LH Leading Edge Skin (3)

3 hours

The forward skin is riveted on!  This time, instead of flipping the wing mulitple times to get at both sides, I used my little stands to support the wing spar so I could work on both sides at once.  It was much easier!

 

LH Lower Skin Riveting (1.5)

1.5 hours

Lower aft skin riveted on!

More Deburring + Upper Skin Riveting (2)

2 hours

I got inpatient waiting for my replacement deburring tool, so I went ahead and deburred the top side of the wing structure with sandpaper.  It actually didn't take very long anyway.  Then I riveting the upper aft skin on.

Left Wing Deburring, part 2 (2.5)

2.5 hours

I got the upper and lower aft skins deburred.  I broke my in/out deburr took the other day, so it's pretty tedious doing these skins with just a hand deburr tool!  I have a new one on the way through, so I'll probably wait until I get it to deburr the spars and ribs.

Left Wing Deburring (2.5)

2.5 hours

The last month has been busy so I haven't gotten anything done!  Today I got a few random things taken care of; I drilled the holes in the top and bottom skins for the #9 rib reinforcements, created the hole for the tiedown hardware, and deburred and dimpled the leading edge skin.

LH Leading Edge & Root Ribs (4)

4 hours

Back at it again after a vacation and some other stuff.  I updrilled the leading edge skin to #32, and updrilled everything I could reach on the root rib attach angles to #30.  Then I removed the leading edge skin.

The root ribs on the left side are a bit trickier than the right because the attach angle faces the opposite way so, the hardware attaching the angle to the spar is very difficult to get at.  I realized while disassembling that with the ribs riveted to the angles, there'd be no way I could torque them back on properly.  I decided it would be easier to bolt the attach angles on first and torque everything for the final time, and then rivet the ribs to the angles last.  This also required me to remove the wing attach block since that would've blocked access to where I needed to rivet.

Anyway, I took all the root rib components apart, cleaned up all the holes, and then riveted the reinforcements only where the attach angle doesn't overlap.  Now they're ready to go back on the spar.

Another thing that caused me some extra work that I didn't run into on the right wing was, with the attach angles facing outboard, they block the last hole on the main spar where the skins overlap.  So I had to file some relief area on both ends of the forward angle  to fix that problem.  I think it's good now!

With all that done, I finally bolted the attach angles back on the spar and then riveted the ribs to them.

The two rivets in each corner were tricky to get at, but with my skinny rivet puller and little wedge tool I got them done without too much trouble. 

LH Root Ribs and Root Doubler (2)

2 hours

I got the root ribs pilot drilled to their attach angles, and the root doubler/wing walk is fitted and updrilled!  The root doubler was much easier this time since I didn't accidentally updrill all the holes in the skins first.

LH Wing Skins, part 3 (1.5)

1.5 hours

I put the wing back on the stands this time so I could do both sides of the leading edge without having to flip the whole wing.  So far I got the top side fully pilot, then ratchet strapped it closed and cleco'd the bottom side to the main spar.

LH Wing Skins, part 2 (1)

1 hour

I flipped the wing and got the lower aft skin pilot drilled.  Then I put the wing back on my stands, leading edge up.  This time I'm going to try fitting the leading edge this way so I can get at both sides at once...  We'll see if it's any easier than doing it flat on the table was.

LH Wing Skins, part 1 (2)

2 hours

Upper wing skin drilled to the wing!  This time I planned ahead and refrained from updrilling holes where other parts still need to be fit.

Riveting​ Leading Edge Skin (3)

3 hours

It's finally time to put the last skin on this wing!  I wrangled the forward skin back on the wing again, and went at it.

I did the row along the main spar on both sides first, then the upper flush rivets, and the lower flush rivets last.

As soon as I started on the upper flush rivets, I had several of the rivet stems break off proud of the surface.  I was surprised because I drilled all the holes with a #32 drill instead of #30 prior to dimpling, and I did several tests on scrap material that came out perfectly.  My only theory as that my in-out deburr tool must have enlarged some of the holes a tiny bit.  I ended up with about 25 rivet stems sticking out, and two that pulled completely through without breaking (out of about 77 total).  After a few rivets with the pneumatic puller, I switched to one of my manual pullers.  It seemed to mess up less rivets but who knows.  It definitely took longer!

