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Chris Owens - Bearhawk
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Date:  2-12-2012
Number of Hours:  2.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Rib Flanging Jigs/Forms

This is where the fun begins! I started out with some 1x10" oak planks from the local home center, and traced out the shape of the master wing form onto it. After running it through the bandsaw to within about 1/8" of the line, I bolted it to the master wing form and ran it through the routing table to match the two shapes.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was the tearout I received while running the oak planks through the router. It's possible that since the laminate bit had just finished routing out four (4) wings' worth of aluminum that the blade was dull and was "grabbing" instead of cleanly cutting the wood. Slowing down the cutting speed improved things.

After that, I traced the shape onto a second piece of 1x10" oak and repeated the above, making sure to cut more closely on the bandsaw and route more slowly. The second trip trip around the router table turned out better, although you could still tell the blade was getting a little bit dull. But given the purpose of this jig (going to beat the daylights out of it), it's probably not that big of a deall.

Once I had two matching forms, I marked the location of the spars and the spar flanges on the form. Following the plans, I used a tape measure to mark the rivet positions starting at the forward spar flange first and moving aft, placing marks for rivets every 1-1/2 inches. I did the same from the aft spar flange, then moved to the nose, Flip the form over and do the same on the bottom.

The purpose of the rivet marks is to know where I *can't* use fluting pliers when working the curves of the rib. Since the surface where the rib flange meets the skin needs to be flat, I need to make sure that a flute doesn't appear in that location. There will be more photos of that process in the near future when the rib flanging begins.
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Created the first piece from the master form, then matched the second one to it.

Created the first piece from the master form, then matched the second one to it.

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Marked the form for the rivets' locations so I'll know where it's okay to flute them.

Marked the form for the rivets' locations so I'll know where it's okay to flute them.

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Rounded over the edges with some 100-grit sandpaper and the custom radiusing tool from previous days.

Rounded over the edges with some 100-grit sandpaper and the custom radiusing tool from previous days.

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