Oct 31, 2011     Stiffener angle sanding - (5.5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Stiffener angle sanding, deburring.

  Oct 17, 2011     Stiffener angles - (9 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

17 - 25 Oct
Made length templates for all rib attach angles and made jigs for hole flanging the aileron, flap, and rear ribs.

Cut out stiffner angles and made jig for the flap/rear/aileron rib hole flanging

Working on sanding and shaping the stiffner angles and attach angles. Finished the flap nose rib attach angles today, but I got the process down pat so it won't take long to finish the rest.

Sanded attach angles for the nose and center rib, and stiffner angles of the center rib. It's a slow process that's taking some getting used to.

Sanding stiffner angles

I realized today that my idea for an 8 ft brake wouldn't work. I tried with a 30 inch version and it was pathetic. But it will still bend the stiffner angles so all is not lost.

  Oct 14, 2011     Center rib flanging and end rib flanging - (5.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

14 - 16 Oct
Fluted and finish flanging of the first of the center ribs.
Started working on the end ribs. These guys are so long it's hard to get them straight.

  Oct 02, 2011     Rib flanging - (10 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

2 - 13 Oct
Started hammering out the rest of the ribs. By the way, 3/4"" MDF will not hold up on the trailing edge. I've had to re-glue it several times! This is what I will be doing for the rest of the next couple of weeks: Hammering out the ribs over the form block, finishing the flanging using a 2x4 clamped to the table, fluted to make straight.

  Sep 25, 2011     Rib lightening hole flanging - (9 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

25 Sept - 1 Oct
Flanged the holes on the nose ribs while on TDY to Fredericksburg, MD, 25 September through 1 October

  Sep 13, 2011     Ribs misc - (11 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

13 - 24 Sept
I'm sure some great stuff happened during this date range, but I didn't put it in and now when I'm trying to update this spreadsheet (on 14 Nov) I can't remember what was done. I'm sure it had something to do with hammering, bending, flanging, and cursing the ribs.

Plenty of scrap to go around. If you look hard in the photo below, you will see a rafting square sticing out from above the scrap center rib. This pic was taken on 17 Oct but I couldn't find the rafting square until 17 November!

  Sep 10, 2011     Ribs and stiffener angles - (8 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

10 - 12 Sept
Cut out stiffner angles and hammered on more nose ribs.

Hammered more nose ribs, flanged one.

Spent more time on the aileron and flap nose ribs, and the pocket ribs. My dimensioning wasn't perfect on these so some of the relief holes weren't deep enough

  Sep 09, 2011     Hammering nose and center ribs - (3 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Hammered nose ribs and a main rib. It was on this night at midnight that the illuminating method of successfully flanging and straightening a rib was finally bestowed upon me. Then I went to bed

  Sep 04, 2011     Hammering Nose Ribs - (8 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

4 - 8 Sept
Hammered nose ribs and fluted. Also fixed the flap nose ribs, as one of the relief holes wasn't deep enough for the bend. Looks like the other small ribs are going to take a little extra work too

  Aug 21, 2011     Nose rib relief notches, deburring - (6 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Aug 21 - 24
Began deburring center rib lightening holes

Making relief notches in nose ribs. Should have done this the first time around!

Finished relief notches, now just deburring the outer edge of every single one of the 170 ribs on the aircraft. Also continued deburring of center rib lightening holes. Then, it's on to punding!

Started deburring flap and aileron nose ribs. At this point, all the rear ribs for aileron, flaps, and wings are done, and the false ribs are done, and they're all ready to be pounded into 3D. Also, I started washing the Kitfox engine getting ready for the annual tomorrow.

  Aug 12, 2011     Rib trimming, relief notches - (5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

12 - 20 Aug
Final cut 4 root center ribs to length, and 2 rear ribs. They needed an extra 1/8 cut off the trailing edge. Also removed seats and interior of KF to begin Annual. Drained Gas

Cut relief notches in all flap and aileron ribs while vacationing in Orlando (13-20 Aug 2011)

  Aug 05, 2011     Rib drilling, routing, deburring - (9.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

5 - 9 Aug
Drilled lightening holes in the end ribs and rear ribs. Things are looking a lot better with the right sized hole.

