Hey all,
I’ve got a buddy, not on the forum, who asked me this question. First here is his picture:
He reports:
We found an issue with the lower wing skin alignment with the spar. The
front of the skin does not align with the front of the spar. This puts
the predrilled holes in the skin too close to the inside radius of the
spar flange. See the attached pictures. It is about .090 in short the
entire span. The skin dimensions match the plans.
Anybody have any experience with this issue?
Are the wing ribs factory made/supplied, or were they made from scratch?
I am not 100% certain what I see in the photo, is that the leading edge of the skin to the main wing spar? If so, I assume that the trailing edge of the skin is in alignment with the trailing edge flange of the aft wing spar along the full length of the wing.
I do recall someone else had an issue with fit of the skin at the main spar in that the further inboard they checked, the closer the holes got to the inside radius of the spar (If I remember correctly that may have been either @sonex1517 - Robbie, or @NWade - Noel). On mine, they did get closer to the radius, but not so close that it was a problem.
Kevin,
It’s a kit. And yes the bottom skin is aligned with the aft spar, and that picture shows the forward edge of the bottom skin where it lands on the main spar.
The only thing I can think of is that I remember there being spacers between the spar end of the rib flanges and some of the ribs, maybe just something to check that the spacers are correct?
My other thought - and there is no way this would be it, almost embarrassed to throw this out there, but what if the aft ribs were installed upside down…
Upside down ribs are not out of the question. I had builders assume the ribs were lefts and rights and build one wing with the ribs pointing the wrong way. One got as far as trying to install the leading edge on nose ribs that were upside down. Anything is possible when the plans aren’t followed and assumptions are made.
Bryan,
I dont have the plans with me but I think this is an assumption that the front of the rear skin aligns with the front of the spar cap. Take a look at the plans.
Thanks Kerry!
