We finally were able to get started on the wings today, and we followed tradition by starting with a trip to the hardware store. Home Depot here we come! Our good friend (and squadron member) Adam came over to help us start the wings, and of course to drink beer!

Our trip to Home Depot was relatively uneventful for us, since our garage has a ceiling of about 20', we are going to have to make the jig free standing. We decided to build wood jigs rather than metal, so we purchased two 10' 4X4s and are going to cut one in two to make the side stands. We are planning on squaring them up on the bottom with 2X4s and a 5/8" plywood base.

When we were all done we stood back and said "wow, those look like cat scratching posts!"at which point Adam's dog Rocky decided that she had better guard them from any and all feline incursion.

We were then ready to start on the wing construction, and here is where we found our first (and definitely not last) speed bump. On page 7-2 of the Preview Plans we read:

" To begin wing construction, rivet the tank skin attach platenuts to the spar as shown in DWG 16A, Detail A.
Machine countersink (trying to dimple the 0.063 thick spar flange will result in severe distortion!) the platenut attach holes in the W-806A spar flange. See Section 5E. Use a microstop coutersink with a #30 pilot to countersink the screw holes in the spar to the proper depth for the #8 screw. The pilot will center in the countersunk platenut well enough to keep the hole round and concentric. (Tip: cut a #8 screw short so that it enters the K1100 nutplate easily and use it to gage the depth.)"

(Click to open the large view of this)

HUH???? So we sat down and worked through what Van's was trying to get through our thick skulls. First off countersink the platenut rivet holes on the spar web......then rivet all the platenuts in. After that you can follow Van's tip for using a #30 countersink all the screw holes....maybe I'm a little dense but it took me a little bit to understand Van's paragraph. Kinda like the defusing a bomb by following the directions "Cut blue wire, but not before cutting the red wire"

Here is Baron teaching Adam how to countersink.	Here is the result of Adam's hard work!

Baron did quite a few of the holes at one end and then had Adam start countersinking from the other end towards the middle. That way he could start riveting in the platenuts and work towards the middle and meet Adam. Needless to say friends are worth their weight in GOLD when you are building an airplane. . . . . THANK YOU ADAM!

We started clecoing (sp??) like the picture on the left shows, but realized that we couldn't have the cleco oriented that way with the manual rivet squeezer. (We have pneumatic rivet squeezer on its way from Clear Air Tools, but it won't be here for a few days. There is no way we are going to wait for it when we can make SOME progress using tools we already have on hand.)

You really need to make sure that these first ones are Perfect, if only for your self confidence. . . and safety.

Three down, about a hundred left to go!

Now that all the platenuts are riveted into the spar, we were ready to start countersinking the screw holes. We used Van's tip and cut the head of a #8 screw first to make sure that the sink was the right depth. This was a little tricky, so we used a pair of pliers to hold it, but it still got HOT!! In the first picture it shows Bear holding the screw by the threaded part. . . we only did this for the MAIN cut. Don't cut it all the way through this way or the head will go flying off into space.

Here are the platenuts riveted on and ready for the larger screw countersink.

Here is a picture of a hole without the screw countersink completed and two with the countersink. Make sure to keep the speed low when you drill the countersink or the hole will deform and not form a perfect circle as shown below :-)

That's about all we accomplished Saturday night, but we are going to finish countersinking all the holes and then repeat all this on the other side of the spar.

Happy Happy Joy Joy :-)