SonexBuilders.net

Spent this rainy Sunday morning looking over my new to me OneX.

Found that some bottom rivets were missed on two of the wing ribs. Both of them were on the leading edge.

Is there a procedure to fix these?

I figure I have 3 options

1. Drill new holes and put in a second row of rivets
2. Pull existing rivets and try to move spar. I'm concerned with damaging the spar
3. Leave as-is and inspect for movement at each conditional. Not thrilled with this idea

Pictures or a better description would be good. When I hear missing rivets, I think of a set of holes where you can put a rivet in and pull it. Is it missing the rib flange? Is it not drilled at all?

Hi VillaAir,

My plans and plane are not here, but as I recall ...

There are some pre-punched holes in the leading edge of the wing skin that have no rib flange behind them. Also, there is another pre-punched hold, the aft hole, most outside, in the double row of rivets at the wing spar root that shouldn't be installed. That hole hits right on the edge of the spar cap where it tapers down.

YMMV,

Wes

Now that I've viewed the photos I'd like to change my answer as "doing what the plans say" was not done by the original builder. Thanks for the pics as it makes understanding the problem much easier.

That is some extremely shoddy work and would make me fearful of the build in areas that can't be seen. As another poster noted the builder obvioulsy didn't blueline the ribs for proper alignment during assembly. If they did they certainly missed the mark.

I would email Sonex these pics and ask what they suggest. Aligning the ribs and putting rivets in may be a bit difficult as the empty holes should have rivets placed in them and the pics make it appear as if there isn't enough room to do that. There may be others that appear to be correct from the outside but the edge distance of the rivet to the edge of the rib flange may be compromised and start cracking later.

That is very concerning ... at least to me!

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel

Here's a couple of pics of the issue

Second rib in from tip of left wing


Wider shot of same


Right wing third rib in from root

I'd drill out the rivets, drag the rib over, and re-rivet. Yeah that was poorly done. A standard too for building Sonex wings is a broomstick with a screw or nail in the end used for dragging ribs into place through the lightening holes.

Good pictures!

That is less than sterling building. The builder either didn’t blue line the rib or drilled without looking. I suspect you would have to drill all rivets in the bottom of that rib and hope the holes match when you pull it over.
Give that plane a through inspection.

David

I edited my comments above ...

Sad that you have to deal with this!

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Tailwheel

To me it looks like the rib was blue lined and drilled in the proper location. The rib flanges have drilled and dimpled holes. It seems like an assembly error - ribs not clecoed in properly before riveting. Does anyone else see that?

That's an easy fix. Carefully drill out the offending rivets. Then maneuver the rib into place with picks or such, cleco, rivet. I would also, very thoroughly, inspect the rest of the aircraft for similar errors