Tip: Wing jigs
 

How about some helpful tips / tricks / suggestions and pictures for building wing jigs?
My kit should be here in a few days and I'm going thru the thought process of putting these up - would like to see what others have done and what works.

Thomas

I'm building in my garage and I put mine on casters so I could move it around as need be to make room for the car in the event of a severe storm, winter etc.

I did both wings at the same time in a 2 car garage. My jigs are posts to the ceiling on one end and half height on the other. It is totally rigid with the spars clamped on, yet doesn't interfere with the garage door. See details at my site.

Pretty extensive thread on this issue a while back that I used:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...6&page=1&pp=10

Good luck.

Thanks for the link, Steve!

I was getting ready to link up the same page!

The jig worked out well for me. I am doing the tanks now and it is really working out well!

Lemme know if you have any questions!

;) CJ

Ditto, I was going to link to that same page, since I was the one that asked it in the first place...:o:D

I think we should start refering the guys how to use the search facility first, then show the links..

Good info in that link, feel free to ask question over there to keep all the information together on the jigs...

Thanks - I followed that thread when it started. I was more looking for unique tricks that people might have used to make jigging easier, etc. that may not have been mentioned.

Thomas

There is a tip or two on my web site
 

Check out the "Things to Consider" section on my web site, there are some tips there.

I just screwed the 2x4's into the floor joists over head. No big deal. The trick is making sure everything is level. For that I used gravity as I've found it to be very consistent. Heck, every time I drop a tool, it hits the ground. Can't get any more consistent than that.

Hint for eliminating twist in wing spars while on fixture
 

One of the problems with wood fixtures is that over the time it takes to build the wings, your wood will dry out or swell with summer humidity. This could introduce twist into your wings. Although I live in a dry part of the country, I made sure I would be able to keep the wing spars without twist. Some people just use alum. sheet shims. I got the idea below from someone on this forum--CJ I think--and it works great.

What I did:
- I used 1x2 oak pieces to hold my spars (but angle iron would work just as well).
- One end got bolted in to the vertical posts. The other end was connected back to the posts at the diagonal (both above and below) with a piece of alum. strap (1/8" thick). Each of the aluminum straps was connected to the oak support with $1.00 turnbuckles from Lowes. Now, all I need to do if I discover any twist in the wing is adjust the turnbuckles on one or both ends of the spar. It allows you to adjust very precisely just by tigtening/loosening the turnbuckles as appropriate.

Sorry I can't post any pictures--I left my camera in my brother's truck after fishing last weekend. (20" trout on a 5-weight fly rod--doesn't get much better than that! :) )

Steve

Sounds like you are on the right track, Steve!

I wouldn't worry about the wood warping. It shouldn't. Besides, you will be checking for trueness from time to time anyways. If you see any changes or ways to make things better, do them as needed.

A 20" fish on a 5# rod, pretty cool!

Here on Cape Cod we go for Striped Bass on 9' / 9wt's. Fish are as large as 28-32" in length and weigh in around 8-12 lbs.!

Publish those pics when you get the camera back!

:D CJ