Wing Ribs – Part 7

Brian 0 Comment Main Spar

So as I was doing a last double check on things and getting ready to start riveting on the top skin, something didn’t look 100% right.  I was doing the final check of the AN3 hardware to verify that I had torqued and installed torque seal on all the nuts when I realized that two of my wing ribs didn’t have any AN3 hardware installed.  Specifically the 2 of the outboard most ribs. (See photos below).

[inpost_fancy thumb_width=”200″ thumb_height=”200″ post_id=”653″ thumb_margin_left=”0″ thumb_margin_bottom=”0″ thumb_border_radius=”2″ thumb_shadow=”0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)” id=”” random=”0″ group=”0″ border=”” show_in_popup=”0″ album_cover=”” album_cover_width=”200″ album_cover_height=”200″ popup_width=”800″ popup_max_height=”600″ popup_title=”Gallery” type=”fancy” sc_id=”sc1534549605819″]

 

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Rear Spar – 4

Brian 0 Comment Rear Spar

After getting some feedback during my recent Tech Counselor visit, I had a few items to address on my rear spar (some rivets that needed attention).  I started off by re-checking all of the rivets on my rear spar to make sure they were in-spec.  For those that were out of spec or “marginal” I went ahead and drilled them out or if they were not set enough I marked them with tape so I could hit them with the rivet gun.  Once everything was drilled out, I had a few places where I scratched the primer. Read more

Update on IFR

Brian 0 Comment Instrument

So I haven’t posted much about my progress on my IFR cert or any of my flying in general.  Around April I decided that I really should just get my IFR ticket done and have been working with Travis (one of our local CFII’s) to get back on the horse and finish up my IFR training.  After my last post last year, I decided to just take a break and do some more XC flights with family.  Multiple trips to NJ (before the TFR’s were an issue) as well as some flights to Ocean City MD and other destinations to help build time.  Basically I just flew for fun for a while.

I just passed my Stage 2 Check ride (and yes I know I could have done better!) and am working on getting both my BFR and my IR XC flights done in the next few weeks.  This will then fulfill my experience / time requirements for the IR Checkride.  I still have a vaild IR written test result that expires in Nov and I’ll just need to study up for the oral and polish up my maneuvers with Travis.    Hopefully I’ll be posting that I got my IR cert in the next month or so.

Rear Spar – Part 3

Brian 0 Comment Rear Spar

Ok, so first I’ll apologize as this timelapse is all over the place.  Well, honestly I was all over the place as I ended up making a few errors as I have been juggling a few things.

Getting ready to rive the rear spar to the wing ribs I deburred and primed everything.  I then began to cleco everything together and was trying to utilize my squeezer to set the rivets for the rear spar.  Honestly, this didn’t really work all that well as I still was going to use the rivet gun for a sub-set of rivets.  Also it was just plain difficult to get the proper angle to even come close to setting the rivets correctly.

After setting a few rivets, I realized I had not dimpled some holes:

Page 15-4: Step 3 – “Dimple the holes in the ribs lower aft tab and the holes in the W-1007A-L Rear Spar Web lower flange that correspond to the tabs.”

After looking at these locations to see if I could use the squeezer or some other method of adding the needed dimples, I realized the best solution was to remove the offending rivets attaching the rear spar, correct the oversight and re-rivet the parts.

  1. This is a great lesson to learn.  Take your time and re-read the directions.
  2. You can fix just about any mistake and you will make mistakes.
  3. Removing rivets is a skill you really need to learn 🙂

Here is what you get after removing a bunch of perfectly good rivets:[inpost_fancy thumb_width=”200″ thumb_height=”200″ post_id=”629″ thumb_margin_left=”0″ thumb_margin_bottom=”0″ thumb_border_radius=”2″ thumb_shadow=”0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)” id=”” random=”0″ group=”0″ border=”” show_in_popup=”0″ album_cover=”” album_cover_width=”200″ album_cover_height=”200″ popup_width=”800″ popup_max_height=”600″ popup_title=”Gallery” type=”fancy” sc_id=”sc1532462583210″]

 

With the rivets removed and the proper parts dimpled, I re-rivet the rear spar to the ribs again.  This time with less errors and in a much more comfortable position!.

I then begin to prep the rear spar for the right wing by removing the blue film and drilling the doublers.  I also fabricate the doubler with the cut-out for the pushrod using a few different tools.  Honestly the file is still my “go to” tool for this kind of stuff.

With all the doublers fabricated, I attach everything to the rear spar so I can match drill.

 

Wing Ribs – Part 6

Brian 0 Comment Wing Ribs

First, this update is a little late in being published.  Don’t worry, I have been making progress and should have more updates shortly.

With some work on the leading edges done, I moved back to the wing ribs to get my right wing ribs attached.  First I assembled the ribs on the spar, then started to mark and drill the holes for the conduit attachment pieces.

After moving the spar to the workbench for better access, I began to attach the tie-down bracket to the spar.  Only had to drill out a few rivets due this time before everything was perfectly attached. 🙂

Next I began to rivet on the ribs to the spar.  This is easy enough to do solo if you are careful.  As I got closer to the wing root I was limited on physical space.  Feel free to laugh as I squeeze around to get the last few rivets set.

With the rivets all attached, I then started to install the AN3 hardware attaching the ribs to those stepped spar doublers.  I’m not sure I got it on camera, but I basically put the hardware on just tight enough to hold at first.  I came back later with a torque wrench that could measure in the in-lb range needed to set the AN3 hardware to spec.  A little dab of torque seal to help mark what hardware got torqued and I’m all set.