| (17-3 step 2):
First up today was to get the inboard-most rib installed in each
of the outboard leading edge assemblies. As mentioned yesterday,
these proved to be a pain. I pulled them out, adjusted the flutes
to get all the holes to line up perfectly, spent a bit more time
deburring the nose flanges, and then readjusted the flanges to make
sure they were 90 degrees to the web. The fit in the skin was
better, but I still couldn't get them clecoed in... the most forward
part of the nose skin and splice strip pinched down a bit, and it was
very difficult to get the rib far enough forward to get the holes to
line up. Then I remembered reading on the Matronics list about
leaving the skin out of the cradles and only clecoing the forward-most
holes on each rib. So, I pulled the skins out, unclecoed
everything down to clecoes in the front, and you know what... it works! |
| (17-2 step 2): So,
now that the ribs and splice strips are all in, it was time for the
J-stiffeners. These got cut down to 76 1/8" and will line the
upper skin of the outboard leading edges. Once they were cut
& deburred, I marked the rivet line on them the same as we did for
the tailcone stiffeners. |
(17-3 step 3):
Next I slid the J-stiffeners into the slots cut out for them in
the ribs. Once in position I simply made sure the end was flush
with the last rib, made sure the rivet line was visible in the
pre-punched holes in the skin, and then drilled every 4th hole,
clecoing as I went. I've found on these stiffeners that drilling
every 4th hole is just about right. After I get those holes done
I come back and drill the center hole in each of the gaps, and cleco
those. Then I come back and drill all the remaining holes.
|
(17-3 step 4 & 5):
While I was finishing up the J-stiffeners Angela came out to get
some hands-on. So, she took on final drilling all the rib,
nutplate & spar holes in the right leading edge, while I did the
left… the RACE was on! She got a head start on me, but I
eventually caught up ;-)
|
| (17-3 step 5): And
the last thing we did for the night was enlarge the fuel tank screw
holes on the splice strips to their final size and we also final
drilled the two stall warning slot guide holes on each skin. Vans
provides two holes in the leading edge that serve as locators for where
to cut the slot that the stall warning vane sticks through. We
don't plan on using the stall warning system provided in the kit since
we plan on installing an Angle of Attack system instead... a wealth of
info and far superior to a stall warning system! So, the holes
will simply be filled with rivets instead. |
| Welp, we're almost as far on these things as we can
get. Huh... you say?? Yep, per the plans its time to start
tearing these things down. But, we plan on installing the
Duckworks landing lights, and the Angle of Attack wing ports and it'll
be much easier to fit them now than later. Our landing lights
should be here any day now, and our Angle of Attack hardware should be
here in a week or so... Sooo... we'll start pulling some of the inboard
ribs off and deburring while we wait. However, if it takes too
long for the stuff to get here we'll set these guys aside and get
started on the fuel tanks! |
