Brief Description: Continued center section construction
I picked up the wing spar spacer blanks from a local woodshop earlier this week. Before assembling the center section, I decided to do some measuring and comparing of my actual wing spars and the spacer blocks that the center section will be built around. These spacers and the center section dimensions are critical since the wings will eventually have to mate precisely. After clamping the spar stubs, I measured the spar thickness with a dialed caliper. The following were the recorded measurements:
Left Wing (top spar bar) 1.443" Left Wing (bottom) 1.445"
Right Wing (top spar bar) 1.440" Right Wing (bottom) 1.440"
The shop instructions say to make the spacers 1-7/16" or 1.438" which is slightly smaller (narrower) than my actual spar bars!
My spacer blanks appear to be 1-7/16" when measured with a machinists ruler but when measured with a dial caliper they are just a little off (the left spacer and right spacers actually measure 1.429").
My plan is to apply some metal tape (aluminum or stainless foil tape) to the spacers to adjust the thickness to about 1.447 for the left wing and maybe 1.442 for the right. That should give me about .002" extra width to accept the wing spar bars when the center section is riveted together.
I have outlined my plan to an experienced RV-8 builder and am awaiting some feedback before proceeding. I sure don't want to build the center section too narrow to accept the wings later (or with too much clearance).
