by racaldwell » Wed Sep 23, 2015 1:15 pm
I am starting to fit the skins around the nose ribs. Per plans, I drilled the lower side first. I flipped the wing over and pulled the skin down with ratchet straps. The wing spar holes line up ok on each end of the skin but the center 2/3's of holes only align about 1/2 to 2/3's of the hole. I thought inserting a clecoe would pull the skin the last 1/32" & make it line up but instead I just reamed the hole open with the clecoe. The skin at the nose radius is up about 1/4" up from laying on the ribs. Two long 1x2's & ratchet straps didn't seem to help but I was scared of really cranking them down & making a bigger problem. Next time I go back to the hangar to work on this again I'll try the plastic shipping bands that I have left over from my RV wing. It seems to me the LE radius is too big. How have others dealt with this?
Maybe making a wood cutout the shape of the nose rib and pushing that over the skin/rib to hold the skin down on the rib?
For you all that have not yet removed the LE skins from the box, be careful doing this. Mine were difficult getting out by myself and I creased one inboard skin a little on the bottom pulling up on one end to get it free. Another spot for microlight/epoxy.