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Building Tips and technical articles. => Building techniques => Topic started by: Paul Taylor on February 15, 2011, 07:58:45 PM
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I did not want to take over Phil's Vector wing thread.
Here is were I am at. Someone gave me a copy of Windy's video that shows the building of the Miss Ashley wing. I really like watching it as I build my Vector wing. I am taking my time and I want to get this wing right. Windy take a long ruler and checks for high and low ribs before the LE sheeting goes on. He explains that if you have a few high ribs you just take a sanding block and even them up, but says nothing about if you have a low rib. I have two ribs that are a little low, by about 1/16. So what is the fix before I put the LE sheeting on?
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Three fixes come to mind. 1) You could make "false ribs" (a "strip rib", like on an I-Beamer), and glue it in directly on either side of the duff rib...a doubler or sandwich. Could probably get it out of the sheet the ribs came from in about 10 seconds. 2) Or, you could glue "cap strips" onto those two ribs, sand them flush with a sanding bar, and then, if you want, trim the width down to the rib thickness. 3) You could cut out the entire front of those two ribs and replace the nose section.
The second option would look better when bystanders are looking at the remains (in 10 or 20 years, we hope!) and will be slack-jawed about your fine workmanship. But the first option would work just fine. Nobody with any sense would do the third option. I think most of us would do the 2nd method. Easy-peasy. OBTW, my guess is that those two ribs are installed "upside-down" relative to the rest. Symetrical ribs aren't always perfectly so. Best plan is to stack them up and flip 'em 'round until they're the best fit, then mark the top on all. Stack sand them before assembly, if needed. y1 Steve
PS: Be careful watching Windy's Miss Ashley wing vid while building a Vector 40 wing. You might end up with a Mrs. Vector wing. mw~
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do the false ribs - easy fix and will get you finished quicker. it is not going to interfere with anything.
I find it weird that they would be out of line though - I've built 6 vectors and all the ribs have been good as gold....
dont know if Steve has built a vector - but it would be pretty hard to install the vector ribs upside down - the top has a 1/4" sq spar - the bottom has a tapered spar from root to tip.
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I find it weird that they would be out of line though - I've built 6 vectors and all the ribs have been good as gold....
I'm building it.... and there's your problem. HB~>
The two ribs are not off much, just enough that the sheeting will not touch. My guess is I wiggled my knife blade when cutting the spar. So now these two ribs I bet are going to be a little high when I flip the wing. Again... HB~>
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Hi Paul,
Personally, I would glue a "cap strip" (roughly 1/16th" wide) on the low ones. Sight to see if you need 1/16th" or 3/32nd" balsa to make it just a touch "proud" of the surface. Then sand it down to match the surrounding ribs. Use a block that spans the adjacent ribs and it will be "inline" without messing up any of the other ribs. A LOT quicker, and just as good as trying to make another "rib". All you are wanting to do is make all the ribs uniform so that the sheeting is even (no obvious humps or dips at the rib stations) once applied.
If you didn't do it this time, then next time draw centerlines on the ribs and spar to help in alignment when you begin laying in the ribs. That way, at least all the ribs will be in the right "place" to start with and only some shims to hold up the tips of the spar to maintain the taper will be needed.
Of course, a "rod jig" (or some other type of jig) will really ease the process. ;D y1
Big Bear
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Ribs a little high...sand off. Ribs a little low...build up with a thin strip of balsa, attach with cement of your choice (my favorite for this part of the project, Ambroid or Sigment). Oops, to much - now it's a little bit high, see first sentence of this post. Part of the challange of building your own. 8)
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Hi Paul. Your building it is not the problem. This happens to all of us at one time or another. Especially if the ribs have been hand cut, laser cut not so much if ever. It happens, don't blame yourself. Keep on keepin on. H^^ D>K y1 #^
the vector ribs ARE laser cut..........
Keep at it Paul !!
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OK the more I looked at the one rib it was about off the thickness of a sheet of paper. The other rib was a little more. I got a call from one of my Tech support guys and the told me to just cut the glue joints and move it. I was a little gun shy about doing that but slipped a new #11 in the spar joint and it popped lose. I adjusted it and all is good.
Now time to flip it over and see what the other side looks like.
Stay tuned...
PS - and thanks guys for the encouragement.
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do the false ribs - easy fix and will get you finished quicker. it is not going to interfere with anything.
I find it weird that they would be out of line though - I've built 6 vectors and all the ribs have been good as gold....
dont know if Steve has built a vector - but it would be pretty hard to install the vector ribs upside down - the top has a 1/4" sq spar - the bottom has a tapered spar from root to tip.
The spar notches were probably cut on the wrong side, to boot! I had a Vector 40 kit, but sold it (unopened) cheap to my buddy Glenn Reach. H^^ Steve
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The spar notches were probably cut on the wrong side, to boot! I had a Vector 40 kit, but sold it (unopened) cheap to my buddy Glenn Reach. H^^ Steve
shoulda built it!!!! nice plane that flies extremely well
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Paul,
After building several, I found on the Vector that the only way to get reasonably straight bottom spars is to cut them oversize from the 1/8X3 sheet, and then recut them to eliminate the warp that usually occurs from stress relief. And if you get them cut accurately the laser cut ribs will glue on very straight and require very little sanding. It is also a good idea to line the ribs up before glueing on a piece of 1/8 strip and sand the trailing edges together so they will line up when you install the TE. Just did one this week and it came out all right.
Phil
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OK the more I looked at the one rib it was about off the thickness of a sheet of paper. The other rib was a little more. I got a call from one of my Tech support guys and the told me to just cut the glue joints and move it. I was a little gun shy about doing that but slipped a new #11 in the spar joint and it popped lose. I adjusted it and all is good.
Now time to flip it over and see what the other side looks like.
Stay tuned...
PS - and thanks guys for the encouragement.
My Brother Paul! You will be fine. y1
Big Bear