Onex Wings

[dirkverdonck]

Hi All Onex builders,
I ligned up the inner spar and both outer spars on the bench before any work was done to the wings and reamed the upper and lower holes until the oversized pins and bolts fitted snuggly.

[Onex107]

Definitely no JB Weld in that joint. It looks like in the photo that the lock pin is installed in the stub wing. Does that mean the folding wing has been drilled and installed?

[dirkverdonck]

Hi,
I installed all plates on both end of the stub wing main spar and tightened all bolts before positioning the outer wing spars in place on the bench and reaming to the size of the oversized pins.
I then removed the plates on one side of the stub main spar and slid it through the fuselage and updrilled all holes to install the hardware. Then the plates on the other side were looslely installed and the hinge bolt and lower pin installed before all the AN3 bolts were tightened making sure the bolt and pin did not seize in their respective holes.
Next step was finishing the outer wings and the stub wing structure. Then both outer wings were installed and the holes for the rear spar locking pins drilled and reamed and the locking mechanism installed. The aileron control system was installed and adjusted before the stab wings were skinned.
I managed 120 hrs so far with zero play on the hinge mechanism.

[WesRagle]

Guys,

I think I left out a critical piece of information: I have factory built spars. I pulled out some hardware today and found that the main spar pivot and pin locations had already been drilled/reamed to final size.



The pin location in the outer wing panel might need just a little work, but not much.



I will have to updrill the rear spar pin location but that isn't nearly as scary as drilling the main spars.

Wes

[WesRagle]

HI Guys,

Ok, I have the rear spar assembled and permanently installed. I have all the nuts, bolts, screws, etc in the main spar, hundreds of them :-) The only thing left to do is rivet the outer ribs and the aft edge of the aft ribs to the rear spar. I went to the airport and picked up a roll around table that is about the right height to support the outer wing panel.



The main spar pins and pivot bolts are in place and fit snug.



It is difficult to get a hangar where I am. So, when I liquidated my fleet in order to get prepared for retirement, I picked up a Grega GN-1 Aircamper so they couldn't kick me out of my hangar. The plan was to fly the GN-1, build a house for retirement, build another airplane, and be back in shape in about three years. Life and responsibility got in the way. Now it's been about eleven years. The poor GN-1 has been sitting and collecting dust while keeping my hangar reserved. I feel bad that I let it go, but it did serve its purpose.



Sure felt good to be at the airport. Can't wait to be back!

Anyway, the Onex rear spar pin location is drilled to 1/4" . I will ream the outer wing panel rear spar to 1/4" and see if everything mates up.

Questions:

The Onex will eventually share a hangar. so folding wings is critical to it's mission. Are there any secrets to getting a smooth locking action? Any advice appreciated.

It appears that the final pin hole in the rear spar needs to be drilled/reamed at a slight angle to line up with the locking mechanism. Is that right? I really want a tight fit.

The holes in the rear spar for rib #3 are missing. Any idea why?

Thanks for Your Time,

Wes

[onex28]

Wes, When I set up to drill the rear spar locking pin hole I put the outer wings panels on and locked them in position with c clamps. By this time I had the wing pivot hole and front locking hole reamed to size with the main spar locking hole stabilized with a pin in it. I drilled the rear spar locking hole progressively and reamed to final size. I have zero movement in the wings when locked. I have a tri gear and don’t recall any necessity of drilling the rear holes at an angle.

David
N951X

[Mike53]

Hi Wes.
The only thing I can add is that each and every Onex will have its own Issues and you will have to deal with them as they come up when it comes to the wing fold . Suffice it to say ,if like mine you will need to have a file handy to remove material from mating surfaces to achieve a smooth interaction between the two.The main spars were fairly trouble free, I had most issues with the rear spars mating smoothly .Judicious removal of material will eventually achieve a trouble free folding action .I found a drift pin of the proper size facilitated getting the pin in.
Remember ,once your done to work on the paddles to achieve proper up and down movement of the ailerons.
Hope this helps. I also don't recall having to drilling rear holes at an angle.
Mike

[dirkverdonck]

Hi Wes,
I started with drilling and reaming the main spar pivot points and pin holes before the outer wings were built. I then built the outer wings and installed the inner wing skeleton. The rear spar pin hole was done as follows: I updrilled all the different pieces to AN3 size seperately, inserted an AN3 bolt through all of them and then installed them with silver clecos, adjusting the prepunced holes of the clecos so all layers would fit to the aft spar and the AN3 bolt would slip in and out. I then updrilled the holes for copper clecos and further to fit the bolts with sunken heads, adding one for comfort in the centre as the prepunched holes were wronly situated, too close to the edges!
Then the pin hole was reamed to allow a fit with zero slack but still sliding wiht some effort and grease added. see pics
I have now done 120 hrs on the Onex and recently did my Annual which includes wing folding and checks of all folding mechanisms, still zero play in hinges and pins.
Hope this might help,

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the help. I managed to get the wings mated.




I will have to mess around at the rear spar some to get a smooth fold/unfold.

There is no free play in the left wing.

There is a small amount of play in the right wing. The pin is tight. The play appears to be at the pivot bolt. I didn't mess with those holes at all so I'm blaming the factory :-)

Question: Where can I get a slightly over sized, aircraft quality, 3/8" bolt?

Thanks for Your Time,

Wes

[WesRagle]

Hi Guys,

Well, I fooled around all day working to get a smooth action on the right wing. Finally got it to an acceptable state. I wouldn't call it smooth but
pretty good. Not sure how I got off, but I had to shim .063 between the paddle rib attach angle and the rest of the stack up at the rear spar.



Guess tomorrow will be the left wing.

Forever Forward.

Wes