Wing Ribs - Complete !

I never thought the ribs would take so long. Lots of builders complain about them, but until you are in the middle of them you never realize the amount of work. I probably put in a total of 40 hours all up on the ribs. But they are done now and looking good. Here are a few pictures of the Rib Party in the garage and of different stages of the process...

Deburring, Seaming, Fluting, Conduit/Wiring Hole drilling, Match drilling to Spars, More Deburring, Scuffing with Scotchbrite, Washing with dawn, Alumiprep Bath, Alodine Bath.. PPG Two Part Epoxy Primer... - DONE ! !

-These babies will NEVER be touched by corrosion..

Right Wing Skelleton Work

I continued to do some odds and ends, but mainly was able to get the ribs matched drilled to the spars on the right wing (Bekah's Wing). It needs to come apart like the left wing to get primed, but for now it looks like an airplane wing.

While I was at it on the right wing I worked on Bekah's Tie down. Simple work with the tap set from Lowes and "BoeLube" from Vans. I think that stuff is just wax, but did work out well and is now on the spar.

Other Builders be jealous ! Nice evening with Bekah and Levi in front of the TV Scotchbriting ribs.. (keeping the dust on the towel) We got the left wing done.. The next steps are prepping her ribs and doing the priming this weekend on all ribs if the weather cooperates..

Misc Stuff

OK, no pictures, but I have been making progress. I have match drilled the left wing spars to ribs and pulled the assembly back apart deburred and am now prepping those ribs for priming. Also, been working on the shop a bit, have the right wing skeleton hanging in the stand waiting for the match drilling. Hopefully will get to that tonight and take some photos.

Also working on jacks to support the center of the wing since it sags a bit in the stands, and as well am creating dunk baths for the aluminprep/alodine process that I plan to put the ribs through. For those Purists out there I am working on a assembly line type of bath system that might be pretty cool. Here is hopin.. Either way, will go with the PPG Epoxy primer on the ribs because its pretty and also seems to be lighter than the rattle can.. Pretty soon my technicolor wing skeleton is going to be looking good.

Also I had a friend pick up some parts from Vans. I got the Deluxe fuel caps, a flop tube, wing conduit, and the right wing tie down which I have been waiting for. Now I can get the wings back to the same point. Want to keep them at the same stage as much as I can.

Rib Conduit Holes

Continuing on the Ribs I need to determine my wing wiring/tubing needs. I will definitely need the conduit since I will have nav/strobes/nav antenna in the wing tips, so I drilled holes for that. I also need to expand some of the Tooling holes since I will be adding an AOA. My problem is that I am not sure what AOA I will get and the different options allow for different tube routing. So I will expand the tooling holes and hope for the best.

Here is a pic where I used a common wood bit to cut the aluminum. Worked like a charm. Lined up a template to mark all the ribs, then bored a hole through all of them.

Stack of Ribs

The stack of finished ribs grows.. At this point I am about done with them, except for a few tweaks here and there. I also need to consider my wing wiring and drill the 3/4 inch hole for conduit and any additional wiring holes I may need through the ribs. At least for now the heavy lifting is complete..

.... Ribs ....

More work on the ribs tonight.

The rib process starts with deburring everything which I did a few days ago and posted in earlier posts.. Then you use hand seamers to get the flanges 90 degrees to the Web (the part with holes). Once you get them exactly 90 degrees, the whole rib is bent because of the forces within the metal..



To straighten out the rib you use fluting pliers and leave little dents between the rivet holes. This pulls the rib back into line.



Here is a stack of completed ribs next to a stack of ribs still to do. Hopefully you can tell the difference because there is a lot of work that goes into this.. ;-)



The total number of ribs in an RV for both wings is below:

-12 Outboard nose ribs
-14 Tank nose ribs
-28 Various main ribs

That's a lot of ribs

Rear Spar and More Ribs

No pictures today but since I got more primer I was able to finish the right rear spar (Bekah's side). Now with both rear spars finished I am focusing on the wing ribs. The outboard nose ribs are all deburred, I need to finish the tank ribs tonight and hopefully start working on the corners of the main ribs. The next few days is all about ribs.


Oh, just to clarify I still need to work out the right tie-down/aileron attach bracket assembly. Was waiting for primer on this one and wanted to get more clarification on the torque settings. Should be done with that in the next day or so as well.

What the heck, I will attach a picture of the rear spars in the living room, and the scotchbright wheels after work on the ribs.. Just for something to look at..

Ribs, Ribs, Ribs

Since I was out of primer, and needed something to work on I started on the ribs. It's going to take several sessions so I thought I would at least get started. Things went well but while deburring with the scotchbright wheel, I sure wish I wore a dust mask. My sinuses have been messed up ever since.



My huge articulating drill press came in handy for this step.. I turned it up to its highest speed and went to work. Deburring edges and lightening holes with ease. Actually once I got into the ribs, there were tons more than I expected, but I was able to get the edges deburred all in one sitting. I still need to finish up the insides of the bends with hand tools which will take for ever, but at least I got a start at it.



Here is an example of how I am working the leading edges. I got this tip from Brad's website which you can access from my home page, but using emery cloth like dental floss is working well on the nose ribs. There can't be any sharp edges anywhere.. Wow, lots of work to do.


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