Capstrips

I started today by finishing the top capstrips on ribs #1 and #3 per section 32¹. I drilled the center holes for the nutplates with a #20 bit and drillstop then reamed them to #10 using a battery operated drill and a piece of sheet aluminum below the hole to prevent the reamer from damaging the rib if it went through too far. After that, I match drilled the #40 holes, countersunk, and then riveted the nutplates in place. This finished this section. I then reset the #40 countersink and countersunk the nose rib hole on the #5 capstrip. I squeezed the rivet there to finish that section. The nose rib ended up a little less square than I would have liked but it can be flexed into position so it should work okay.

I also lined up the bottom capstrip on rib #1 per section 33². I paid especially close attention to making sure that the hole in the nose rib would have more clearance this time. I drilled all of these holes, deburred, and then went down the line countersinking and riveting. This process was the same as that for the left wing.

Rib 3 Bracing

After the capstrips were done, I marked the hole positions for the rib #3 braces on the ribs and drew the lines at the correct height on the spar webs. I then drilled the holes in the rib (starting with a center punch and a #55 bit). I then snugged the braces onto the rib (one at a time, starting with the shorter two) and had Martha hold them in position while I center punched the location for the holes in the spar. I then drilled these holes using the angle drill and the offset head. I started with a #50 bit and then enlarged with a #40. Finally, I finished snugging the screws for the braces into rib #3. This finished section 34³.

False Rib

I also drilled all of the holes for the false rib per section 35⁴ today. I clamped the false rib into place on both the nose and tail rib and had each cleco’d at just the top so that the false rib would have clearance. I made sure that the nose rib was pressed up against the spar and then I drilled and cleco’d the first two holes in the nose rib. I then removed the nose rib and the false rib and, with the clecos in place, drilled the third hole on the workbench. After that was done, I got Martha’s help riveting the nose and tail ribs to the spar. Finally, I drilled the two holes in the tail rib and deburred everything. This finished this section except for installing the false rib for the final time with Methacrylate glue and rivets. I will get Craig’s help doing that so that I have two sets of hands to help so we don’t run into any problems with the glue working time.