2004-Feb-16
Templates, forming blocks and clamping blocks.
2004-Feb-22
My prototype ribs, less flanges around the lightening holes.
2004-Apr-1
Drilling tooling holes in 11 nose rib templates. I also fly-cut the lightening holes this way. It's necessary to clamp the work pieces well (I clamped the stack under a piece of plywood with a hole slightly bigger than the lightening holes I was cutting) or the fly cutter shoves chips between the ribs.
2004-Apr-4
A nose rib. The green pliers are actually made for breaking glass panes. With the steel jaws removed they make good flange benders.
2004-Apr-6
The .025-inch-thick aluminum sheet for wing ribs and skins. I tried several methods of cutting it. Small Wiss shears were too difficult and a nibbler left scratches on the material. The shears shown here worked best.
2004-Apr-6
The dies I made for flanging the lightening holes in the wing ribs. They are oak with Bondo working surfaces. Durable enough for one airplane, maybe two.
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2004-Apr-3-9
A nose rib template laid out on the forming block, the clamping block with stiffening rib form attached, a 2x4 to back up the clamping block, and handy andy. The bottle jack and red steel channels are my homemade hydraulic press.
Ready to hammer flanges. This setup worked far better than trying to hold everything together with C-clamps. The press only cost $20, which went for the jack. The steel and all-thread were free.
Hammering the flanges only takes them about 80 degrees due to spring-back. Here I have fluted them and put the rib back in the press, this time against the back side of the forming block and with the flanges pointing away from the block. This way the curvatures of the rib and block match. I'll go around again with the mallet to bring the flanges to 90 degrees. Note the black marks on the flanges that indicate the rivet locations.
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The main rib doesn't fit lengthwise in the press.
A main wing rib under construction. The press is pressing the stiffening ribs into the web at the same time it's clamping the rib for flange hammering.
2004-Apr-11
The ribs are finished at last! I hung them overhead to make room while I work on the spars.
2004-Jun-16
Cutting lightening holes in the spar channel. The big question here is, Why? Nineteen holes, 3.5-inch diameter, .040-inch thick works out to 12 ounces of aluminum removed. Hardly worth the effort.
2004-Jun-26
Drilling rivet holes in the spar cap strips.
2004-Jul-18
A quick and easy fixture for countersinking the rivet holes in the spar end plates. Attach a board to the drill press table so it won't move. Drill a #21 hole in it. Remove the bit from the chuck and put it in the hole so that it protrudes about 1/16th of an inch. Mount the countersinking tool in the chuck then use the drill bit to locate the hole in the end plate that you want to countersink.
Warning: even though the board didn't move at all, the bit will walk to the soft part of the wood during drilling. So after the bit is embedded in the hole, check the alignment to the countersinking tool. Move the board slightly if necessary to align them.
2004-Jul-18
A homemade tool for driving the AN426 and AN470 rivets in the spars. You position the work piece under the bolt, which is held by a slide tube, and whack the bolt with a hammer to drive the rivet. It's hard to see in the photo but the anvil is the head of another bolt attached to the plate and aligned under the sliding bolt. I dimpled the anvil so that it doesn't flatten the rivet heads (much).
2004-Jul-27
Riveting a rear spar.
2004-Aug-22
The riveting tool in use on the main spar.
2004-Aug-29
The first carry-thru assembly. This one warped during stress relief and had to be scrapped.
2004-Sep-11
Checking the fit of the spars in the carry-thru. With the fuselage dead level the elevation of the tips of the spars varied about 1/16-inch. Not bad.
2004-Oct-10
Attaching main ribs to front and rear spars.
2004-Oct-30
Fitting the bulkhead supports for the wing walk between the first and second ribs of the left wing.
2004-Nov-6
The finished wing walk supports. My homemade bending brake really paid off here.
2004-Nov-28
Reaming the four taper pin holes in the main spar tabs and carry-through assembly. First I drilled a 5/16-inch-dia pilot hole through, then 7/16 through, then 15/32-dia x 1/2 deep from the front side. I turned the #5 taper reamer by hand with a box wrench until it just poked through the back side.
2004-Dec-31
Detail of the riveting on the right hand wing, eighth rib station, outboard side of the nose rib. The white stuff on the rivets is Sherwin Williams All Surface Oil-based Enamel primer - I dipped the business end of all the Cherry rivets before pulling them. Zinc chromate primer was unavailable except in spray cans, of which I used 10 to coat the rib and spar pieces individually before assembly.
