Mar 28, 2022     13-3 thru 13-5: Left spar finish up - (2.5 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Mon am 0.5 - finished countersinks, primed, cleco'd nutplates
Mon pm 2.0 - install nut plates and tie down

What was supposed to be about an hours worth of finish up turned into a 2 hr struggle this evening. The bolt holes didn't align well on the tie downs and I had to drill out all the rivets and wrestle the nutplates into alignment. Finally riveted one ear of nutplates, installed the bolts through the spar and then back drilled the opposite rivet. I oblonged the hole in the tie down a little bit, but they're only there to keep the nutplates from rotating so doesn't risk anything. Then unbolt everything, rivet the nutplates, reinstall, tighten bolts and cross fingers for alignment. Finally everything aligned and then installed the -4 rivets to finish it off.

Spars are done. Cleaned up the shop.

  Mar 27, 2022     13-2 thru 13-4: Left spar work - (8.5 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Thurs pm 0.3 - Started on left spar. Got the tip extension riveted.
Friday am 0.6 - clamped and drilled lower j channel, match drilled hold down
Friday pm 0.5 - a little countersinking on bottom
Sat am 0.5 - more countersinks
Sat pm 3.5- finished bottom countersinks, tank plates, access plates and spar root plates, cleaned up shop, matched drilled top j-channel
Sun am 1.6 - match drilled bottom right j-channel, final drilled all holes. Countersunk flush holes
Sun pm 1.5 - lots of countersinking, but not quite done.

Same as right side. No photos, just kept my head down and knocked it out. Was able to have more of a production line and minimize number of tool changes and spar flips. Did everything on the bottom and then the top. Didn't quite finish the top countersinks, but made a really big dent in them.

Was going to hold off on redoing the right bottom j-channels that I messed up but got the notice that they shipped from Van's. Only $20 shipping. Proceeded with drilling the right bottom channel using the top left spar for spacing.

Found that I can only countersink 15-16 holes at a time before the compressor kicks. So I divided the spar up into sections to make it a little easier to manage the countersinking and QC.

Between the spar work and the leading edge cradles, it was a lot of airplane work this weekend. And I even went flying.

  Mar 24, 2022     13-4 & 13-5: Right spar finish up - (2.0 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Drilled and countersunk all the holes at the wing root. A couple of the counter sinks are too close to the spar flange to use the cage so I did them by hand with the deburr tool. Not a problem. Got stuck when I realized I don't have any AN426AD4-6 rivets that are called for. Doubled checked the inventory and they're not there. Just trimmed some 4-7s and squeezed them no problem.

Match drilled and countersunk the holes in the tie down. Installed the -3 nut plates. Actually installed an extra set of nut plates for AN bolts that weren't needed. Drilled them out and I'll just have a few empty rivet holes. Edge distances are good so not a problem.

Cleaned up the aileron bellcrank brackets, bolted and final torqued.

Right spar is complete.

6/26/22 update: finally looked at the autopilot install instructions and I now see that Garmin's bracket actually replaces the lower aileron bellcrank bracket. Removed the bottom bracket and replaced with Garmin's. I'll final torque after the servo is installed.

  Mar 23, 2022     13-3: Right spar countersinking - (6.0 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Going to try to knock out a lot of the countersinking during the week before and after work.
Mon morn - 0.5 top front done
Mon evening - 1.6 finished top, primed the holes, cleco'd nut plates.
Tues morn - 0.9 top tank plate nuts riveted, gauge made, finished tank countersinks and primed
Tues pm - 1.0 bottom counter sinks
Wed am - 0.5 bottom counter sinks
Wed pm - 1.5 finished bottom counter sinks, primed holes, riveted bottom tank plates, access plate, countersunk screw holes. Done.

Had been using the cordless drill for countersinking but switched to the air drill. Works better and much less fatigue. Wish I had switched sooner.

Developed a better system too. Make one pass and try to get 90% of the hole, then get the remainder on a second pass. I was finding if I tried to make 100% on the first try, I was having to go back and clean most of them up anyways.

Right spar counter sinks are done. On to the left.

  Mar 20, 2022     13-2 & 13-3: Right spar work - (5.0 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Primed a small batch of parts including the spar extensions, gusset plates and tie downs for both left and right spars. Will proceed with right spar then come back to the left.

Final drilled and riveted the spar extension. First rivets bucked in a while and had to drill out a few just because they weren't perfect.

Clamped and drilled the lower W-1028A and B taking care to not drill the holes indicated in the plans. I may have drilled a hole I wasn't supposed to because the edge distance on the last hole is too tight on the 1028B. I may need to splice a short J channel piece.

Countersunk the rivets for tank attach and access panel nut plates. Held short of countersinking all the others - need to give my arms and my drill a break. A good task for weekdays after work.

[Update] that mis-drill is going to be a problem. I even masked off the holes I wasn't supposed to drill, but I thought it was only the nut plate holes for the access panels. It appears it extends a little beyond the access plates as they had to modify the spacing. Going to try to salvage form the extra lengths of j channel I have and come up with a minimum length to order from Van's. Trying to avoid another 8' long piece. I don't need it until closing up the bottom so may just have them throw it in the fuselage kit.

Purchases: Van's: new j-channels

  Mar 17, 2022     13-2 & 13-4: Getting started on wing - (1.6 hours)       Category: 13: Main spar

Just spent a little time getting organized and trying to plan for a first small batch of priming. Deburred the spar extensions and gussets. Then tapped the tie down blocks.

I also designed a little jig to hold a sharpie 5/16 off an edge and my neighbor 3D printed it. Came out pretty nice. Concept to prototype in about 3 hours - so cool. It will be handy for marking rivet lines in j channels.

Cut the j channels to length and used my handy new tool to mark the rivet centerline. Made quick work of it. Cleco'd the extensions in place and clamped the upper j channels in place ready to drill. Stopping there for the evening.

Going forward, I'll work on one spar at a time just for managing shop space.