aarvig

aarvig

Well Known Member
that sanding wing ribs is mind numbingly boring and seems to take forever? I'm edge finishing the wing ribs on my 9A while looking out the window (lots of blue sky days while I'm sanding), watching TV(got through the Jason Bourne trilogy), and talking to my neighbors (yep, stood outside today talking to a group of neighbors while sanding wing ribs...the great part of it, no one asked any questions...they all know I'm nuts:D).
 
Definitely boring but there were times later in the build where I wish I was edge finishing.:)
 
Those Scotch Brite drums are a wonder. I never spent a single minute sanding ribs.
 
Its OK, Aaron. The leading edge ribs are much more exciting. And the fuel tank ribs? OMG, you'll reach new levels of excitement. :)

I did all my ribs in one marathon session. I think I watched much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy while doing so.
 
aarvig said:
that sanding wing ribs is mind numbingly boring and seems to take forever?
Click to expand...

It's all relative.....

Start by cutting little mahogany ply gussets, then sand the edges. Router table all the leading edge ribs, and sand those. Build four rib jigs, then build ribs in them, two every night, upper and lower wing, until you have 46. Sand and varnish all of them, except the parts that get glued to the spars. You get to sand and varnish those areas later...

It was more or less required of all homebuilders before Van cooked up a simple all-metal Hershey bar to put on his Playboy....

BTW, about those little ply gussets....there are over 1400 of them in this Skybolt example. Each has 3 or 4 edges to sand ;)

2nipul2.jpg
 
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aarvig said:
that sanding wing ribs is mind numbingly boring and seems to take forever? I'm edge finishing the wing ribs on my 9A while looking out the window (lots of blue sky days while I'm sanding), watching TV(got through the Jason Bourne trilogy), and talking to my neighbors (yep, stood outside today talking to a group of neighbors while sanding wing ribs...the great part of it, no one asked any questions...they all know I'm nuts:D).
Click to expand...

Sanding ribs? You building an RV with wood wings? :D

About 60 seconds with a 2" Scotchbrite wheel in a die grinder will deburr the edges and another 60 seconds or so rubbing down the entire rib with A ScotchBrite pad will have it ready for primer if desired. Two minutes max per rib.
 
aarvig said:
that sanding wing ribs is mind numbingly boring and seems to take forever? I'm edge finishing the wing ribs on my 9A while looking out the window (lots of blue sky days while I'm sanding), watching TV(got through the Jason Bourne trilogy), and talking to my neighbors (yep, stood outside today talking to a group of neighbors while sanding wing ribs...the great part of it, no one asked any questions...they all know I'm nuts:D).
Click to expand...

Its February. You live in Minnesota. And, you were able to stand outside and talk to the neighbor. Be thankful for the little things! :)

Like Boom... there were several times later in the build when I wished I was back edge finishing ribs. Nice air conditioned/heated garage, cable TV with sports or news or..., nearby bathroom and stocked refrigerator, could just work on the plane for 30 minutes if that was all the time I had. The T-hangar was not so nice. But, the tradeoff was that I was "gettin close."

But, yeah, I did get bored with things like preping ribs. And, the -9A has several more than my -8A does.

Hang in there! It is worth it.
 
smoothing bend reliefs unecessary ?

I use scotchbrite wheels extensively for deburing, but I spend hours with abrasive strips and cords smoothing the roots of the bend reliefs cutouts (that there are soo many of on ribs). I believe that if a wing rib was to crack, it would do it here at these stress concentrators. Do other people not bother and just deburr the easily accessible edges of the flanges ? Have I been wasting my time with this effort ?

Kerry Stevens
 
As someone who is just past the wing rib deburring stage, I found it a challenge to find the motivation. So much so that I took a rather extended break from the build!

Back at it and couldn't be happier to be on to the next stage.
 
Ribs

I spent so many hours deburring ribs that I would be embarrassed to admit my total time spent. Someone mentioned two minutes per rib. I averaged more time than that just turning the lights on :rolleyes:
 
minute2 said:
I use scotchbrite wheels extensively for deburing, but I spend hours with abrasive strips and cords smoothing the roots of the bend reliefs cutouts (that there are soo many of on ribs). I believe that if a wing rib was to crack, it would do it here at these stress concentrators. Do other people not bother and just deburr the easily accessible edges of the flanges ? Have I been wasting my time with this effort ?

