Here
Starting with photo 46, I have some good pictures of my emp jig from my blog album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116664178873750047715/KatieSRV3BuildLog?authuser=0&feat=directlink
The uprights couldn't be ceiling height as described in Van's drawing because they would have interfered with the garage door-- and the ceiling was drywalled. We used 4x4" treated lumber for the uprights-- the straightest ones in the store. They were anchored to the floor using concrete anchors with bolts through the 4x4 crossbraces on the bottom. The cross beam is a 3-sided box made of two 2x6 boards and one 2x4. This made it really strong and easy to attach to the uprights. I attached a straight 2x4 as a center upright to support the front spars of both the HS and VS.
I used large pieces of scrap angle aluminum for the bearing/spar attach brackets. Attach the brackets to the spar before attaching them to the jig. I used short decking screws and a small flat ratchet tool with a Phillips bit to squeeze the screws in between the spar and the crossbeam. It was tedious but worked out great with no binding on the spar hinges.
The threaded rods were installed in the uprights similar to Van's sketches to hold the end ribs in place squarely above the spar.
To keep the skins at the correct height above the crossbeam (the correct edge-hang distance past the spar flange), I made a few blocks out of scrap 2x4 to set under the spars. These made it easy to set the skins in place and get them clamped properly. Skin clamps included spring clamps and a set of 1x2s with bolts on each end that laid flat across the skins behind the front spar. I found that it was much easier to clamp the skins spanwise, parallel to the spar, than chordwise with the small plywood clamps as instructed by Van's. (You can see the plywood clamps in some of the photos on the floor.)
My VS and HS came out straight, so I guess it all worked! I was a little concerned about the wood warping or changing through the process, but it worked out fine even in humid Tennessee. A metal jig would be superior for this reason, but using wood enabled us to build it quickly with minimal tools and common materials. The rudder and elevator V-groove jigs as in Van's instructions are simple and work great.
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