2004-Dec-31
The right hand wing in the fixture. The plastic tubing for the pitot system is visible near the tops of the nose ribs. Notice also that I placed wooden blocks between adjacent pairs of ribs just be certain that they are all aligned squarely and don't move at all during the fitting of the skin.
2005-Jan-29
Bottom surface of the right wing, drilled and clecoed. You can never have enough clamps (or clecoes, as the case may be).
That box turned on its side in the background is my daughter's pet chicken's temporary home. Normally she (the chicken) stays outside but it's been so d@#$ed cold we took pity on her and made a small pen in the garage, where it isn't much warmer but at least the wind doesn't blow. I may be the only Sonerai builder who's had to work in long underwear, insulated coveralls and knit cap, to the smell of chicken shit!
2005-Jan-29
The top surface of the right wing, drilled and clecoed.
2005-Feb-10
The block that holds the pitot tube. I mounted it on the outboard side of the 10th rib instead of the inboard side of the 11th rib.
2005-Feb-10
The attachment of the tygon tubing to the block. The hose barb fitting connects to the block through the tooling hole of the rib, a slight modification of the plans.
2005-Feb-13
Dimpling the holes in the inboard half of the top flange of the main spar. This required a special dimpling tool because of the reinforcing angle right behind the flange. There was no clearance for the passing the nail through the hole.
Two pieces of steel, 1/4 inch thick by one inch wide by about six inches long. Near the end of one piece drill and countersink the dimpling die. In the other piece drill a 3/8-inch hole to hold the punch. A sawed-off nail goes through the punch, hole and die to ensure alignment.
About an inch away match drill a 1/8-inch hole through both pieces for the nail that does the work. At the far end of the contraption put a spacer so that the two pieces of steel are parallel. Pull on the nail with the pneumatic rivet puller and it squeezes the two pieces of steel together, thus dimpling the hole.
2005-Feb-16
A last look at the right hand wing before covering. It seems like it's taken years to get to this point. Wait! - it HAS taken years to get to this point!
2005-Mar-21
The left wing in the fixture. The bottom row is not riveted because the aileron has yet to be attached.
I'm not sorry to see this part of the job finished. All that drilling and deburring and dimpling and riveting is fun for the first hundred holes but then becomes quite tedious.
2005-Mar-25
The left wing tip after drilling and ready for installation. Note how crooked the cut edge is, and how it doinked me on edge distance for some of the holes.
2005-Mar-25
The aluminum aileron ribs for the tip ends and the counterweight attachment points.
2005-Apr-11
Pouring the aileron counterweights. The mold is made from pieces of 1x3 pine of good quality - knot free and nice square edges. Two pieces opposite each other have a 3/8-inch wide and deep notch in the middle of the bottom edge, made with a router. Square steel tube spans across the notches. This is what makes the cavity for the bracket arm.
All pieces are wrapped individually with two wraps of aluminum foil, then clamped together and screwed to a plywood base, also covered with foil. An electric crucible melts the lead. After letting it cool for a few minutes, take off the clamp and the lead counterweight separates from the foil quite easily. The mold can even be used for the second pour without rewrapping. The wood under the foil becomes blackened but doesn't burn. The hot pine gives off quite a pleasant aroma while you are working.
2005-May-1
Attaching the aileron to the wing. This is where you find out how much your wing spar sagged when it was in the fixture. Mine did about 1/8 inch.
2005-May-9
The finished counterweights and brackets. One weight came out a three ounces heavier than the other so I skimmed it down in a milling machine. I also added an eighth inch of relief on the front edge to prevent the weights from smacking the top skins of the wings.
2007-Jun-10
Starting to make the forming block for the fiberglass fairings for the aileron counterweights. Bingelis' "Sportplane Construction Techniques" is a big help.
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2007-Jul-15
The mold laid up on the plug and then removed. Lots of intermediate steps have been skipped (sealing the foam, making a generous fillet at the base, varnishing, sanding, waxing).
I used Bondo cloth and polyester resin from the local auto parts store. It gives only a few minutes of working time, which means you really have to be prepared. If I ever make anything else after this stuff is used up I'll try epoxy.
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2009-May-29
Fitting the wing and finalizing the aileron control linkage. I see I left myself a hell of a gap to fill. Not sure how that happened, as I tried hard to follow the plans to the "t."