Wing rigging

[MichaelFarley56]

Great job today Scott! The wings looked great and everything lined up very well. I'm happy to have helped (meaning, watched while you did all the important work).

Now you can relax a little before you continue getting all the inner fuselage work finished, then it's time to get that lower skin in place, mount the engine mount, and get that fuselage on the gear!

[Bryan Cotton]

Looks great Scott! I bet it feels great too!

[Bryan Cotton]

Question on rigging: I have seen some post pictures where their airplane is on a stand rather than on the gear. Is this recommended, or necessary?

[Sonex1517]

Question on rigging: I have seen some post pictures where their airplane is on a stand rather than on the gear. Is this recommended, or necessary?

Hey Bryan

I believe this is called out in the instructions very explicitly but yes - completely off the gear and up on stands. We used sawhorses.

It needs to be perfectly level if you rig the wings in the airplane.

Best of luck!

[kmacht]

It can be done on the gear but it just takes some more checking. I did mine on the gear out on a sloped driveway. Two water levels were made and taped to the fuselage (left to right and front to back) The issue with doing it on the gear is that you need to keep checking and adjusting level as you install and rig the wings. The gear flexes so level can change as you add the wings or even if you lean on the plane. It is harder to do it on the gear but not impossible.

Keith
#554

[sonex892.]

Question on rigging: I have seen some post pictures where their airplane is on a stand rather than on the gear. Is this recommended, or necessary?

Did mine sitting on the wheels on a level floor with a saw stool under the tail. Even though it was all levelled, we relied more on measurements than levels. I used a long straight edge across the upper longerons and measured down to the spar to equal the dihedral. Just measure everything, rear spar height, diagonals wing tip back to tail many times before drilling. The day was more rewarding than fun.

[Bryan Cotton]

Thanks for the replies guys. One other question- with the 3 holes in the forward web, and all my CNC parts, will I need to do all that side to side checking and shim up one side? Of course I will check but I am hoping that when I pin my spars to the forward tunnel all should be close.

[ScottM-Sonex1629]

Bryan,

Those pre punched holes are just a starting point to pin the spars together. You will still need to measure per the plans. Get the measurements as close as you can, mine was within 1/32-1/16" and finally had to say good enough. The piloted double margin drill bit I used was great for the final holes. My spar bolts are a very tight fit and required a rubber mallet to drive them in.

[Darick]

Bryan, I bought another double margin drill, the first from the Yard Store, the second from Fastenal, after the first one drilled an oversize hole, +.005. I'll be getting the Fastenal drill on Friday and drilling another test hole before rigging the wings this weekend. I hope you have great success with your drill guides.

It looks like we are at about the same stage of building, the usual 90% done and only 90% to go.