So I’m starting to get behind on my posts due to life! Hopefully I can catch up on some of my videos and posts this weekend. In the grand scheme of things, family and work come before my build project so no surprises that I have to take some brakes (not that the weather was helpful anyway).
Today in Northern VA we are on the back-side of pretty damaging wind event. Most people were without power all day yesterday (and some are still without power). We have reports of trees down on houses as well as at least 1 house fire nearby that basically gutted the house. Not a good day.
Luckily our household while without street power yesterday, were happily having fun watching TV and playing with the kids while my generator was humming away outside. First time I needed to actually use the generator and my checklists and planning some 10 years ago ended up paying off.
Well, enough with all that “non-aviation” stuff. In this update, I started to sort our all the wing ribs, remove all the protective film, and start fluting and bending the flanges. It’s been a while since I did this for the Emp, so not 100% sure I did things right. (I should have spend more time making my flanges 90 degrees and less time fluting). Anyway, do your best and you can always make small adjustments later if needed.
Once I finished prepping the ribs, I started to fabricate the parts needed for the torque tube support bracket. I initially wanted to use my bandsaw, but realized that a hacksaw will make a much cleaner and more accurate cut. Not sure if my bandsaw is garbage, or if I just need to do some adjustments on it.
I did realize that some of my fluting did interfere with the support bracket so I had to “fix” the flutes in question. Again not a huge deal, just double labor. also found I had to file down the bracket to fit flush against the ribs.
Once all the parts for the bracket were assembled and clecoed in place, I had to drill the holes for the angle. Thankfully I already had a 90-degree drill adapter that made quick work of this. In a pinch I’m sure I could have used my long drill bits, but even that didn’t look like it would have been easy. With all the holes drilled, I flipped the rib over to match drill the flap hinge bracket.
I really wish Van’s would have told us about the filling down the long edge of the support bracket! I assembled mine and looked at it four different times over two days thinking I had messed up! I found an article on VAF from 2011 where guys said they sanded down the long edge to make it fit. Sure enough I did the same this morning and it worked!!!! It is only about 1/16 of an inch; but, just enough to make a HUGE difference. Since we are about in the same place, I decided to read what you did to solve the problem and sure enough you did the same confirming my decision.
Glad to hear that you got some benefit from my posts. I’m sure you will be passing me shortly as I really haven’t been able to get as much work done so far this year as I wanted to due to weather and family commitments.
I’m currently looking forward to heading down to Sun n Fun to “recharge” and start seriously talking to some vendors. Once I get back I’m hoping the weather gets a little nicer so I can catch up on some Priming as I have a ton of parts waiting for attention.