Main ribs and blue vinyl

Inventoried my -12 wing kit yesterday. Of the 26 main wing rib only six were covered in the blue vinyl we all love. The rest were bare and covered in scratches. One I can say, looked like it had been drug on the floor. Spoke with Ken at Van's who said that all those ribs should have come covered in blue vinyl and the scratches should not harm anything, just polish them out. The nose ribs weren't covered in vinyl, but those are heat treated so I understand. I also have an issue with the amount of coin I dropped on this kit, that parts would come with the amount of what I consider damage, and I have to spend a lot of extra time fixing. Any similar experiences or thoughts?

It's going back a while now, but I'm pretty sure none of my ribs had blue plastic on them. They were cling wrapped into several bundles.

No blue film

Jorge ? Much the same as the other reply, there was no blue film on any of my wing ribs ? they were just tightly bundled up in plastic wrap. None were scratched or marred.

John
www.dogaviation.com
dues paid until summer 2013

No blue Vinyl

Here is a shot of wing ribs loaded into my truck at Van's in 2009. Note no blue vinyl then...gosh, time goes by:



Tony

jlfernan said:

Inventoried my -12 wing kit yesterday. Of the 26 main wing rib only six were covered in the blue vinyl we all love. The rest were bare and covered in scratches. One I can say, looked like it had been drug on the floor. Spoke with Ken at Van's who said that all those ribs should have come covered in blue vinyl and the scratches should not harm anything, just polish them out. The nose ribs weren't covered in vinyl, but those are heat treated so I understand. I also have an issue with the amount of coin I dropped on this kit, that parts would come with the amount of what I consider damage, and I have to spend a lot of extra time fixing. Any similar experiences or thoughts?

Click to expand...

From another post you made, it sounds like you are priming all of the parts. If so, then light scratches are no problem... there is no extra prep you should need to do.
If you walk though the factory on a tour, you would see pretty much all ribs stacked without blue vinyl (Like Tony's photo).

All my ribs are installed and flying - I have no skin in this game. But I wonder:

Jorge says 6 were vinyl covered and 20 were bare.

Ken at Van's says they should all be covered with vinyl.

Assorted builders reported receiving them bare.

Scott says "you would see pretty much all ribs stacked without blue vinyl."

"Pretty much all...???

Having spent many years in the factory, I wonder how you can have some with, and some without? The guy on the shop floor gets a work order or job card or some such, and manufactures the part in accordance with the instructions and with reference to the drawing. Q.C. or Q.A. (or the worker) inspects the parts to ensure compliance with the applicable drawings and specifications.

What the hey? Maybe the sheet stock comes some with, and some without the covering, and is optional.

But if what Ken says is right, then non-covered parts are in non-conformity.

Sorry, but almost 50 years of tramping the factory floor makes old habits die hard.

Bob Bogash
N737G
8 Flights
10.9 hrs on the Hobbs

Ribs

By the time you get done fussing over those ribs, those scratches are going to be the last thing on your mind.

Just got my wing kit about three weeks ago. None of the stacks of wing ribs had blue vinyl on them

Ditto. None of my wing ribs were covered in blue film. They were all tightly bundled in clear shrink wrap material (just like the ones above, in the photo, in Tony's truck).

I don't know why Jorge says he got 6 ribs with vinyle. RV kit wing ribs usually never have vinyl as a standard production process (most ribs are heat treated and then formed, so they can't have vinyl on them) so there is no non-conformity if some did for some reason (currently unknon to me) have some.
The vinyl is about .002 thick, so having it on or not is not considered a factor regarding whether a part conforms to the production drawing or not (the acceptable dimensional tolerance is bigger than that).

I don't know why Ken said they should all have vinyl on them (maybe it was a miscommunication/misunderstanding).

NASA515 said:

Scott says "you would see pretty much all ribs stacked without blue vinyl."

"Pretty much all...???

Click to expand...

Bob,

With guys like you cruising the internet, I have learned to be careful with my use of absolute sounding statements.

rvbuilder2002 said:

I don't know why Jorge says he got 6 ribs with vinyle. RV kit wing ribs usually never have vinyl as a standard production process (most ribs are heat treated and then formed, so they can't have vinyl on them) so there is no non-conformity if some did for some reason

Click to expand...

So then are you saying, six of my ribs should have been heat treated and weren't.

jlfernan said:

So then are you saying, six of my ribs should have been heat treated and weren't.

Click to expand...

No.

I said most wing ribs on RV's are heat treated.
The main wing ribs on an RV-12 are not heat treated.

Update on ribs

After receiving conflicting info from this site and Van's, it raised the paranoid level in me and I ended up sending the "unfilmed" and scratched ribs back. This is what I received in the mail to day. I'm much happier now.

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Wadda surprise! Raw meat for guys like me, cruising the internet.....

Bob Bogash
N737G