I was able to tap most of the stems back in with a punch, and the rest I very carefully ground down with a Dremel grinding wheel.  The two that pulled through, I just drilled out and replaced.

Bizarrely, when I did the lower rivets every single one came out perfect.  I drilled, dimpled, and deburred the top and bottom exactly the same so I have no idea why!  But it's done now anyway!

 

Leading Edge Skin Finishing Touches (1.5)

1.5 hours

I went through and deburred the forward ribs, and then I flipped the wing over on my stands and reattached the forward skin.  Next I'm going to cut the big holes and mount the pitot tube and landing light.

I probably should have run the wires and tubing inside the leading edge before putting the skin on since bending it into place is kind of a pain.  Once I get these holes cut I'll have to pop one side off to do that, then I'll put it back on for the last time 

Riveting Lower Wing Skin (2.5)

2.5 hours

Today I deburred the lower skin and riveted it on.  Then I dimpled all the forward ribs.  Next I'll have to reposition to wing so I can work on the leading edge!

Riveting Upper Wing Skin (1.5)

1.5 hours

 

I got the upper aft skin riveted on.  Then I spent a little time deburring the bottom side.

Deburring, part 3 (1)

1 hour

Yet more deburring!  I got the upper skin all done and cleco'd back on, so that thing is ready to rivet.

Deburring, part 2 (1.5)

1.5 hours

I put the upper aft skin back on and started deburring the lower skin.  I also drilled out the hole in the skin to accommodate the tiedown fitting with a unibit.  Pretty easy!

Unfortunately while I was deburring the aft ribs I ran into the back side of another rivet and exploded my deburr tool!  I was bummed becuase that thing cost $40, but I called Yard Store and they found me a used one for $10...  So I'll continue this once that thing shows up.

Deburring (1)

1 hour

I pulled top aft skin off and started deburring holes...  deburring this whole wing is going to take a while!  On the plus side I picked up one of these deburring tools which does both sides of a hole in one operation:

http://www.yardstore.com/texas-in-out-deburr-tool-1-8-quot.html

It goes much faster than my hand deburr tool, so it should save a bunch of time overall!

I also went back and drilled the rib #9 reinforcements to the skin.

When I pull the bottom skin off next, I'll need to go back and enlarge the hole for the tiedown fitting.

RH Forward Skin Dimpling (2)

2 hours

I got the whole forward skin deburred and dimpled!  I also countersunk the front half of the tip rib, which was tricky to do without enlarging the holes.

RH Wing Skins Updrilling (1.5)

1.5 hours

Now that the big pieces are all fit, I want to stand the wing back up on the main spar so I can work on both sides.

I went through and updrilled all the holes on the forward skin, but I used a #32 but instead of #30.  They'll all get dimpled for flush rivets so the dimpling will open the holes up to 1/8".  However, a 1/8" cleco doesn't quite fit in a #32 hole, so I had to use 3/32" clecos as I went.  They worked, but they obviously didn't hold everything as tight as normal so I had to be careful and make sure everything stayed lined up while I updrilled.

Anyway once that was done I took the forward skin off and put the wing back on my little work stands for the next tasks!

RH Wing Skins Part 2 (4)

4 hours

Lots more drilling of holes!  I partially updrilled the lower aft skin to regain some silver clecos, and then I got out the forward skin.

I flipped the wing back to right side up, and then drilled the forward skin to the main spar, overlapping the top aft skin.  Since I accidentally already updrilled all the holes yesterday it was kind of a pain, but I just started with the forward skin under the aft skin so I could see the holes, then drilled everything together.  Then I removed the clecos, put the forward skin on top of the aft skin where it belongs, and clecoed it back together.  All the pre-punched pilot holes lined up perfectly so it ended up not being a very big deal.

From there I worked my way forward drilling the skin to all the forward ribs.  Next I had to flip the wing yet again to do the underside of the forward skin.  Per the Sonex instructions, I just used some ratchet straps and a bunch of scrap wood to pull the skin closed.  This was actually a lot easier than the tail surfaces!

The last phase of this operation was to drill the bottom of the skin to all the forward ribs.  This actually was kind of a pain since I couldn't reach most of the ribs to help center them.  I ended up using a long 1x4 to push on the ribs from either end until I could see my sharpie centerlines through the holes.  It was pretty tedious but eventually I got all of them!