SonexBuilders.net

Wish me luck everyone - tomorrow is wing rigging day! Yikes!


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

Good luck Robbie

Have fun Robbie! Double check everything and follow the directions and you'll be fine. Please give us an update on how it went once you're all finished!

Hi Robbie,

Don’t know what method you’re using but if you’re going the standard Sonex way using a 3/8 bit with 1/4 pilot, all I can say is make sure your drill bit is in top nick, preferably new.
I strongly believe the rigging issues I had were related a bad drill bit. Here in Australia we have a “wing rigging kit” that goes from builder to builder, the kit contains the drill bit and a few other bits and pieces to do the job.
However, I believe when I got it the bit had already seen its best times, as I inserted it into the hole it danced around like I’ve never seen a drill bit do. As a result the holes got enlarged on the forward side and I had to rebuild the forward angles and attach blocks.
When I contacted the builder who had the bit before me to see if he had had similar issues he said he had to rebuild the forward angle on one side as well and he also believed the drill bit was the cause.
The lesson here: make sure you have the right equipment and it is in great shape before you start the job.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Michael

It's a good idea to set up a sample stack of scrap aluminum and drill a couple of test holes just to prove that you can really do it correctly.

I did my wing rigging yesterday! It took ALL day but it is finished! Turned out great thanks to the help of a friend of mine and all of the reading I did about it beforehand. Glad it's over with!

Well, 11 hours in the sun and awesome help from great friends and we ran into one issue related to matched holes. When it settles itself out I will write it up and share.

Will be following up with tech support - regardless, a great day and it was exciting to see the wings on the airplane!

Special thanks to Jim Reichard who stuck it out with me for the whole day when I knew he would sooner be flying off phase one hours. A better friend I cannot imagine.

Tony and Dave - thank you very much also! And my father in law Pete and awesome wife Brenda also deserve credit.

I am wiped out and sunburnt!


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

I just wrapped up my wing rigging today. It wasn't fun at all; however, my wing spar holes came out great! I used a slightly different approach than others...it was based on a piloted reamer that I got from an estate sale of a builder of numerous aircraft.

The reamer is .3725 with a .3565 pilot. Once everything was aligned, I updrilled the main holes to 5/16, then 11/32, then 23/64 (the size of the pilot on the reamer). The final pass with the reamer was like going through butter and the holes are very round and the bolts need to be lightly tapped to seat them...a perfect fit.

If anyone wants to try out this method, I'd be happy to loan you the reamer as long as you return it when done so I can loan it to the next person.

Wih the help of Mike Farley and Steve S, we got the wings rigged today. We worked on and off for about 8 hours today, and I'm physically tired, but emotionally happy this step is done. Long 1/4" drill bits curtosey of Mike and the yardstore.com double margin 1/4" piloted 3/8" drill bit finished the job. Measure, measure and remeasure many times is the key to this process. Steve brought over a 90degree electric corded drill and laser level which greatly helped the process.







And the money shot!

Looks great congrats