| March 4, 2005: (2.0 hrs.) No pictures from today's work. I finished deburring the rib flanges and lightening holes. I also got a good start on squaring all the flanges (bending the flanges to make them 90 degrees to the rib webbing) and flutting the ribs to get rid of an bow. | |
 |
March 5, 2005:
(3.5 hrs.) This afternoon I completed the process of squaring and
flutting the the flanges.
Here I am using my flange tool to square the flange. |
 |
Here is a shot of the typical bow in a rib from the factory. The process used to form press these ribs causes this bowing and it is important that it is removed if you want things to fit well when the skin goes on. |
 |
Here is the same rib after flutting... see how it now sits nice and flat on the work surface? Notice the flutes need to go between the holes! Don't flute over a hole or you will have issues mating the rib with the pre-drilled skin. |
 |
Once I finished fluting all the ribs I
needed to add some holes that I will run conduit through for my wiring
runs. I used the wiring run recommendations from Vans and drilled
a 3/4" hole near the bottom of each rib. I also enlarged the lower
tooling hole in each rib to 7/16".. this will give me the option of
adding plastic grommets and having a secondary wire run if necessary. To drill the 3/4" hole, I first determined the location on a single rib and drilled a 1/8" pilot hole. I used this rib as a template to match drill the rest of the ribs. Next I used my step drill to enlarge the hole to 3/4". |
 |
Yea... bulk of the rib work is done.
Next, I assembled the left and right wing skeletons. The rib
attachment points to the main and rear spar were all match drilled.
With the ribs in this position it is easy check the squareness of the
flanges. I ended fixing a few that were still not quite square.
You really need to follow the plans closely when attaching the ribs (duh!) The flanges do not all face in the same direction. |
 |
Here I am using my 12" #30 bit to match drill the rib attach point in the main spar. |
 |
Nice shot down lightening holes of the main ribs. |
 |
Next, I labeled all the ribs and took everything apart. I will debur the holes I just drilled and then prep and paint the ribs the next time I get a chance to work on the plane. |
 |
March 6, 2005: (3.5 hrs.) Used the debur bit in my cordless drill to debur all the holes in the ribs that I drill earlier |
 |
Proceeded to prepping the right wing ribs for painting. Here the ribs are drying after being scrubbed with Alumiprep. |
 |
Once all the parts dried, I started the Alodine process. I built this Alodine bath for the ribs out of wood from the wing crates and some plastic drop cloth. |
 |
Alodined parts drying. |
 |
Primed the right wing ribs. This was by far the largest batch of parts that I painted at once. |