1001001
Well Known Member
OK, I have been spending aeons (it seems) deburring the wing ribs on my -10. So far I am one rib short of finishing the *left* wing ribs.
I won't mention the total time I have in this so far, but I just timed my progress on one single rib, and I think I must be an outlier. I spent 50 minutes with a die grinder, files, and sandpaper (220, 400, and 800 grit) finishing one rib.
This has to be overkill, right?
My basic process is:
0. Hit the long tab edges with the scotch brite wheel on my bench grinder (I did this to all of the ribs in a batch and it didn't take too long so I'm not counting this in the time per rib).
1. Smooth the short tab edges with a small file and diamond emery board.
2. Smooth the round inside corners with a fine round file.
3. Smooth the burrs on tab edges with a fiber disc in my die grinder
4. Smooth the ridges around the punched rivet holes with the fiber disc/die grinder
5. Smooth the j-channel cutouts with the fiber disc/die grinder
6. Smooth the inside of the j-channel cutouts with sandpaper wrapped around a round file
7. Cut the edge down on the inside diameter of the lightening holes with a round file, followed by a scotchbrite flap wheel and then by hand with progressively finer sandpaper.
To my eye and fingers, the edges are just barely smooth enough, but I feel like maybe my standard is too high, or that my technique is just too inefficient. The steps I follow and the tools used are flexible, so that I achieve the result my eye is looking for without necessarily following every one, but I still feel like I'm spending too much time on this.
Before I start the right wing ribs and spend another 15 hours on this task, can folks help calibrate my effort? Am I simply too exacting, am I a slow worker, or am I just whining about something that I should expect to be spending almost an hour on each rib?
I won't mention the total time I have in this so far, but I just timed my progress on one single rib, and I think I must be an outlier. I spent 50 minutes with a die grinder, files, and sandpaper (220, 400, and 800 grit) finishing one rib.
This has to be overkill, right?
My basic process is:
0. Hit the long tab edges with the scotch brite wheel on my bench grinder (I did this to all of the ribs in a batch and it didn't take too long so I'm not counting this in the time per rib).
1. Smooth the short tab edges with a small file and diamond emery board.
2. Smooth the round inside corners with a fine round file.
3. Smooth the burrs on tab edges with a fiber disc in my die grinder
4. Smooth the ridges around the punched rivet holes with the fiber disc/die grinder
5. Smooth the j-channel cutouts with the fiber disc/die grinder
6. Smooth the inside of the j-channel cutouts with sandpaper wrapped around a round file
7. Cut the edge down on the inside diameter of the lightening holes with a round file, followed by a scotchbrite flap wheel and then by hand with progressively finer sandpaper.
To my eye and fingers, the edges are just barely smooth enough, but I feel like maybe my standard is too high, or that my technique is just too inefficient. The steps I follow and the tools used are flexible, so that I achieve the result my eye is looking for without necessarily following every one, but I still feel like I'm spending too much time on this.
Before I start the right wing ribs and spend another 15 hours on this task, can folks help calibrate my effort? Am I simply too exacting, am I a slow worker, or am I just whining about something that I should expect to be spending almost an hour on each rib?