Lots of drilling, routing, deburring, scratching my head, etc.

More drilling, routing, deburring, crying, re-doing, and stuff

Drilled oval lightening hole in center rib router guide with the flycutter, then filed the edges down to make it a perfect-ish oblong circle. Ready to route the center ribs!

Routed all oblong lightening holes in the .025 ribs. Also spent time making sure that my rib length calcs were correct so I can start trimming material off the ends of the ribs.

In the photo, Mom is stress testing one of the rear ribs that I rejected because of the oversized lightening holes.

  Aug 01, 2011     Rib drilling, deburring - (7 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

1 - 4 Aug.
Deburred Nose rib lightening holes

Drilled and routed new Aileron Pocket Ribs and traced out new rear ribs for Amber to cut. I also fixed the flycutter to cut smaller circles so I can re-do the rear ribs. Remember to do things right the first time and not to cut corners!!!

Routing, drilling, and deburring. After modifying the flycutter, it didn't work just right. I had to wrap some electrical tape around the arm to get it to fit tighter in the mandrel thing.

Finished deburring the lightening holes of the nose ribs! I worked while watching movies, TV, while walking, talking, and visiting. And Amber did nearly all the bolt-sized holes. Cant wait until I get to do the center ribs��

  Jul 29, 2011     Routing, cutting, drilling, sanding - (11 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

29 - 31 July

Routed Pocket ribs, flap ribs. Just realized that I didn't allow for the 1/2"" flange on the bottom of the pocket ribs! Guess I'll be cutting out some new ones��br>
Lots of routing, cutting, drilling, sanding, deburring, and everything. I brought a rear rib through construction from start to finish but I didn't have the right type of flycutter bit so I oversized some fo the lightening holes. It looks great with the holes flanged and everything, but I decided I would re-do the rear ribs and do them according to plan. Note from the future: I'm using extended flaps instead of rear ribs and modified two of the rear ribs to be the inboard flap rib.

  Jul 11, 2011     Cutting, drilling, routing - (18.5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Date range 11 Jul through28 July
I cut the aluminum blanks, drilled the necessary jig holes, and routed them 4 at a time.

  Jul 10, 2011     Cutting aluminum blanks - (3 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Started cutting aluminum! Amber loves to use the electric shears. I have the only wife in the world that would let me build an airplane in her laundry room AND would help with the construction! The tub on the sheet is used to collect all aluminum shards. The Harbor Freight shears are certainly worth the investment!

  Jun 29, 2011     Finished form blocks and started cutting blanks - (12 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

29 June - 8 July
Drilled jig holes and sanded form blocks from yesterday.
Traced form blocks onto .025 2024-T3! Getting ready to cut the first aluminum
Spend copious amount of time studying plans and determining requirements for the various lengths of ribs, and spar material.

  Jun 22, 2011     More form block work - (19 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

This is for date range 22 - 28 June.
Sanded form block and traced onto more MDF to create cutting templates and back form block
Used grinder and scotch brite wheel to practice on aluminum scrap
Studied plans for required rib location and size, more sanding and finishing of router jig templates.
Cut out router jigs and back plates for nose, center, and back ribs and sanded. Amber helped sanding!
Traced aileron, flap, aileron pocket, and false ribs onto MDF
Drilled jig holes, sanded main rib form block.
Cut out router jigs and back plates and form blocks for flap and aileron nose rib and pocket ribs, flap and aileron ribs, back ribs, center and nose ribs. Lots of cutting and sanding. Thank you Amber for your help!

  Jun 21, 2011     Cutting wing form block with band saw - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Cut out wing form block MDF using band saw. Slow work because I was using metal blade on saw. Sanded form block down to line, still some sanding left to do

  Jun 20, 2011     Wing form block and garage setup - (2 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Thus it begins. Bearhawk 4-place plans number 1217 will temporarily share garage space with a Kitfox Model 2. I cut out the wing form block plans sheet and traced it onto 3/4"" MDF and rough cut it with a circular saw.