LEFT WING CONSTRUCTION
This next part involved moving a very large structure and maneuvering it around so that you can get it in the wing stand. Once its in the stand you have to level everything and make sure there is no twist in the wing.
I woke up Saturday of the Labor Day Weekend and decided that I was going to get this wing in the stand and at least get it level with no twist. I managed to go a lot farther than that. After double checking the mounts on the stand I fabricated a jack stand to support the wing structure when its in the wing stand.
Did I mention that I hate sawdust? I hate sawdust because it means I am doing something other than working on actual airplane parts. Metal shavings mean parts are getting drilled, sawdust means I am building something that will not be on the plane.
After making the jack screw for the rear spar, I took a deep breath and maneuvered the skeleton onto the wing stand. The stand fit was near perfect. I only had to move the outboard end in about 1/4 inch. I used a series of clamps for the inboard side of the spars. For the outboard side, I used some 1/4" bolts and and locking nuts to secure the outboard side of the main spar. I used a clamp for the outboard side of the rear spar so that I could get any twist out of the wing.
I spent about 4 hours in the shop making this 'simple' task happen. My first problem was my jack screw was short...what the crap??? I remedied that with a small block of wood as a shim. Next was dealing with a .7 degree drop from the outboard side to the inboard side. Hmmm...something was not right. I decided the easiest way to fix this was to back out the screws on the outboard side and drop it until the smart level started beeping at me happily. Ok, this first real task out of the way, next was to check for level top to bottom (of the spar that is). After some shimming, it was a short while before the smart level was happy with me on those. Some wood shims and careful clamping made the rear spar happy as well.
Next was to work on the twist in the wing. For this task you drop a plum-bob down the top side of the main spar and measure the distance between the rear spar and the string. You do this at the inboard and outboard ends of the wing. Once your measurements equal up, you have taken out the twist. Note: Believe it or not, the skins seem like they will do this for you too but why take chances.
Here's pictures of the process and measurements:
This is the inboard end of the main spar.
Clamping the rear spar to the wing stand.
Here is a picture of the outboard main spar that shows the 1/4" bolts used to hold it in place.
Here is a picture of the outboard end of the rear spar.
Here is a picture of the plum-bob and me measuring it.
I now had a mounted skeleton and made 3 different passes with the level, ruler and plum-bob to triple check my measurements. This part took me an hour and a half because I was working alone and when you move one end you have to go back and re-check and adjust everything.
Here are some pictures of 0.0 across the board.
Here is a picture of the Jack Screw that I fabricated.
And finally...the wing skeleton mounted in the wing stand.
Here are a couple of pictures showing the fishing line that I used to make sure the main spar was straight.
The next step was to make sure I was ready to lose all this space in the shop with this wing!
I guess I was ready that night because I managed to get the wing walk doubler match drilled to the top skin and then I even installed the top skins on and drilled. This took me about 2 hours to do, another 1/2 hour and Jenni and I had the bottom skins installed. The cadence for the evening was one, two, cleco - one, two, cleco - one, two, cleco. I was skipping two holes for every cleco.
I was VERY pleased with my fluting job because the holes on the ribs lined up near perfect on every rib. There was only one outboard rib on the bottom of the wing that needed a little push to line up.
Here is a picture of 9/16" measurement that you need to accommodate the main spar.
Next step was to break out some cleco clamps, clamp it together and back drill the doubler to the top skin. I dropped in cleco's after drilling holes to maintain alignment.
The top skins that came with the wing kit have two different color vinyl's on them. Kind of weird since everyone else I have seen has had blue only.
Here is a picture of Jenni telling our friend Jade about the wing and how construction works.
Here is a picture of Jade lending a hand.
Here is a picture of the top skins clecoed on and drilled!!! NOTE: I was still checking for twist in the wing, hence the yellow string and the plum-bob just off to the right and my smart level on the outboard edge.
Here is a shot of me working on the bottom skins.
I drilled the bottom skins on Sunday and put together the leading edge cradle for the leading edge's and tanks. The cradle was not too hard at all. Some plywood compliments of a co-worker and fellow aviation enthusiast made a quick leading edge cradle. It is actually very sturdy.
I double checked my flanges and fluting and clecoed the leading edge together in about an hour.
Here is where I left off after two long days in the shop.
You can't see it in the next picture but there are reference lines drawn on the main skin to identify the hole for the tie-down brackets. The lines basically triangulate the location of the center of the tie-down bracket.
Next step will be to remove the bottom skin, drill the leading edge, install the end rib and drill the tank attach strip...I smell nutplates on the horizon.
Next on the agenda was to install the inboard leading edge rib and the leading edge/tank attach strip. The only problem was that I had no W423 attach strip listed in my parts manifest as the instructions called out. This was frustrating. I did have an AS3-025 X 1 ½ X 36 ½ that was listed as a tank joint in the manifest. This must be what I was looking for but I do not want to start chopping stuff up before I am sure. Asking the list pointed me to the drawings where the fabrication was called out in the drawing, not the instructions.
September 10, 2006
This was a pretty quick process. I pulled off the vinyl and made my ½ inch lines for the attach strip. I then put the attach strip and inboard leading edge rib in place. This was not a problem except that when I drilled the rib/strip/skin, the holes on the rib look to be a little close to the web. All this after I checked and re-checked the measurements for the 11/16” of the strip on both side of the strip. Its not like the part has to be scrapped, its just going to be a bit difficult when it comes time to dimple this rib.
Anyhow, I have that drilled and I am ready to move on to the Z brackets for the tanks. Thank you Dan for some very clear cut instructions on how to get myself a zero gap between the tanks and leading edge; lets just hope that I can achieve the same results.
September 13, 2006
Jenni was a trooper today and spent almost 7 hours in the shop deburring the skins and ribs of the whole left wing. She made all the soldering iron marks and pulled off all of the vinyl that needed to be removed. When I got home and while she was working on one of the skins, I finished up the leading edge drilling and even deburred one side of the ribs while she worked on the inboard top skin.
September 14, 2006
Today was a quick day in the shop. I just deburred the Z brackets in preparation for marking them up and getting them drilled for the spar.
Next was onto the Fuel Tanks.