[Catbird]

OK, this has been bugging me for awhile and I've gotta ask.

The components that make up the main wing spars have differing levels of finishing along the edges. I'm specifically concerned about the thick, laminated spar bars that carry through the fuselage to the large bronze pin bushings. Some of these bars have been smoothed along the edges, and some still have the rough shear marks from the fabrication process. It appears that these rough edges haven't been touched at all since the bars were sheared to size. If all of the prefab'd spars are like this, then I can assume it's nothing to be concerned about. Has anyone else out there noticed this in their spars?

I've gone to great lengths to debur and smooth every edge of every single piece on this plane, as prescribed in the plans and in standard metal fabrication handbooks for notch sensitive aluminum alloys such as 2024 T3. It seems to consume most of my shop time. But after inspecting the prefab'd spars closely, I'm beginning to wonder whether my long hours at the abrasive wheel are worth the effort.

 

[Geico266]

Better call Vans on this one, but it would be helpful to post some pictures. Mine were all smooth and required no work at all. The only "issue" for mine was some of the laminated pieces (ends) had radius and some did not, so they were not uniform. I elected to just leave them alone.

 

[BigJohn]

Mine were like yours - some smooth, some rough. I called Van's - they said leave them alone. I didn't like the looks of them so I flat filed the really bad ones where the rough material was really high.

 

[ARPENN]

My edges were rough and I just left them alone. Don't want to disturb the anodize finish. I did however have one of the large 3/16" along the edge not set. It was just stuck in the hole. Van's said to just set the rivet. It takes a large rivet gun or two heavy hammers, one as a backup to set that rivet.

Art Pennanen

 

[aerofurb]

I had the same thoughts not so long ago and Vans said not to worry.

In the end, I smoothed out the offending top lamination that will be hidden (from being inspected later) under the wing skin but the other edges can be looked at with the wings off and a torch, mirror and borescope through the rib lightening holes - just for piece of mind.

My thread and a picture here:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=52282