RV-7 Wing Jig

Does anyone have plans for a good freestanding wing Jig?

I just started building one based on Van's drawing. I have a scrap steel place that sells all kinds of tubing for $0.33/lb. I welded two upside down "T" shapes and placed two 114" lengths of tubing between them at the upper and lower ends of the uprights. I put this on wheels and will be adding a couple of diagonal braces to each joint and then bolt some Al angle to it with an adjustable all-thread brace like everybody else uses. I used 3' lengths of tubing at the base, so I should have enough width to mount one or both wings. I will have pics of my progress available this evening or tomorrow sometime.

Oh, and technically, this is not a "jig." It is more of an "assembly rack/fixture." I would not want to offend any non-pre-punch builders.

Lee

I like the look of Rudi Greyling's wing stands.

http://www.rudigreyling.com/rv7.html

I'm not sure how expensive it will be to build them however. I'm nearing the point where I'll have to find out. If the cost is reasonable I'm going with them. If they are too expensive I may have to figure out how to build a wooded equivalent version.

Daniel,

I use my shop for more projects than building my RV, so I wanted some kind of stand that allowed me to roll the wings out of the shop making room to work comfortably on other things. I don't remember it being too expensive, but did take some time to build. I figure that when I'm done, I can reuse the materials for some other jig/project....or RV#2? I'm still working on my wings and so far it has worked well. I'd love to put some pictures in this post, but I'm pretty much a techno-moron and have no clue how to do it. If you send me your e-mail address, I'll send you some pictures. At the time I built it, I did have some hand drawn plans, however I'm not sure I still have them, but when I get back home I'll look and see if they're still around. If you leave a PM, I'm guessing I'll be able to figure that out.

Brad

I went with Rudy's stands and they worked out great, They can be made for apx $50 if you have the equipment. 2X4 Steel tubing from a metal supplier some steel angle from Homedepot and a tig welder and they can be finished in an hour or so.

Scroll through some of the pictures and you can see how they worked out/

https://picasaweb.google.com/106009837153339945075/N87DXWings#5698086942515722498

-david

Thanks for the ideas guys. These are great! How tall are the "Rudy" type wing stands?

Rudys can be as tall as you want, since they rest on the spar, measure the length of one of the aft wing ribs and then add a foot or so for clearance, that would be the lowest they can be, they can then go up as high as you want. All based on your personal preference.

-david

I definitely agree with the others. Rudy's design looks like the way to go if you have the space. That is what I had planned to build all along, but for love of welding and lack of project space, I was able to talk myself into something slightly more elaborate, albeit mostly over-built. Good luck!

Lee