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Wing Bolts

N

NewGuy

Member
Help! Help!

I need reassurance.

I am attempting to do the initial mate of the wings and am being told that the bolts will go in, but that they must have some lube and light tapping to get them to go in.

Right now, the hardware store bolts will go in with little effort from one side of the spar or the other, but will not go thru both sides of the spar. it looks like the holes are ever so slightly misaligned.

Is reaming required? Or do I just need to keep tapping? I looked thru the archives, but saw no mention of reaming the holes.

Any guidance here?

I especially hate to trim the material from the rear spar for fear of not attaining the minimum edge distance!
 
Ken,

It is my understanding that these are built on a jig that (supposedly) assures alignment. That said, it is possible there is a problem, but I think it unlikely. I ended up chucking my tight hardware store bolts in a drill press and thinning them a very slight bit by using some emery paper and a file while they were spinning. I suspect that it had to do with the galvanizing coat on them not being consistently the same thickness. I still had to tap on the heads to get them in, but not much. A bit of WD-40 or similar helps. You can also grind off the threaded end a bit to make them more like drift pins and that should help them go into the holes.

greg
 
Don't ream!!!!!

Did you use pins first to get the holes lined up? Hardware store bolts that are ground down to pins should be used first with lube, then tap the bolts in pushing the pin back out.

These holes are drilled perfectly together at the factory, and they will line up. It took some wigling to get mine lined up...up and down, in and out...keep doing that with help until they line up.

Lubriplate works great to lube the hardware store pins/bolts.

Just keep moving them around until they match...they will.
 
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Spar hole alignment

Initially I had the same problem. So I got extra long bolts from McMC, cut off the threaded part and tapered the ends. Then the lubed up temp bolts went in with a bit of tapping. Once that was done, I could also insert the real bolts, but at initial wing install I only did test inserts to the point where they got started through the fwd spar (just to see that they would).

I used the temp bolts only when I drilled the aft spar holes.
 
Ken:

Cheer up. Getting the bolts in is not too difficult; getting them out is another story:D

I used an air rachet to remove the bolts. I could angle the rachet enough to get a bit of a pull on the bolts as I spun them. They seemed to come out this way. A models don't provide mush access to the bolts from the front.:(

Jekyll
 
Get a small ice chest like you would use for a lunch box. Get some dry ice for it, and cool down the bolts.

Be sure to use gloves when retrieving the bolts after cooling.
 
wing bolts

You can use your rivet gun with swivel mushroom head-- bolts go in easier(or removing using hardware bolts as drive pins) and it is easier than driving with a hammer, and less chance of damaging the bolt heads.:)
 
Thanks for all the good advice.

Wing mate begins tomorow morning with well greased, rounded, hardware store bolts that will be inserted with "encouragement!"
 
Wing bolts

In my case after confuring with builders assistance -- I had to enlarge the holes in the gear weldments (7A), Also they suggested I use a knife to pare the metal prior to the spar. In my case the bolts would not only go thru with the gear weldment in place but would not go thru without them. Hope this is clear.
Regards,
John Stiegelmeyer
 
I had to file the outer plates on the spar as they were not aligned exactly with the holes. Vans told me what to do. Some others have had this problem. File carefully if needed. I used a ball guage to detrmine there was a misalignment.
 
I believe you said this is a initial mating, which means they need to come out. Be very careful to not create a situation where they are a bugger to get out. Sometimes the sheet metal will pull away from the spar when you are driving the bolts out, causing mischief. If you have to, chuck up the hardware store bolts and spin them in the drill press, sanding or filing a thou or two off from them. You only need a couple to position the wings for working on.

I believe the misalignment problem relates to the spar stack being unpainted or unanodized when they are drilled. Then, they are taken apart and some degree of thickness is added by the anodizing or priming. This causes the spars to be a little further apart than the fuse mating parts. The only thing that can be done is if one is building their own and priming the parts - the appropriate surfaces can be polished down and be "wet assembled" with primer when time to rivet.
 
Like others, I used hardware bolts with the threads cut off and a slight taper filed on the end. To do the tapping that is required, don't use a hammer. Use your rivet gun with the air pressure turned down so that it makes a soft tap. I used an air hammer mushroom driver in the gun and put some duct tape over the end to keep the driver from sliding around. The bolts go right in and using one of your hardware bolts, you can drive them right out easily.
 
A couple of things

Chad's comments are right on but I have a couple of thoughts. Did you trim the rear drag spar per the plans? If not, this may be pushing the wings forward. It only takes a little to get a misalignment.

Also check the edged of the holes in the fuselage and spar holes for any burrs that may have occurred in the process.

Good luck
 
Wing Mate

The wing mate went very well. The bolts were not that hard to insert once I lubed them well and actually tried to get them to go in. Before, I was just testing them for ease of insertion.

She looked pretty good with wings, but had to remove one to get it to fit in my garage. Will fit one, then the other.

What is the website for the wing to fuselage fairings that so many have installed?

Computer crashed, lost all my bookmarks...
 
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