|
MIKE
HOWE'S RV7 CONSTRUCTION WINGS (Phase 2)
Page 2
Page
1 Page
3
Page
4
Page5
Back
to directory
|
|
March
7, 2002
I should have read
the preparing wing ribs a little more careful, for one of the
things it might be easier to do now is make provisions for the
wiring conduit. I have riveted some of the ribs in and it is a
little tight to get the drill in to do it now. I am using the
Unibit for the second time and now see it was worth the investment
as it cuts holes in the ribs very easily. Van's sells a conduit
from their accessories Catalog and I am going to call them to see
about getting it. I am opening up the rear tooling holes to accept
it.
|
|
Enlarging
tooling holes for wiring conduit
|
|
|
March
7, 2002
The hole deburring
tool will smooth the edge quite nicely and a turn or two of emery
cloth finishes it smooth. Their are a couple of notes that it
might be wise to review at this point. The instructions say leave
the tooling hole in the outboard tip rib undrilled for now. The
smaller hole is useful for aligning the aileron. The 7/16"
hole in the inboard ribs of the left wing get plastic grommets for
the the pitot line
|
|
Smoothing
hole |
|
March
8, 2002
Pretty much finished
riveting skeleton together, and am ready to move it onto the jig for
drilling and riveting. When I started to put it up I realized the
horizontal bar that held the HS was no longer required, and in fact
was in they way so the design of the metal 2X4's whether by
design or accident and I suspect the later was easy to remove as you
can see and the wing will be unobstructed in the jig. As you
can see, it really opened up the shop and there is good room and
access to work on it.
Lance Johnson and
his son came over, he is building a RV8, sorry I didn't get a
picture of them, but they were nice enough to help me get it in the
jig and I put the top skins on. This is where anyone thinking
about building as I was and first heard the words the holes in the
skin are matched to the holes in the ribs and spars really come to
be understood. It is amazing how when you start to get a few clecos
in how all those hundreds of holes match up absolutely perfect. The
old days when you had to drill everything must have really required
some skill and patience, and kudos to those who have gone before and
did all of that and are flying the plane. I admire their skill.
But for new builders this is making an airplane that is a true joy
to work on because you gain the confidence that things will be
right, and there are still plenty of challenges for me. It is one of
those good moments when the thing has kind of hit a point that I
look at it with the lights on it getting ready to wrap it up for
the day, and the sense of accomplishment comes and I suspect, all
people building an RV tell themselves, The RV was a good
choice, I am glad I
am doing this.
|
|
Removed
horizontal piece used to hold HS, No longer needed
|
|
|
March
9, 2002
A couple of other
things need to be made and drilled with the skins.
FITTING THE
WING WALK DOUBLERS
The wings have
doublers under the main skin next to the cabin sidewall to add
strength and help support the loads imposed by people entering and
leaving the airplane. Make the wing walk doubler (DWG 12) from
AS3-025X9 3/8x26.
|
|
Fabricate
the Wing Walk Doubler
|
|
March
8, 2002
FITTING THE
SKINS
Lay W-702 on a bench and slip the doubler
underneath it. The doublers nearly butt against the aft edge of
the main spar channel and overhang the rear spar by about an inch.
Align the inboard edges and set the forward edge of the doubler
9/16" aft of the forward edge of the skin. Using the skin as
a guide, drill the holes for each rib in the wing walk doubler.
Click
here for PDF enlargement
|
|
Drill the doubler to
the skin holes
|
|
|
March
8, 2002
Doubler drilled
using skin as template
|
|
Doubler
drilled using skin as template
|
|
March
8, 2002
FITTING THE
SKINS
I am reviewing the
text from Van's RV7 Section 7 which are new and differ
from some of the older instructions and the Orndorff videos,
because the ribs are now also prepunched.
Wing skins are
pre-punched with the pilot holes for the ribs and spars. The vinyl
can be left in place when fitting and drilling the main wing skins
to prevent scratches except on the inside of the leading edge and
tank skins, where the vinyl should be removed before fitting.)
