I got up and was in the shop by 8:30 this morning. The first thing to do was remove all of the labels from the ribs. Van's puts on small 'price tag' labels (with the part number) on all the ribs. A little acetone cleans them right up. I next filled a bathtub with about 4 inches of warm water and Dawn dish soap. I scrubbed each rib and allowed to air dry before they went back in the shop. The next step was Alumiprep. I used a long skinny storage container. I started with the right wing ribs and did them in order. Alumiprep process takes the sharpie marking off, so I needed to re-mark the ribs after they dried. Scrubbing the ribs in the bath of alumiprep takes a long time.....I would scrub a rib and then soak it in alumiprep while I scubbed another. Then I would rinse the first and scrub another. I kept going until all 30 ribs where done. The alodine process went quicker, as I could fit 2 ribs in the container at a time. The alodine I've been using is now all used up and I will have to get another gallon for the next priming session. I do this all outside.....while working it started to snow!!!. I mixed the 2 parts of the epoxy primer (AKZO) and set up the screen table. I fit all but 4 of the ribs on the table and began to prime. As I finished the second side, the wind kicked up....before I knew it, the wind scattered all of my freshly primed ribs in the yard. I picked them all up and thank god the primer was already dry. A few had a little dirt, but no damage. I finished the other 4 ribs and cleaned up and went back inside the shop. I took a short break, then clecoed the ribs back on the main and rear spar. I riveted the rear spar first. I was able to rivet all the rear spar with the rivet squeezer (my favorite tool). You must study the plans carfully to determine the right size rivets. I then riveted 3 ribs on the main spar with the good old gun and bucking bar...turned out real nice! I called it a day around 8:30 pm. I feel good...got alot done today!
After Alumiprep, the ribs are submerged in alodine, then rinsed with water.
Completed primed ribs clecoed to spars and ready for riveting
