Completed section 14 for the ribs today! That involved first riveting the flap attach brackets together (3@ 16 rivets each), and attaching the aileron torque tube support to rib #1L. Then the fun part began... attaching each rib to the spar, one by one. We had previously developed a different numbering scheme for the ribs because we found Van's numbering scheme quite confusing, especially on the right wing which is not depicted at all in the plans and is only mentioned to be a "mirror image" of the left wing. That's fine, but each wing has a series of part numbers designated R and L, and certain things have to be done to certain ribs to make them all work together properly. To simplify everything, once we got all the ribs in the right location early on, we numbered them 1L-15L, and 1R-15R.
I attached the ribs in a slightly off order to maximize space for the bucking bar around the wing-walk area. I attached rib #3 first, then #2, then #1, and then proceeded with #4-#15 in order (#15 doesn't get riveted yet, only clecoed into place). I snapped in two small grommets for air lines (pitot/AOA), and then a larger 5/8" grommet for wiring. Lastly, a sundry of AN3 bolts needed to be selected for the upper and lower rib attach points (thru rib #12), along with washers and locknuts. These were done last, and then finally torqued to 25 in-lb and dabbed with torque seal.
One of three flap attach brackets. These go on ribs #1, 7, and 11.
The two air lines in front, and the wiring grommet in the stock location. Hopefully I won't regret not running conduit like many have done.
The aileron torque tube support.
Helloooooooooooo!
All riveted and bolted together! (Except #15)
With that, I decided to get a jump start on Section 15-3 (we had already done pg. 2), for the rear spar. This was a short-lived effort, because I basically instantaneously ruined my first part in the wing kit! The first thing the plans have you do is match-drill the W-1007E spar doubler to the rear spar. Instead, I used the similar but longer W-1007D to do this, and in so doing, ruined the piece. Careless mistake. Looked up the part on vansaircraft and it's a whopping $3. Oh well, could have been way worse I suppose. I think what I'll do is cut the D-piece I drilled to match the length of the E-piece, that way I won't have to double-drill through the spar holes to match-drill another fresh piece. Anyone need an extra W-1007E? :-)
Somehow, I managed to clamp the W-1007D (already labeled "I" for inboard, too!) into place for match drilling instead of the W-1007E that was supposed to go there. Oh well, no big deal... at least it's cheap and fixable.
Tomorrow, I believe we'll start on the right wing and hopefully get to the same place we are now on the left side!
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