Tip: Wing jigs

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by alpinelakespilot2000

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.

Good point. However...

I do live in a very humid part of the world, nothing like 96 degrees and 96 percent humidity for two or three months a year.

This really wasn't a problem for me as I have kept a dehumidifier running in my basement to keep my tools from rusting. Yes, it is that humid here.

When I built my wings I didn't clamp the bottom spar until I was ready to rivet the top skin in place. The match holes kept everything straight and square. One precaution I did take was to put a cleco in every other hole and when I riveted I tried to make sure there was either a cleco or rivet on both sides of the rivet I was about to drive.

Twist? Yep, I had some, about 1/2 a string width. The plane will never notice it.

[alpinelakespilot2000]

[quote=N941WR]
When I built my wings I didn't clamp the bottom spar until I was ready to rivet the top skin in place. The match holes kept everything straight and square. One precaution I did take was to put a cleco in every other hole and when I riveted I tried to make sure there was either a cleco or rivet on both sides of the rivet I was about to drive.
QUOTE]

Bill--

Allowing the bottom spar to float seems like a good idea since the skins should square everything up. I think I'll try that too until the skins go on. Thanks for the tip.

Where you put a cleco in every other hole, is that where Van's suggests 1 cleco every 4 holes? I've wondered why the instructions said only 1 every 4: whether it was because Van's suspected we'd be running out of clecos if we did not or whether clecoing farther apart gave the skins some room to float or something???? Unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to try to use a cleco every other hole as I have up to this point.

Steve

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by alpinelakespilot2000

Where you put a cleco in every other hole, is that where Van's suggests 1 cleco every 4 holes?

Yep, that's exactly what I did. I had to buy a LOT of extra cleco's but that's a small price to pay. Remember that when you rivet, start in the middle of the sheet and move out towards the edges, per the instructions.

If you look at the pictures on my web site, there is a shot of the wing with a bunch of cleco's stuck in it.