that darn nose rib / leading edge skin alignment

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:59 pm

All -
I know I've seen it before, but I couldn't find the thread.

Does anybody have a good procedure for aligning the holes between the nose ribs and leading edge skin.
My ribs are fluted straight, the flanges square, and I've touched up the ribs outside edge with a scotchbrite wheel.
I've also removed the vinyl from the inside of the skin.
Thanks!

Lorin D
9A Wings
(N194LD reserved)

johnk · Post by **johnk** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:07 pm

Lorin,
I assume by your signature that you mean the wings, correct?
John

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:42 pm

John....
Yup. I'm working on the 9A wing leading edge.
Sorry for any confusion.
Thx, Lorin

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:55 pm

Lorin, you are on the right track. Keep at it, you will get it.

You will need some 3/32" pin punches to coax them into position. Once they are drilled and dimpled, things go together much better!

Keep at it and try to keep your sanity. No magic bullets here!

CJ

Post by **Spike** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:05 pm

What John said. 3/32" punch, work it into the first hole, then cleco, then the second and cleco, so forth so on. I had to do this with my HS on the 9.

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:21 am

Thanks guys...
I'll wrestle these things in yet.

I figure I can win 2 out of 3 falls.....

Lorin
9A Wings

PS - Anybody see the lastest Kitplanes magazine??
A really nice writeup on Stan Peternel's 9A

Stan - Congrats!!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 7:24 am

I don't get Kitplanes anymore.

Start with a middle rib and work your way out.

Good luck!

CJ

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:40 am

it was a really good article, but still a kitplanes "glazed-over-this-airplane-is-the-best" type of article (every article in all the mainstream mags are like that, if you ask me...). anything RV is a good article!

anyway, keep at it lorin, it'll work out!

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 3:09 pm

Well -
You guys were right.. I just needed to work it.
and, now it's on to the tanks....

BTW - What worked best for me was:
1. Spend as much time as you need to get the ribs fluted straight and the flange bent 90 degrees.
2. Touch up the rib notches on a scotchbrite wheel to make a smooth curve.
3. Begin with a center rib
4. Cleco the entire top surface - starting at the nose and working aft
5. When all clecos are in the top - Align the furtherst aft hole on the bottom surface and cleco it. This is a little difficult

- but the rest seem to fall in place after the first one is clecoed

.
6. Use an awl to center the two holes if they are out of alignment.
7. Cleco the remaining bottom skin holes starting from the rear and move forward (put clecos in every hole)
8. Go on to the next rib - alternating between the inboard & outboard sides

A few observations:
1. The 1st rib is the hardest. After that they get progressively easier.
2. Cleco's are more resistant to bending in one direction than the other. The flat center pin is like a yardstick in the way it is easy to bend one way but not the other. This is important when your holes are not perfectly aligned and you are trying to insert a cleco. I had good luck when orienting (i.e. "clocking") the cleco in the hole to take advantage of this.

Lorin D
9A Wings
(N194LD reserved)

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:19 pm

Excellent post! This one will certainly help someone else in the future. Great pix keep it up.

prestwich · Post by **prestwich** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:30 pm

Very nice write-up, Lorin. A little ironic that you couldn't find the previous thread, and now I'm worried about being able to find this one when I need it!

I guess I should learn how to use that fancy search feature on here.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:58 pm

Copy the url into a text doc and save them in a file then when ya want the thread you can copy and paste.

Post by **Spike** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:46 am

Great pictures. Kind of depressing when I look at my box of wing parts and think that I eventually have to do enough work to make it look like that. Uggg, long way to go.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:21 am

Spike wrote:Great pictures. Kind of depressing when I look at my box of wing parts and think that I eventually have to do enough work to make it look like that. Uggg, long way to go.

alright! now that's the spirit!!

just kidding, i thought the same thing, but keep pluggin away on one part at a time, and sooner or later...

prestwich · Post by **prestwich** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:11 am

I can't tell whether it's the devil or the angel whispering "QB, QB" in my ear.

jim_geo · Post by **jim_geo** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:44 am

That would be your angel.

Snap · Post by **Snap** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:25 pm

With the devil in your back pocket

I was talking to one of my new friends here in Perth. He has bought the QB combo (wings and Fuse) and for the fuse it cost him just on $10,000 (Fuse and shipping) to land it here in Aus. Now, I just can't justify spending that amount of money. Besides, I want to build as much as fly.

prestwich · Post by **prestwich** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:53 pm

I tried something on my second HS skin that seemed to help, but it could have been my imagination. I keep a little spray bottle of 99% isopropyl around the house.

We use the stuff at work for various tasks, one of which is as a rather inert lubricant. For example, it makes feeding wires through snug rubber grommets comparatively painless. And, we've got one machinist who swears by it for cutting aluminum.

So I gave my nose ribs a generous spritzing, and they climbed right into that leading edge with zeal. The stuff sticks around long enough to do its job, and then politely vanishes.

Like I said, this wasn't a scientifically controlled double-blind study, but might be worth another try when I get to the wings.

JohnR · Post by **JohnR** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:00 am

prestwich wrote:Very nice write-up, Lorin. A little ironic that you couldn't find the previous thread, and now I'm worried about being able to find this one when I need it!

I guess I should learn how to use that fancy search feature on here.

Do what I do, add a folder to your bookmarks called Building Tips and then bookmark the post you want to keep track of. You can even rename them to something that you will recognize easily. You can also have folders in that folder, like "wings", :fuse", "engine", etc.

Works pretty wel land is easy to do. Iuse Firefox for a browser but Internet Explorer works the same.

Post by **Spike** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:37 am

The search feature is pretty robust. Try it out!