Sunday, March 2, 2014

(page 15-04) Wing ribs

Attaching ribs to wing spars seemed fairly painless and straight forward until I discovered that I had somehow managed to attach the rib-attach angles to only one side of the spar.  When page 15-04 called for clecoing and then riveting nose ribs to the rib-attach angles starting at the outboard end of the spar I got that familiar sinking feeling that accompanies the realization that I had made a mistake.  Looking back at page
13-03, I saw clearly that attach angles go on both sides of the spar.  I have no idea how I missed it.  The good part is that everything that needs to be redone is completely accessible and involves pulled rivets which are much easier to drill out than squeezed rivets.  The bad part is that there are 50 rivets that must be drilled out.  Fortunately, I have acquired great skill at drilling out rivets, so it didn't take long to accomplish.

The real pressing problem is where I'm going to store the left wing  spar with ribs attached when it's time to do the right.  I put a 3/8-16 eye-bolt into the previously-drilled-and-tapped extrusion intended for the tie down and used it to hoist the right spar up to the rafters until I'm ready for it.  I'm hoping the wings can be stored in a similar fashion.

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