W16-06 R/L ribs

[wingnut99]

I've been assembling the right wing substructure on my Waiex and all the ribs except for the root and aileron control rib are W16-06. The first 5 are numbered and the rest are all identical. The one's remaining for the left wing are identical to the right wing which would result in them facing the opposite direction from the fuselage, in other words they wouldn't be a mirror image of the right wing. Did Sonex ship the wrong ribs or do all the ribs on the plane face the same direction? Doesn't seem right and I don't know that the aileron controls would mount correctly.

[Bryan Cotton]

The ribs are not mirror images of each other. Clever design which means they can make many of the same part.

[wingnut99]

Ok then. They match the inventory sheet but you'd think the rib flange would mirror the opposing wing. Guess it's not a structural issue. Thanks

[Bryan Cotton]

I used to work at Schweizer Aircraft. Though I was not a structures guy, I was involved in some projects there where I worked closely with structures people. One of them was a friend of mine who was helping me rebuild a C140. He often commented on how lightly loaded wing ribs are. This came up as the C140 ribs are extremely light duty and because of some poor design would generally crack the top flange where it was cut into a tab for riveting to the spar. So, definitely not a structural issue.

If you have not noticed yet, the wings are not perfectly symmetrical. Because there is a single rib stamping (two I guess, nose and main) you can't have perfect symmetry. And one wing is more forward than the other which makes for a super simple and strong wing attach joint.

There is an aft spar that mounts to the ribs and the aileron hinge mounts to the aft spar. Your aileron mounts will be good.

Welcome to the forums!

[wingnut99]

Yeah my mentor plans build one of the first Sonex's and he said his ribs were the same way. I have noticed some different dimensions on left versus right on the plans which makes sense with the spars overlapping instead of butting inside the fuselage so once you understand that, the rest makes sense. You definitely have to look things over carefully before drilling. I'm blessed to have you guys to keep me on track. Pat Murry