Wing ribs are done. Took a couple months because of the usual excuse (house remodel). Unfortunately I didn't get many pics. This chapter was pretty much dominated time-wise by deburring and figuring out where I wanted to run the AoA/Pitot plumbing, power wires, and coax for a Nav antenna.
Here's a stack of 15 ribs, that's enough for 1 wing.
Early on in this chapter I made one of my few mistakes so far. You have to cut the aft flange off the most outboard ribs, but leave just a little bit of the radius that transitions from the web of the rib to the flange. Well I tried it with my bandsaw and butchered the hell outta it. Ordered a new one from Vans and tried the second time with a cutoff wheel on my die grinder. Worked much better the second time.
Here's looking at a rib attached to the main spar. Most of them are riveted in the middle, with a AN3 bolt on the outside. A couple of the outboard ribs don't have the bolt, just rivets.
Here's the mount for the pitot heat controller I put in. Just some nutplates on one of the ribs close to where I'll put the pitot. Notice the big hole there too. That's drilled to 3/4" so a plastic conduit will run thru for wires.
This shows some little wire clips I bought. I will use these for the Nav antenna coax so it stays separate from the power wires. Didn't really need them in both wings, but figured it was easy now, extremely little weight penalty and leaves me with more options down the road.
Two last things. First, priming these was a big job. My dad and I spent 8 hours scotchbriting them then spraying. Marathon day.
Also, for AoA/Pitot I used the left wing tooling hole for one tube, but bored another one on the other side of the rib for the other. I asked Vans if this was ok, they said yup. Also the plastic bushings they give you (SB437-4) are not the ones you want to use. They fit the plumbing tube just fine, but the outside diameter requires you to drill an unnecessarily large 7/16" hole. I found SB375-4 ones on aircraft spruce that only need a 3/8 hole but still fit the tubing just fine
Here's a stack of 15 ribs, that's enough for 1 wing.
Early on in this chapter I made one of my few mistakes so far. You have to cut the aft flange off the most outboard ribs, but leave just a little bit of the radius that transitions from the web of the rib to the flange. Well I tried it with my bandsaw and butchered the hell outta it. Ordered a new one from Vans and tried the second time with a cutoff wheel on my die grinder. Worked much better the second time.
Here's looking at a rib attached to the main spar. Most of them are riveted in the middle, with a AN3 bolt on the outside. A couple of the outboard ribs don't have the bolt, just rivets.
Here's the mount for the pitot heat controller I put in. Just some nutplates on one of the ribs close to where I'll put the pitot. Notice the big hole there too. That's drilled to 3/4" so a plastic conduit will run thru for wires.
This shows some little wire clips I bought. I will use these for the Nav antenna coax so it stays separate from the power wires. Didn't really need them in both wings, but figured it was easy now, extremely little weight penalty and leaves me with more options down the road.
Two last things. First, priming these was a big job. My dad and I spent 8 hours scotchbriting them then spraying. Marathon day.
Also, for AoA/Pitot I used the left wing tooling hole for one tube, but bored another one on the other side of the rib for the other. I asked Vans if this was ok, they said yup. Also the plastic bushings they give you (SB437-4) are not the ones you want to use. They fit the plumbing tube just fine, but the outside diameter requires you to drill an unnecessarily large 7/16" hole. I found SB375-4 ones on aircraft spruce that only need a 3/8 hole but still fit the tubing just fine
