Dihedral, Rib Brackets, Center Spar Drilling

Had a lot of shop time this weekend (Thanks, Jess!) and was able to accomplish the following:

• Cut 7/16" out at root of right spar for dihedral.
• Cut all rib brackets from aluminum angle for right wing and center spar.
• Drilled 3/32" pilot holes for rivets and bolts in center spar.

Right wing dihedral

I was happy with how this went.  I cut the spar web with Andy Shears and notched the spar caps with a jigsaw followed by various sanders and files to smooth them out.

Below is a test fit with the 4130 brackets I made earlier. 

Rib Brackets

So far these have been pretty easy.  They are made out 1"x1" angel or 3/4"x3/4" angle depending on the location.

Here the angles are set in place.  This is the back of the wing.  The angles sitting above the spar will go on the front of the spar.

I cut them so they would fit exactly inside the spar caps, but the root of the angle on the inside is rounded, so I had to sand them all back a bit on the disc sander.   This shows the curve inside the angle and why they have to be cut a little shorter (which is clearly shown on the plan too).

Lot of aluminum dust everywhere!

Drilling Center Section Spar Caps

I used my rivet fan to mark all the holes I have to drill in the 2024 bar that is the front of the spar.  I left the holes for the 4130 brackets alone for now.  Thought I would learn a little before I take those on.

Then I clamped everything together. and started drilling.  In this picture I had 4 clamps, but in the second picture I started using a combination of additional clamps and clecos to hold things together while I drilled.

Holey Spar!

It's officially beer-thirty.