Mate wings to fuse?

[wings05rv6a]

Does anyone have secrets that they would like to share on how to properly mate the wings to the fuse. Are there any previous threads on this topic.

Allmost done
Thanks
Bob Wieczorek
N347RW RV6A

[L.Adamson]

At least two people is the best. Wing halves are not that heavy, and it doesn't take more than two.

I just setup something such as a sawhorse with old sleeping bags on top. Smooth side towards wing.

With the sawhorses in place, I've pulled the wings & reset myself.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[ChiefPilot]

What Larry said. I installed and removed my wings perhaps four or five times before putting them in for good and did most of that by myself once they were supported by stands. I think I read every thread on the subject here at least twice, but in the end the only really hard part was putting them on for good with the close tolerance bolts. Even that wasn't bad, and looking back on it now I think it was more of a psychological thing than something that was really hard.

But I wouldn't want to do it again.

[Kyle Boatright]

The thing to realize is that you've gotta control both the sweep and dihedral as you insert the wings into the fuse. Once the wings are inserted, use 3-4 Phillips screwdrivers to get the bolt holes in rough alignment.

Hardware store bolts ground to a point make a good tool for bringing the main spar holes into final alignment before putting temporary (or permanant) bolts in place.

[Flying Scotsman]

On kits with the center section carry-through like the 7, dihedral is fixed as a function of the pre-drilled bolt holes (wing spar to center section), and cannot be changed. Sweep and angle of incidence are what you're working on...

Using the plumb bobs on both wings, inboard and outboard, to check for a straight line all the way across, then verifying that the wings are square to the fuse by measuring from a point on the tip of each wing to some fixed center point on the aft fuse worked fine (measure everything about a billion times, of course). Angle of incidence was almost dead on from the word go, just a slight adjustment, clamp, re-measure everything *again*, and drill the aft spar. Nothin' to it

[sglynn]

I just did the mating of the wings to fuselage for the first time on my RV-7A. You can see it at www.mykitlog.com/sglynn. I did it by myself after my wife helped me take them off the cradle and lay them on two saw horses. Here are my tips:

1) use two saw horses to support inboard and tip of wing at the same level as the fuselage.
2) keep wings level as you first push them in so that the bottom of the wing spar doesn't scrape on the mid-fuselage bottom skin.
3) After you get them in put a bolt (or centering bolt) in the top and then lift the wing tip about 6 inches to align the bottom holes.
4) Use all purpose grease on the wing stub and bolts
5) I put in two bolts plus the centering bolts I left in each wing for a total of three bolts in each wing. I didn't put on nuts. Didn't seem to need it.
6) To push the wing in I found I could push at the wing tip and wiggle slightly back n forth, up and down and it went in pretty easy. I put a rope around the fuselage and back around to me so I could hold it and keep the fuselage from moving away from my pushing forces.
5) I also have my bottom skins only clecoed on, and that seemed okay
6) Later to get the bolts out I used a punch to first knock them back out a little. Then I pushed them with a crow bar. They came out fairly easy.
Finally after getting them together I just followed the plan to rig alignment, sweep, angle of attack.

have fun

[Bob Axsom]

I see you are an RV-6A owner. No other type of RV has as difficult a job of wing installation as the RV-6A but oh my god is it strong. Be careful and do not rush no matter how many days it takes.

The wings and the fuselage need to be supported independently but in proper orientation with respect to height above the floor, reference plane, incidence angle and dihedral. I made a lot of saw horses - two heavy duty ones for the fuselage and two for each wing. I bought some thick foam rubber pads for the wings, laid the pads on plywood and shimmed under them with wood to get the dihedral right. I put my fuselage on two heavy duty (constructed of 2"x6" or 2"x8" and 3/4" plywood) saw horses on a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood and used auto jacks at the corners to level the canopy deck reference plane then stabilized it with stacks of wood support under the plywood. Carefully work the wing main spars into the fuselage, once you get this seemingly difficult task completed you are ready to commence the seemingly impossible task of installing the 60 odd bolts that hold the main wing spars, four thick steel splice plates and the steel main landing gear weldments and aluminum fuselage bulkhead together.

Once the first few bolts are in the rest go in easier. Sacrificial bolts (not the high cost close tolerance bolts) with a point or flat side ground on them are almost essential to get final hole alignment. You will need a drift punch to drive them back out once other bolts (the permanent ones) are installed in adjacent locations. You need a good mallet to drive the bolts in as well as some lubricant on the bolts. You may need a reamer or drill to cleanup slight imperfections in alignment of some of the many layers of steel and aluminum (this is discussed in the manual). Drive in the bolts that are most accessible and easiest (ha ha) to get in and work from there. Magically as one bolt goes in (sometimes after a day of intense effort) another one becomes just possible to install, etc.

When you get to the rear spar and fuselage stub interface, you have to drill these holes very carefully as they control the wing incidence rigging. My right wing was almost perfect and just had to be clamped and drilled but the left wing required a significant amount of twist to get the correct incidence angle before clamping and drilling. I encountered no problems with the zero sweep angle.

Take your time and think about what you are doing and it works out beautifully but it takes a lot of effort to get this critical job done.

Bob Axsom

[noelf]

If so, then in addition to what the others have mentioned...

1) Drawing #14 shows a detail for a "9/32in notch" that may need to be filed into the wing rear spar (Rev 10). You won't know if it is needed until you fit the wings and check for zero sweep. I needed to remove my wings and install the notch during the fit process.

2) Have 4 large "C" clamps or swivel plate-ViceGrips handy. As the wings and splice plates come together in the center section, being able to compress all of the spar strips together makes inserting the bolts much easier. This prevents the inserted bolts from ever-so-slightly spreading the spar strips apart and causing the bolts to snag.

3) Don't forget to drill the fuse bottom skins / wing bottom skins for the plate nuts shown on Drawing #46, and 21. If not done during the initial fit, then the wings may have to come off again to install these plate nuts.

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by noelf

If so, then in addition to what the others have mentioned...

1) Drawing #14 shows a detail for a "9/32in notch" that may need to be filed into the wing rear spar (Rev 10). You won't know if it is needed until you fit the wings and check for zero sweep. I needed to remove my wings and install the notch during the fit process.
.......

...the notch mentioned is a much later revision on drawing #14.
If you have fairly original drawings, it probably is not on your copy...

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Here's a thing I wrote a few years ago on doing it yourself.

the term "zero sweep" is an interesting one. I like Van's instructions on this point:

"get real, within ?? or so will be fine"