G

gmshelley

Member
Fellow builders,
Now that I have mostly completed the costruction of the fuselage, I found the measurement of the gap between the spar carry through is about .020 LESS than the thickness of the wing spar. :( Van's instructions are to bevel the wing spar to ease insertion into the carry through. However my question is, will the carry through flex enough to allow the spar to be insearted?
Has anyone else been faces with this possable delima? Thanks in advance for your inputs.
 
wooden spacers

not that its any help to you :( but i used aluminum blocks here just because the wood i was using was soft and i clamped it too much causing a misalignment of the bottom double row rivet holes.(very slight) the aluminum block worked perfect and i didnt need to bevel the edge. snap on make a pair of brake pad spreader that look like scissors i taped the end and used thenm to help spread the opening. it was probaly only a couple thous. though
 
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Here's what I did

Loosen the bolts holding the spar carry through together...I believe there are alu spacers between the carry throught webs.

Grind small taper on the inboard edge on the Spar (this will act like a wedge to spread the carry through open).

Before you fit the wing make sure the hardware store drift pins go through the spar carry through and the landing gear weldment...I had to grind the weldment holes a little.

grease the spar web.

Have three people for each wing panel if poss...(Note I had to remove and reinstall my wing panels by MYSELF after my help went home!..:)..).

What you do is to wiggle the wing panel back and forth to kind of lever open the spar carry through.

remember to trim your rear splice plate BEFORE you fit the wing...See about removing wing panels by yourself above...:)

Frank
7a
 
I'm not sure this applies to the 8 center section, but on the 7 the outter ends of the center section are not riveted to the web. The web sets the spacing, so there's some back and forth flex in there (until bolts are installed, of course). This is why you're able to wiggle wings back and forth slightly when inserting/removing them.
 
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OOps

Didn't the subject airplane was an 8...My bad...I thought everyone builts 7's...:)
 
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