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I'll try again with this question re: wings

D

docrick

Active Member
My wings for the 9a come soon. Has anyone constructed pre punched wings without a wing stand/jig?

With 2 EAA tables and a dimpling table in the garage If I build a wing stand I won't be able to fit the wife's car in the garage. Not good.

My thought process is that with prepunched kits why the need for sophisticated jigging for the wings?

If you've constructed wings without jigs please post. If no one posts I guess everyone uses jigs.

Thanks
 
Hello Rick

The RV10 is constructed flat on the table, but of course you already know that Vans direction for the 9 say use the stand.
I made mine on wheels so that I could move it out of the way when I didn't need it.

It is very handy to be able to work from both sides at the same time. And there is a step where you do some measurement for how much warp you have in the wing. Don't know what you do if you have to much, I guess just call Vans for the answer, because it wasn't in the plans.

Good luck,
Kent
 
I think you will find that the wing stand takes very little space. In my two car garage, I had the wings back-to-back in the middle and still got both cars in. If you are pressed for space, do one wing at a time. It only takes about one foot of width. And in all reality, it isn't a jig, just a stand. The wing is suspended and held in place enough to do all the measurements, but IMHO it isn't held solidly/accurately enough for drilling if it weren't for the prepunched holes. I would say that having the wing suspended will speed the process, so you should be alright. My wife's car only spent a couple nights outside, when I mounted the wings. I UNDERSTAND!!

Bob Kelly
 
docrick said:
Has anyone constructed pre punched wings without a wing stand/jig?
Click to expand...
The simple answer is, yes, it has been done.

There is a local -9A flying and all the guy used was a pair of sawhorses. He clampled the main spart on the sawhorses and built it nose down.

That said, it really isn't that difficult to build the "jig" as recommended by Van's. The jig doesn't so much hold things in place as it just simply holds them in a way that makes working on them convenient.

For details of the simple jig I used, check out this page of my web site.
 
I do have a wing stand but didn't use it until I started installing the skins. It sure was handy. I modeled mine after Rudi's in South Africa. Look at my websire and go to the wing section and then to the pottom of the page. It takes up very little room.
 
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Thanks everyone

To be honest I haven't seen the "jig" that Van's recommends yet; I've just seen all the really cool attach it to the cieling joist and garage floor setups that look cool but heck...

I don't want to do all that if it isn't absolutely necessary. After building the entire empennage I appreciate how cool the "matched hole" assembly really is. If the holes line up it must be straight.

Thanks again.

Rick
 
I built a free standing wing jig, mainly just a help hold the wing while I worked on it. I didn't clamp the rear spar to anything, I just lightly clamped the main spar to the jig to keep it from falling off the jig. The pre-drilled holes force the wing to come out straight. I think it would really be a pain to not use a jig. It's more like a wing support than a jig. Here's my jig page:

http://www.smittysrv.com/more_stuff.asp?ID=316

Have a goodun!
 
I did it with a roll around jig

I built my wings in my two car garage with a car in the other slot. I didn't want to have that non-movable jig that Van's calls out. I built a couple of vertical 4X4 towers on a frame and put wheels on it. I then bought a couple of brackets and clamped the spar to it. I haven't flown yet but I have drilled the wings to the fuselage and they came out to spec.

img1890rj9.jpg


Kelly Johnson
RV-9A
 
Wing stand

SmittysRV said:
I built a free standing wing jig, mainly just a help hold the wing while I worked on it. I didn't clamp the rear spar to anything, I just lightly clamped the main spar to the jig to keep it from falling off the jig. The pre-drilled holes force the wing to come out straight. I think it would really be a pain to not use a jig. It's more like a wing support than a jig. Here's my jig page:

http://www.smittysrv.com/more_stuff.asp?ID=316

Have a goodun!
Click to expand...

Ditto what Smitty says.... and I call it a stand. Very handy with building the wings. I park my vehicle outside (16 years young Rodeo) and that leaves me half a garage. I love the stand. Put mine on wheels and while I'm working on the flaps and ailerons, the wings sit out side enjoying the sun.
 