Remove the vinyl before dimpling to prevent pounding trapped drill
shavings in the skin with the dimple die.
FITTING THE
MAIN SKINS
Cleco the forward
row of holes in W-702 and W-703 skins to the matching hole in the
main spar. Cleco the W-702 and W-703 skins in place using a cleco
in every forth hole.
Don't forget to
insert the doubler between the ribs and the W-702 skin. The main
skins overlap at the eighth rib from the root. The outboard skin
should fit on top of the inboard one.
Gently pull ribs
into position if the matched holes do not align with the skin
holes. Drill all the holes to final size.
Start drilling in
the upper middle of the panel and work down and out toward the
edges, work out any slack as you go.
Move the clecos
down one hole (into the drilled holes) and drill all the remaining
holes.
Draw a couple of
lines on the main skins that intersect at the center of the hole
for the tiedown eye.
Remove the bottom
main skins before fitting the leading edge and tank skins. Leave
the top skins clecoed.
|
|
Right
wing up in jig and ready to drill
|
|
|
March
8, 2002
TANK &
LEADING EDGE JIG
I Decided to go
ahead and make the leading edge and fuel tank jig using the
measurements on the plans.
|
|
Plans
for jig |
|
March
9, 2002
I finished the LE
and tank cradle and test fit the leading edge in. Again these
prepunched holes are wonderful. There is a little adjustment needed
to get them to fit in the area of the very front of the rib.
|
|
Test
fit LE
|
|
|
March
12, 2002
Remove vinyl from
the inside of the W-701 leading edge skin.
|
|
Remove
vinyl from the inside of the W-701 leading edge skin.
|
|
March
9, 2002
Place
the W-701 leading edge skin in the cradle. The ribs are much easier
to install with it pre-bent to shape in the cradle. Cleco the W-709
ribs into the W-701 Leading Edge Skin. Install the clecos on the top
first; working from the front to the rear. Then cleco the bottom
also working from the front to the rear. The most inboard
ri(W-408-1) Leading Edge Rib) is not prepunched with holes and will
be installed later. Mark the ribs so they may be reinstalled in the
same location.
|
|
Put
in cradle
|
|
|
March
9, 2002
Remove the leading
edge assembly from the cradle and place it on the spar. Put clecos
through the spar into the ribs. Also cleco the W-701 Skin to the
wing spar through about every third hole.
|
|
Put
leading edge on the wing |
|
March
12, 2002
Cleco the W-408-1
Leading Edge Rib to the Spar. Slide it into place starting at the
lower aft edges of the leading edge skin. Mark a line one the W423
Joint Plate 5/16" (with the vinyl removed) from the edge. This
line will match up to the holes in the skin, leaving 5/8"
exposed to support the tank skin. You can pre-bend the W-423 to make
it fit better around the leading edge.
|
|
Fabricate
the Joint plate
|
|
|
March
12, 2002
Work the W-423 Joint
Plate into place between the W-701 Leading Edge Skin and W-408-1
Leading Edge Rib. You can gently tap the rib or strip with a soft
hammer to coax things into place. When the strip is in position you
will see the line through the pre-punched holes in the skin.
Re-check the position of the W-408-1 Rib by measuring from the edge
of the joint plate to the web of the spar.
Drill all the ribs
and the joint plate through the pre-punched holes in the leading
edge skin.
|
|
Drill
Joint Plate |
|
March
12, 2002
Extend the lines for
the tiedown eye onto the leading edge. They should intersect at the
pre-punched holes but variations will occur. If necessary file the
hole to the correct direction to center it over the tiedown hole,
then drill it full size with a Unibit
Leave all the clecos
in place and get busy on the fuel tank.
|
|
Drill
tie down holes
|
|
|
Page
1 Page
3
Page
4
Page5
Back
to directory
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
