J

John Courte

Well Known Member
Hi,

I've decided to drill the wings for incidence and sweep, and I have two options. First option is to pull the fuse out of the guest house onto the back patio, then measure both wings for sweep and incidence attached to the leveled fuse at the same time. The second option is to keep the fuse in the guest house, level the fuse, attach the wing, measure, drill. After that, the left wing must come off, the fuse rotated 90 degrees, the patio door removed, and the right wing attached, with the fuse re-leveled.

So it comes down to simplicity vs exposure to elements. What would you do? leave most of the ship outside for a simpler, more straightforward mating process, or keep it inside, add a lot of extra steps, and possibly have different data points for alignment?

thanks,
-John
 
It can be done...

I've done it both ways, but it is much easier to get proper "sweep" by doing them both at the same time.
 
As Mel said...

It can be done either way, do yourself a favor and set the wings up together as the same time. You'll be glad you did. :)
 
My vote is for same time. Doesn't take all that long, and (with a bit of help) you could probably do it in half a day and put the plane away. Having both wings on at the same time allows you to put plumbobs on the leading edges and make certain that the wings line up.

greg
 
Do both at one time, and while you're at it, mount the empennage and align all of those surfaces to the plane and the wings, in all axes, as well.

Took us maybe one day, took the wings off the next day. Relatively straightforward (if nerve-wracking when drilling that rear spar attach hole :) ).
 
Why now ,.... ?

John, not sure why you want to do it at all if you have to take them back off again to continue working on the fuse. The ONLY holes you are going to drill are the two rear spars and it isn't necessary to do that until you get the whole thing to the airport.

I built mine in the garage (single side ) with no problem but waited until I got to the airport to fit the wings. If you don't have room to leave them on after you drill them, there really is no point in doing it now. It's no more than a couple of hour job once you get it to the airport. Much easier than you think!

If you trim the rear spar exactly to the plans, you might be surprised to find that the fit is,..... just perfect! I promise it will be a lot closer than you expect it to be. Be sure to use hardware bolts for first fit.

Just my .02

Bill S
7a flying this month,....?
 
Both wings on together, done in one day. Here's how:

Do both wings together in order to ensure that the wings match each other closely in incidence and sweep, which is even more important than the absolute accuracy of their individual incidence and sweep.

With good planning and preparation, all the work that has to be done with both wings on at the same time (drilling the rear spars) can be done in one day, so you never have to leave the plane out in the elements over night. I did mine recently. Here's a detailed write-up:
http://www.kalinskyconsulting.com/rvproj/wingattach.htm

2010.05.08 was the big day, but you should also read everything leading up to it. Getting this right is all in the preparation.

Good luck!
 
And while you're at it...

Fit and drill the root fairings so you can install the nutplates without having to install and remove the wings a second time before the final installation.

greg
 
Greg Arehart said:
Fit and drill the root fairings so you can install the nutplates without having to install and remove the wings a second time before the final installation.

greg
Click to expand...

...yes, if you still have time on the big day. But otherwise, don't worry about it. After you've drilled the rear spars, the wing root fairings can be done at a later time with one wing on at a time. Same goes for the fuel tank support brackets, fuel plumbing, etc.
 
I did both on the same day, with one helper, it wasn't bad at all. Realistically, we spent about an hour moving the fuse into the driveway, getting everything leveled and stable, then about 3 hours getting the wings positioned, clamped, measured, moved, reclamped, remeasured (repeat ad nauseum) until we were happy with them, and perhaps another hour drilling the critical holes while making repeated measurements. Drill undersized and work your way up while continuously checking measurements.

Get one trusted helper and plan a full day, you'll be fine.
 
what phase of the project is this done at? I assume after fuse is done, wings are done, and finish kit is going in?

I don't have the option of doing this in my driveway, privacy reasons....
 
Note: A common mistake is to drill the hole to final size as the instructions state. The hole should really be reamed to final size, this is covered or stated somewhere by Vans but it is not in the general instructions. Anyway, a lot of builders make this mistake, including myself.
 
gimp2x said:
what phase of the project is this done at? I assume after fuse is done, wings are done, and finish kit is going in?

I don't have the option of doing this in my driveway, privacy reasons....
Click to expand...

There is some leeway in when this is accomplished, but yes - after the wings are done and midway through the fuse, sometime right after you finish the rudder/brake installation and begin work on the fuel boost pump, according to the instructions.

It is very helpful later on if you will take good measurements of your wing root area during this fitting for clearances and hole positions, for use when fabricating your fuel and vent lines with respect to connection to the wings.
 
BillSchlatterer said:
JThe ONLY holes you are going to drill are the two rear spars and it isn't necessary to do that until you get the whole thing to the airport.
Click to expand...

Note quite. You also have the bottom "fairing" holes to drill, but otherwise I would probably agree with your statement. You are also going to be tweaking the pushrod lengths to get both ailerons in trail with the stick centered (mine was very, very close but did require some tweaking).

You can get a -7 fuselage with BOTH wings on in a standard two car garage and close the garage door. Ask me how I know. :)

christmas_2005.jpeg
 
Thanks for the advice! I'm going to do both wings at the same time, and while I'm at it, set up all the rigging, do the flap pushrod holes, the wing root fairings, and fabricate the rudder links.

The elements aren't a huge concern, I'm in sunny (gloomy) southern California near KSMO and I have coverings. It's going to be a multi-day thing, though. I can't actually free up more than 5 consecutive hours, and I'm going to keep the pace relaxed so nothing gets cut erroneously.

Regarding the rear spar tabs, Did anybody wind up removing a wing and filing off more material after the initial fit?
 
Just did this

I just did mine this weekend. I did both wings at the same time to make sure that sweep and incidence was good across both wings. I then took off the right wing (wife's car has to be in the garage), and started completing wing root fairings, tank attach brackets, etc.

overall not a bad job, but I had a helper to double check the measurements and also help me get the drill level in all directions during the drill.

Joe at vans recommended this before I started.. good reading

http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/Wing_ Incidence.pdf
 
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