SonexBuilders.net

Hello All,

So I hope to be rigging my wings in ~2 weeks. There are a couple of challenges with this, so I'd love to get everyone's thoughts on tooling and scrap material to assemble ahead of time because:

1. I am going to have to trailer my fuselage over to the hangar where the wings are stored, and that's 1 hour's drive each way.
2. The hangar has compressed air and a set of basic wrenches & sockets; but nothing else.
3. I originally built in a small garage with no large level surface and decided I couldn't mate the spars in the available space. So the wings have been completed without ever mating the spars and drilling through the locating holes or attach blocks.

I'm already planning on bringing:

• Sawhorses
• A wooden frame to slip under the fwd fuselage to lift the main wheels off the ground (to level the fuselage)
• Air drills
• Blankets/Pillows for the wings to rest on (either on the ground or on the sawhorses)
• Metal yardsticks and contractor's squares
• Drill bushings
• The attach pins/bolts
• Rear spar attachment assemblies and carry-throughs
• 2 or 3 friends
• Enough snacks and drinks to keep said friends in the hangar area for a few hours. :-D

...what else should I consider bringing?
Driving between my house and the airport is 60 minutes each way, so I really don't want to get part-way through the process and realize that some scrap or other small item would be really useful!

Lastly: Since my hangar doesn't contain my bandsaw or drill-press, I can't easily cut items down to size or easily build temporary stands. Would love to build things in advance if any of you found a particular stand, shim, or measuring/reference tool handy in your wing rigging process!

Take care,

--Noel

Get a length of clear vinyl tubing and some blue windshield washer fluid. I found one roll of 25' length was not enough so I joined two sections with a length of metal tube. Level the fuselage and use this home made spirit level to make your wingtips the same height. I used a 3 legged roller stand on either wing to support the tube, plus some clamps to hold it.

You need a tape measure to measure the distance from wingtip to tailpost. Bring markers.

Instead of the water level, I used a length of angle as a straight edge across the top longerons and a small laser level aimed either way to set the wing dihedral. It worked quite well and will work even if the fuselage is not quite level. I had just one capable son-in-law as a helper.

Peter

Clecoes
Metal trimming tools like file if more clearance is required for spar tunnel or rear spar holes
Small rule to measure incidence at rear spar.
Small wedges might come in handy to hold the spar at the spar tunnel entries.

Foam pads and knee pads - you will be inside the fuselage and it can get awfully uncomfortable if you are kneeling on a hangar floor. I did a real number on my back and knees rigging the wings.