Wings

[Kamcoman77]

I cut the plywood to fit against rib #8. However, it would be easy to notch the rib if you want the longer ply. I doubt it makes much difference.

[Brock]

I measured twice but failed to check the math.  Came up short.  Will have to sleep on it to decide if I'll remake the parts or punt with some other solution/fix for these short ply pieces.

[Kamcoman77]

I made mine too short also. Since the ply is epoxied to the spar and the fitting bolts over it, I decided to add a short piece butted against the larger one. Looks fine after epoxying the fitting over the ply.

[Brock]

I ended up remaking the eight U-plies.  Really went quite fast (20 min?) since I already had it figured out.  Now I hope that the material I used isn't missed elsewhere down the road (er runway).

Let the fun begin!  Today I took the plung and started adding/removing/adding-again ribs to the rear spar.  What fun it is to see things come together.  After taking this pic I did find one gusset on rib #3 still needing trimming.  Ok back off they will come.  Get it right before the glueing begins.

I came up with a sort of code to mark the rear spar with.  First I numbered the location of each rib, the marked 'S' for the locations that will be modified for a compression-Strut, then marked 'K' for those that get a K-block. Marked 'D' for..... Hmmm I forgot what that stands for.  Anyway a rib like 7 had '7SK' penciled on the spar next to it's location.  That's rib 7, gets compression strut mod, and has a K block.  There may be easier ways to keep track but this seemed to help me.

[Kamcoman77]

Rib #7 also needs the 1/4" ply doubler to support the inner aileron hinge block. I made mine longer than the plans show.

[Brock]

Ah, yes.  'D' for doubler.  I was thinking ribs could get glued w/o that and a lot of other items.  I do need to purchase some 1/4" plywood but am unsure what to get and where to get it.  Any advice?  I know there is a nice specialty wood store in Portland OR that I visited about 20 years ago but I've not idea what it's called or where it was.  Will have to try and find it.

[Kamcoman77]

Many builders have substituted marine grade ply for aircraft grade ply. Should be several boat supply stores in Portland. I believe you may also need some 1/16" and 0.8mm ply for the outer two ribs (aileron hinge block reinforcements).

[Brock]

Thanks for the pics, they are helpful.  One more question.  Should I remove all the gussets on one side, aft of the rear spar, on rib 7?  I would assume this needs to be done for the doubler (root side right?)

[Kamcoman77]

Yes, I also put some ply on the tip side of #7. It covers the K-block

[Brock]

Was delighted today to find that the table saw, carefully used, does a nice job on removing gussets.  This will save a lot of time with the dremel.

[jrbirdman47]

I set up a router table to do the same thing. Seconds to accomplish and very neat and clean results.

[Kamcoman77]

You had a question about diagonals being epoxied to the lower rib capstrips where they cross. If you fit the diagonals to the side faces of your spars, the diagonals will touch the ribs. Hopefully, you are not referring to Leonard's Wing Video for any of your XL construction. The video does not apply to the XL wing.

[Brock]

For the build log.  Rear spar diagonal glue-in details.  The 1/8" block is not yet glued, so if it looks a bit dry...  A large gusset will go over the top of it all.

[Brock]

Cut the root diagonal brackets today.  Will hold them in the vice when welding to be sure to get the 46 deg that I calculated.

[Kamcoman77]

Looks nice! Keep on truckin'