Today was the first day of building. The plans call for cutting up some J-stiffener and aligning them to the spar flanges to match drill them. The Dremel worked great for cutting and the Scotch-Brite smoothed the edges.
First, clamp on the J-stiffener, making sure they rise 1/16" above the flange edge.
Match drill and cleco as you go, checking that the 1/16" is consistent. On the bottom flange, there are holes you're not supposed to match drill. I marked those off with a marker and kept the clamps there to avoid a mistake.
But, in true form, why not make a mistake on your first build day? Below is the tip of the left spar. You can see the J-stiffener placed up against the upper flange with a bit of a shadow underneath it to indicate that the J-stiffener is placed above the spar body so that it rises 1/16" above the flange. Now, the text specifically says that the J-stiffener should be flush with the edge of the flange. I decided that meant it should be flush with the edge of that piece with a rectangular hole near the bottom flange. After all, that's what the picture looks like. Well, turns out the perspective of the drawing is cause for confusion. Too bad I didn't realize it until after I cut up the J-stiffener and completed match drilling the entire left spar's J-stiffener. I now need to get some more J-stiffener from Van's.
First, clamp on the J-stiffener, making sure they rise 1/16" above the flange edge.
Match drill and cleco as you go, checking that the 1/16" is consistent. On the bottom flange, there are holes you're not supposed to match drill. I marked those off with a marker and kept the clamps there to avoid a mistake.
But, in true form, why not make a mistake on your first build day? Below is the tip of the left spar. You can see the J-stiffener placed up against the upper flange with a bit of a shadow underneath it to indicate that the J-stiffener is placed above the spar body so that it rises 1/16" above the flange. Now, the text specifically says that the J-stiffener should be flush with the edge of the flange. I decided that meant it should be flush with the edge of that piece with a rectangular hole near the bottom flange. After all, that's what the picture looks like. Well, turns out the perspective of the drawing is cause for confusion. Too bad I didn't realize it until after I cut up the J-stiffener and completed match drilling the entire left spar's J-stiffener. I now need to get some more J-stiffener from Van's.
So, basically, I did what was on the left, rather than the right.
I can totally see myself doing the same thing! The drawing is very misleading
ReplyDelete