Kerry Stevens
Click to expand...

Well you can count at least one other person that fully deburred ALL the edges of the wing ribs (and everything else). I used some Cratex abrasive wheels of about 1/4" diameter on my Dremel to get into these odd shaped cutouts. And yes I agree with you, if the wing rib is going to crack, i'll probably be from the bend relief cutouts or the J stiffener cutouts. Or from a nick in the lightening holes, or...

Aluminum is a wonderful material, but it is notch sensitive and must be properly deburred to achieve long life in service.
 
DanH said:
BTW, about those little ply gussets....there are over 1400 of them in this Skybolt example. Each has 3 or 4 edges to sand ;)
Click to expand...

During some training I received at Vandenburg AFB for a couple of weeks in about 1980, I remember the instructors reminding us about every 10 minutes:
"You volunteered for this!"​

After reading Dan's reminder, I'll add to that:
"It could always be worse!"​

--
Stephen
 
DanH said:
It's all relative.....

Start by cutting little mahogany ply gussets, then sand the edges. Router table all the leading edge ribs, and sand those. Build four rib jigs, then build ribs in them, two every night, upper and lower wing, until you have 46. Sand and varnish all of them, except the parts that get glued to the spars. You get to sand and varnish those areas later...

It was more or less required of all homebuilders before Van cooked up a simple all-metal Hershey bar to put on his Playboy....

BTW, about those little ply gussets....there are over 1400 of them in this Skybolt example. Each has 3 or 4 edges to sand ;)
Click to expand...
 
Dan,

I had forgotten the pain of building the wings on my Pitts in 1980. It must have occured while doing the fiberglass on my -10. Either that, or age.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
Sam Buchanan said:
Sanding ribs? You building an RV with wood wings? :D

About 60 seconds with a 2" Scotchbrite wheel in a die grinder will deburr the edges and another 60 seconds or so rubbing down the entire rib with A ScotchBrite pad will have it ready for primer if desired. Two minutes max per rib.
Click to expand...

That's my formula.

Actually, one can do a pretty decent job de-burring running them by a 6" wheel - just don't get your fingers between the wheel and the piece. :)
 
terrye said:
Well you can count at least one other person that fully deburred ALL the edges of the wing ribs (and everything else). I used some Cratex abrasive wheels of about 1/4" diameter on my Dremel to get into these odd shaped cutouts. And yes I agree with you, if the wing rib is going to crack, i'll probably be from the bend relief cutouts or the J stiffener cutouts. Or from a nick in the lightening holes, or...

Aluminum is a wonderful material, but it is notch sensitive and must be properly deburred to achieve long life in service.
Click to expand...

There was a video either on vaf or someones site (and I have searched in vain) that showed how to take one of the small 1 or 1 ?? scotchbrite wheels, cut off a chunk about 1/2? square, drill a small hole in one end and screw that (with a bit of ca glue) onto a dremel attachment shaft that has the short wood screw thread on the end. Then take this to your grinder, turn on the dremel to low speed and shape this down to a small cone approx ? ? long x ?? diameter. Now you have a small cone shaped scotchbrite dremel attachment to go at the small places on the ribs. Take care because the scotchbrite will burn through, but it does make the process quick and easy.
 
Dan,

Those wings are so beautiful they should be wall art. I was lucky, my kit #1150 RV4, required many hours with a fly cutter cutting lightening holes out of wing ribs, followed by edge cleaning and fluting to match the yet undetermined hole pattern on my wing skins. After twenty five years, I still have the many circular pieces, ya never know when they might come in handy for something.

Hans
 
DanH said:
It's all relative.....

Start by cutting little mahogany ply gussets, then sand the edges. Router table all the leading edge ribs, and sand those. Build four rib jigs, then build ribs in them, two every night, upper and lower wing, until you have 46. Sand and varnish all of them, except the parts that get glued to the spars. You get to sand and varnish those areas later...

It was more or less required of all homebuilders before Van cooked up a simple all-metal Hershey bar to put on his Playboy....

BTW, about those little ply gussets....there are over 1400 of them in this Skybolt example. Each has 3 or 4 edges to sand ;)

2nipul2.jpg
Click to expand...

Allright, allright...you got me beat. By the way...that is a beautiful wing. Nice work.
 
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