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Had same issue with space and not wanting to infringe on wife's side of garage. So, I built a single wing stand, put in on casters (used rubber cups epoxied to floor to hold in place). I built one wing at a time, and when done for night, wheeled stand over and brought car in. There is no way I can see where you will save space building horizontally - the RV-9A wing is about 11 feet by 4.5 when done. Here is my jig I made that worked great and kept the overall garage footprint small. As for alignment, have no idea whether the matchholing will consistently produce a straight wing without the stand and the alignment exercise. I would want to see a dozen proven cases before I would trust doing it this way. Not worth potentially discovering this was folly after hundreds of hours of work on a $6000 kit.
p1010006vj3.jpg
 
cnpeters said:
Had same issue with space and not wanting to infringe on wife's side of garage. So, I built a single wing stand, put in on casters (used rubber cups epoxied to floor to hold in place). I built one wing at a time, and when done for night, wheeled stand over and brought car in. There is no way I can see where you will save space building horizontally - the RV-9A wing is about 11 feet by 4.5 when done. Here is my jig I made that worked great and kept the overall garage footprint small. As for alignment, have no idea whether the matchholing will consistently produce a straight wing without the stand and the alignment exercise. I would want to see a dozen proven cases before I would trust doing it this way. Not worth potentially discovering this was folly after hundreds of hours of work on a $6000 kit.
p1010006vj3.jpg
Click to expand...

This is the sweetest setup I've seen so far. I will build this this weekend and look forward to the wings arriving.

Thanks
 
cnpeters said:
Had same issue with space and not wanting to infringe on wife's side of garage. So, I built a single wing stand, put in on casters (used rubber cups epoxied to floor to hold in place). I built one wing at a time, and when done for night, wheeled stand over and brought car in. There is no way I can see where you will save space building horizontally - the RV-9A wing is about 11 feet by 4.5 when done. Here is my jig I made that worked great and kept the overall garage footprint small. As for alignment, have no idea whether the matchholing will consistently produce a straight wing without the stand and the alignment exercise. I would want to see a dozen proven cases before I would trust doing it this way. Not worth potentially discovering this was folly after hundreds of hours of work on a $6000 kit.
p1010006vj3.jpg
Click to expand...

Very nice Carl - in fact, I liked it so much, I shamelessly stole your idea and built my own over the weekend - hope you don't mind! :D

1001180hl2.jpg
 
My wing stand was similar to the ones shown, except for a few details that Ive found helpful. I should start by admitting my garage is nowhere as clean and organized as the ones I see posted- my workspace is a total ****hole in comparison- stuff stacked on every wall from floor to ceiling, even stuffed in/between the joists. I have no idea how you guys keep your shops so clean and simple??? Anyway, back to my wing stand...

I attached one side to a ceiling joist, the other is free standing because of garage door interference. When the wings are complete, Ill probably put the stand on casters for easier storage and to provide room for the fuselage "spit".

Instead of the usual "L" bracket, I built 3 "T's" at different heights which allows both wings to be built at the same time. The different height supports allow one wing to be mounted high, the other low- which allows access to both of them at the same time. The middle support provides a handy level for the active wing- sometimes that level is easier to work on the task at hand. Supporting a wing on either side also helps balance the whole stand to some extent- makes it more stable.

It would obviously be preferable to have more space, but this arrangement seems to provide a reasonable compromise where I can store one car in the two-car garage and the work bench and stand on the working side.
 
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Push for the living room - settle for the garage

I think an H-frame might be much easier to work on than a flat table. The wing in the vertical position takes up less space and is easy to work with. True the prepunched parts fit amazingly well and might could be assembled without the H-frame, but why chance putting all the hours and hard work into building the wings only to find that you have built twist into them.

Here was my work area for constructing my wings:
http://www.aclog.com/rv-9a/images/Wing/DCP_0138.JPG

You need about two feet min. on each side to work with. Perhaps you can move your tables temporarily to make room. I built one wing at a time because of space constraints.

Just make a solid H-frame system so you will not have to worry about it coming off level with the slightest bump.
 
Plan now for later on floor space

docrick said:
With 2 EAA tables and a dimpling table in the garage If I build a wing stand I won't be able to fit the wife's car in the garage. Not good. Thanks
Click to expand...

