Brief Description: Left side vertical stiffeners and 1-1/4" strips
Rear spar left side vertical stiffeners were positioned and match drilled. I match drilled 4 pieces at a time on the drill press to #40 holes. Then positioned the top piece on the web and match drilled. Then clecoed the bottom and opened up the holes to size #30.
I needed to cut down my miss-sized main spars and cut some 1-1/4" strips for rib attach angles. My previous attempts at cutting off the flange didn't go all that smoothly so I decided to try something different. I've seen where other builders have ripped aluminum on a table saw, and even though I don't really like the idea I thought I'd give it a try. I mounted a 7-1/4" blade in the saw backwards and lowered the blade below the table top. Mounting the blade backwards cuts a nice 1/8" strip out rather than sending thousands of metal chips flying. Then I clamped a piece of 1/2" plywood to the table top to act as a higher table. This provides for a good block for edge guidance and prevents the edge of the aluminum sheet from slipping under the guide. Then I raised the blade with the saw running to cut a slot in the table.
This method worked pretty well and accomplished just what I needed. It didn't leave a clean edge so I still had to router cut a finished edge. There wasn't much metal chips flying but it was still uncomfortable using this method. Something about cutting metal on a table saw just doesn't seem right. I then router cut enough 1-1/4 inch strips of the .032 material for rib attach angles.
It was another nice day so again Andrea was able to talk me into flying RC's without much arm twisting.
