Pre-assembled Main Spar

[daleandee]

So all told, I personally would say the pre-built option saves 70 hours and a LOT of mundane grunt work. The spars were the least "fun" to build for me yet, but honestly no less satisfying to complete. The solid riveting itself has been less than 15 hours, but it's definitely the most taxing work.

My kit came with the factory built spars (have the initials "JTM" on them) and that certainly made life easier.

Here is a rivet setting tool designed by Dan Weseman of Panther fame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frLcrJvSSa4

Not sure how difficult it would be to build something similar. Hand operated hydraulic pumps are available at various prices:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... heohm35p_b

FWIW,

Dale
N319WF

[Fastcapy]

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[daleandee]

At least you don't have to actually cut the spar caps from blanks like the first builders had to.

The gentleman that was my mentor when I was learning to build was Dick Fisher. He built his Sonex from scratch and he did have to cut the spar caps. I was quite impressed with his workmanship and dedication to finishing the project. Although I've built one from a kit, and that is quite an accomplishment in itself, I'll always admire scratch builders. The kit I bought came from a previous owner and needed a lot of TLC.

I used to laughingly say my project was a scratch and sniff kit as we had to do a good bit of disassembly work and Dick would not order any replacement parts. We would order the raw stock and hand make the parts that didn't meet the standard. In other words, if it didn't pass the smell test we would scratch build another part. When I rebuilt the vertical stabilizer I did manage to save the skin by careful removal of the rivets but all of the other parts were scratch built.

All in all it was a great project but in the end I'm glad it had the factory spars as I would not have considered it otherwise.

Not sure who builds the spars for Sonex but they are absolutely beautiful and very well done.

Dale
N319WF

[Bryan Cotton]

I have an old HF air chisel I bought as a kid, plus a fine collection of rivet guns. The air chisel hits fast and light, the rivet gun hits slower and harder. The latter is way better for control. Also, a few good hits will set the rivet better than many light hits as it has less time to work harden under the gun. I have bought rivet guns off eBay before, and there are bargains to be had. An old, US made tool is a good bet. They don't really wear out that I have seen.

[Onex107]

Building the main spar in a Onex is a nonevent. The bucked rivets are the only difference. Of course you have to drill a lot of pre-laser drilled holes and It takes a few hours, but, buy the machined parts option and build your own spar. I'll be glad to show you my set up to do that.