Option #1 - Lose the EAA tables while you set up a stand
Option #2 - Build the stand on rollers and move it out of the way
Option #3 - Screw eye bolts into celing on a movable jig and when not in use, pull it up and let it hang so you can pull wife's car in
Option #4 - Park outside and buy your wife a nice present as a bribe
Option #5 - Take some pictures and post so we can get a good ideal of what you are dealing with.
Option #6 - try building without a jig - the problem is the wing gets to bulky to handle by yourself and the stand makes it managable.

My vote, combine a bit from most of the above. Lose as much as you can for space so you can move around. If you can lose any tables for a while, do it. After you dimple, put up the dimpler. Build a rolling stand and get the wings out of the way when not building. Buy your wife a nice present anyway so you can build more and keep the peace and not get an aviation induced divorce. And post some pictures of what you are dealing with. You may have more room than some others.

Speaking of room, what are you going to do after you build the wings and then start on the fuselage for space??? It has larger footprint than the wings and takes up much more floor space than the wings do. Better get to politicing with the bride. Oh - and you will be working longer on the fueslage than the wings.
 
Wings

The -8 wings are built easily without any jig. We did build wing stands (in Van's plans set) which only took 30 to 40 minutes, including stapling on some reg remnants for padding. They are handy, take up little room and are easy to move. Wings currently in the stand at the hanger. They've been great for us. Bill
 
My stand was similar

The stand we used to build the wings was similar to the ones shown here. It was on wheels for the same reason mentioned: So my wife could continue to park in the garage for a little longer. We built the base of the stand a little sturdier because we planned on converting the stand into a cradle to hold the wings. That worked out well and we even put a shelf on the base to hold flat sheet metal parts. As we started on the fuselage, my wife could continue to park in the garage. As we moved along with the fuse, she lost her parking spot. She knew it was going to happen, so no big deal.

I commented a couple of times about the amount of wood needed to construct my all aluminum airplane. Fortunately, none of it ends up in the plane when it's done!
 
Copy away! Those stands are now modified as my fuselage rotisserie. Anyway, I did want to point out in my angles that support the main spar, I used turnbuckles to provide a 45 degree brace - I thus could use the smart level and exactly level the clamped on spar and avoid twist along the spar's length by adjusting these turnbuckles. The rear spar ends loosely float just over the L-angles seen lower down - I plumbed these in place from the main spar above and then clamped when in position - 0 twist. You may need to slightly shim your fixed brackets when the weight of the wing grows - not sure I see that they are adjustable. Looks good!


airguy said:
Very nice Carl - in fact, I liked it so much, I shamelessly stole your idea and built my own over the weekend - hope you don't mind! :D

1001180hl2.jpg
Click to expand...
 
cnpeters said:
Copy away! Those stands are now modified as my fuselage rotisserie. Anyway, I did want to point out in my angles that support the main spar, I used turnbuckles to provide a 45 degree brace - I thus could use the smart level and exactly level the clamped on spar and avoid twist along the spar's length by adjusting these turnbuckles. The rear spar ends loosely float just over the L-angles seen lower down - I plumbed these in place from the main spar above and then clamped when in position - 0 twist. You may need to slightly shim your fixed brackets when the weight of the wing grows - not sure I see that they are adjustable. Looks good!
Click to expand...

I thought of that, I've already got the wire and turnbuckles to back-brace the vertical risers as the wing weight grows to keep it level and plumb. I will likely have to shim my L-brackets as well, so I'll have to spend probably a half-day getting it all level and plumb before skinning the wing on the stand when the time comes. Since my garage floor is not level, I've also marked the wheel location on the floor for easy access work room so I can reliably reproduce a level-and-plumb wing stand each successive day.
 
Good looking stands! With those small metal uprights, as long as they're far enough apart to accomodate the skins that stand should work well.
With a bulkier stand, it's better to have the uprights a little too far apart than too close together. I didn't consider just how much extra width I needed to access all the rivet holes once the skins were on, and had to hack away at my 2x4 uprights.
For what it's worth: I clamped the main spar to the side of the stand to rivet on the ribs. Worked way better for me than doing it on a table.
Also, a plug for doing something on the plane most every day: I was out ther 4-6 times a week until an extended vacation last year. Going on 13 months later I'm still saying "I'll get back out there soon..."

"A body in motion tends to stay in motion-"
"A body at rest tends to stay at rest..."

Inertia has a grip on me.....
 
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