Building Wings

Michael Brown · #1 03-18-2008, 06:19 PM

I am getting ready to start my wings on my RV-7. I am curious to see if most people build one at a time or both together...... Pros and Cons to both?

Thanks

Sid Lambert · #2 03-18-2008, 06:23 PM

I built them in series. I got so sick of working with the ribs, it created a nice break between the sequences.

My original plan was to build them in parallel but I feel the adjusted plan worked out better in the end.

Norman CYYJ · #3 03-18-2008, 07:08 PM

I have done it both ways and would say that doing both together things go quicker. When you have figured out a problem you can immediately apply it to the other wing. If you build separately you can sometimes forget these small details that make things go quicker. But it is easy to make a mistake on one then duplicate it on the next. If you build them separately you have the time between to realize your mistake and correct it.

Michael Brown · #4 03-18-2008, 07:17 PM

Hmm..... I think I am leaning the way of building them both at the same time. I am sure it will be more monotonous.

Thanks for your input everyone!

Jeff R · #5 03-18-2008, 07:37 PM

I did them one at a time. I figured if I got to the end and found and I made a mistake, then I would only have one trashed wing. Turns out I didn't make any significant errors, and the second wing sure went faster. Doing both at the same time is probably the best way to do it if you have the space.

Jamie · #6 03-18-2008, 07:57 PM

I would recommend doing them both at the same time. That's the way I did it. Do one thing on one wing and you can immediately do it to the other one. Just think of the time saved digging out and putting away tools, just to dig them back out to do the other wing.

rwarre · #7 03-18-2008, 08:29 PM

I have been working on the wing project since December, and have gone back and forth on both wings. I am trying to get both wing tanks finished because that has taken a major portion of time and I wanted to be especially carefull about preventing a leak. After the tanks are finished I plan to concentrate on finishing one wing completely.

pmccoy · #8 03-18-2008, 08:49 PM

I built mine at the same time. If you have enough room in your workshop, that's what I would recommend. As mentioned above, it's easier and faster to solve a problem once and immediately apply the fix to the other wing. However, it also becomes very tedious to deburr, flute and prep so many parts at the same time. Like many things, it comes down to personal choice.

Pirkka · #9 03-19-2008, 12:58 AM

Good comments. I'm working with both at the same time as much as I can to save some time. However as said, it can be boring to do a lot of same tasks like deburring all holes etc. so if you think you'll hate deburring like +10000 holes, do them at different time.

Jalanci · #10 03-19-2008, 06:13 AM

I'm there right now and there are a number of little things you learn along the way that you can apply to the other wing. It's a bit cramped in the space I have, but it is going quite fast. Although fluting the ribs is tedious you get good at figuring out how and where to flute to flatten the section, saving a lot of time. I think it takes less than 10 minutes per rib to debur and flute.

It'll take about 8 hours to prep the ribs for painting and I did the ribs in two batches and it takes about 2 hours to prime each batch with two coats of primer.

When countersinking the nutplates on the spar be careful, clamp a backing plate with a hole to center the countersink bit. The bit will act like a router if it wanders. Also, get another #40 countersink bit, the tip snapped off on one of my holes and had to wait for another one.

I'm using a small palm size rechargeable Black and Decker screwdriver with a countersink bit to debur holes, much easier and faster than by hand. Less than a second of spin does it.