Bottom wing skin riveting- flat or vertical?

[Iluke]

I'm getting ready to rivet my bottom wing skins and see that some folks follow the plans and lay the wing down on the bench while others do it with the wing vertical in the wing stand. I can see advantages to both, but then again I haven't yet actually started the task.

Anyone have any strong opinions on which is best? I will be working with a helper.

thanks
-Ivan

[Taildrgr]

I tried mine on my table and because I am only 5' 8", I could not reach very far over the top of the wing. I ended up putting the wing on the floor and laying down next to the wing. It's wierd I know, but it worked for me.
My wife sat on a stool next to the wing and worked the rivet gun for about 25% of the rivets, the rest I could get myself.

I also used a rope and pulley system to pull the skin back so I could reach under it. That was mandatory to get to some of the rivets. Just have to be careful not to crease the skin.

[longranger]

I started mine solo in a rotating stand...


It ended up being way easier doing it with a partner on a bench. Just make sure you can access the wing from both sides of the bench. My usual benches are too wide and too heavy to move, so I turned the wing skins crate upside down on sawhorses to make a temporary bench:

[akarmy]

We did it vertically with two people and it was fairly easy to reach everything.

[DaleB]

I did one on the wing stand... easy as pie.

The other one I did on the bench after disassembling the wing stand. I spent a couple of days kicking myself in the butt for not leaving the wing stand assembled. It was MUCH easier for me to work on it vertically, training edge down.

In stand and alone. No big deal.

[wirejock]

One complete. Both were left in the jigs. I checked it before riveting just to be sure it was square. Thankfully I had help. Some was done solo but outboard skin would have been really difficult with my short arms. One to go.

[wjb]

I did mine in vertically on the wing stand, solo. It was actually pretty easy except for some far corner rivets where there were no inspection covers to aid access. Van's should really add one more out there beyond the bellcrank just to make riveting easier! I'm 5"11 with relatively skinny arms which made it significantly easier to get in through the lightening hole at the ends and into the far corners.

See more at:

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displa...g=194080&row=5

[bruceh]

I laid my wings flat on a pair of small desks and was able to solo rivet the bottom skins. Long arms help.

[airguy]

On the wing stand, easy peasy.