1.5 Hours -
When I got home from work, a package containing 125 new clecos and some snap bushings was sitting on my doorstep. This brings my 3/32″ cleco total up to 400, and I may need a hundred more before I’m through with the wings. Sure, it can be done with the Van’s minimum recommended of 275, but you’re going to be doing one wing at a time and you’ll probably have to leave several open holes between each cleco. I’m actually starting to understand why builder’s say that you can never have enough clecos.
As far as actual airplane work, I started prepping the left ribs for primer. This simply means I did a whole lot of scuffing with a Scotchbrite pad! I also had to deburr the holes that will be used to attach the ribs to the spars, and I had to dimple a single hole on each rib that attach the rib to both the aft spar and the skin.
Prepping for primer is probably my least favorite thing to do! At least I could listen to the latest episode of "Uncontrolled Airspace" while I worked.
The left wing ribs are scuffed, but they still need to be cleaned and primed.
During the scuffing process, I had to be careful not to completely remove the numbers I have written on each rib. Near the forward upper end of each rib, I have written a single number that denotes the ribs position on the spar. I’ll also have to pay close attention to these numbers later on when I’m cleaning the ribs before priming. Sharpie is no match for acetone, so I’ll have to renumber each rib as soon as it is cleaned.
This weekend, I’m hoping to prime all the main wing ribs and rivet them to the spars…both left and right. We’ll see how far I actually get.
