Metal wing tip form blocks

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Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby Bryan Cotton » Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:38 pm

I have an idea how to make wing tip form blocks. It starts with a good profile of the wing, including front rib, aft rib, spar and tooling holes. First make a router template of all these parts as they are joined together. Next router out a bunch of 1" forms out of MDF. Glue enough blanks together to account for the flanges and the offset between the bottom skin protrusion and the top. Bandsaw a slice out of this huge block using the 45 degree angle of the wingtip. Now we have all the complex forms of the flanges captured.

I did check with the two local Sonex builders. Ken Irwin got metal tips as part of the kit. Ron Voss scratch built. He traced the shape on the skin, notched here and there, and locally bent a bunch of flanges over a piece of wood.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
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Re: Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby kmacht » Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:40 pm

I did metal tips on my sonex. I traced the end of the wing to make a cardboard template and then used that to make a flat tip out of .032. I connected the flat tip to the wing using a number of small 1x1 pieces of .032 angle riveted to the wing and the flat tip. Overall it came out pretty good without any gaps. The only downside is that I have rivets along the edge of the wingtip. I could have used flush rivets but didn't bother.

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Re: Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby wlarson861 » Fri Jan 01, 2016 2:47 am

The plans version for the wingtips are from flat stock. The lofts are in the plans. They require cutting many tabs to the final profile and then bending to fit the wing. The pitfalls are cutting the flanges too deep or too shallow so that the cuts show in the finished product. The fiberglass tips eliminate the likelihood of cutting the flanges wrong and making ugly tips. The fiberglass tips also don't have to be riveted to the main spar which would be a location nightmare. Go back to the early builders websites and look at the metal tips; very few came out acceptable for appearance compared to the glass tips. Even Sonex #1 was pretty rough compared to the glass tips. Back then the tail was given square tips of metal rather than the round glass tips we are familiar with today. I know the glass is a pain to work with but the result is better than the metal tips.
Bill Larson
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Re: Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby Gripdana » Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:04 pm

I attempted to make the tips from plans. Spent a lot of time cutting and forming but they fit and looked terrible. I ended up going with fiberglas. They were faster, easier, and looked better even though I had to do some fiberglas work.
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Re: Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby Bruce593SX » Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:29 pm

I made my metal tips from the plans, didn't turn out perfect but I am satisfied. Didn't do any tooling holes, just clamped down hard and used a slapper.
Bruce Johnson
Sonex 593 AeroVee Turbo
Plans building near San Antonio, TX
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Re: Metal wing tip form blocks

Postby planeolbob » Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:34 pm

Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year.
Here is some photos of how I did my metal tips. I had fiberglass tips but they were too heavy and it was a pain getting them to fit. I took a piece of card board and marked the wing tip profile. I then added an inch and cut out the blank. then as shown, I slowly made the tabs and bent to fit. The only thing I would do different today would to take the temper out of the forward end to make forming the metal easier.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/planeolbo ... 0661866965

After assembly I used some "Superfil" on a couple of areas as I was going to paint the wingtips. I bet you could use .020 sheet for this but you didn't hear it from me.

Here is some shots of the tips painted.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22345371@ ... 3591557271

Bob Mika
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