now I think it's about time for the wings again.