Metal for Wing skins is here!!

I battled some pretty intense blowing snow for 2 hours coming home from Wichita last night. But here it is... Finally.


Consider this also a BIG THUMBS UP for TW Metals in Wichita. The cheapest, (and closest) place to get sheet metal for me. The gal I spoke with there was VERY knowledgeable and helpful. I got two 4' X 12' sheets of .032" for $136 a sheet WITH the pvc coating (clear) on both sides. ($8.00 a sheet.)
I also had them cut the sheets to 112" leaving a drop of 32" X 48". (Which will work great for a lower inboard skin!) Out of one 4' X 12' sheet, I get a lower inboard skin, a complete upper main skin, a tank baffle, W-423 splice plate, and whatever else with the drop.

TW Metals also loads it for you (on a skid, but I made my own so it would fit between the wheel wells). Super nice folks.

Time to get a wing back in the jig!

Gregg

TW metals is owned by o'neal steel, which is based in Louisville, KY. They sponsored my FSAE team at UofL(ouisville) so I always try to deal with them when I can. I buy lots of aircraft grade sheet metal for work. I've found tha tMOST Petals companies will deliver to you if you ask nicely and are remotely close to some of their bigger customers.

If TW won't, Ryerson, who usually deals with more industrial type stuff can usually get 2024 and 7075, so that's worth a shot. They have VERY liberal delivery policies....

Save even more

For those of you who want one piece, .032" wing skins, ask your vendor if they carry [or can get] 2024-T3 in 5' X 12' sheets. I did this with my local vendor [Future Metals]. You can make TWO one piece wing skins from a single 5' X 12' sheet, so it saves even more money.
Future Metals also applied the PCV coating [at no extra charge] to my skins and also delivered them, for free. Future Metals has 5 branches in the USA, AND branches worldwide. See

http://www.futuremetals.com/locations.html

Charlie

riveting one-piece wing skins

Charlie,
A helpful note for when it comes time to rivet those one-piece wing skins:
For the second skin; you will need to start at one end of the wing, inboard end is where I started, and bend the skin away from the wing structure so you can reach one arm in the buck the next row of rivets. I suspended the free end of the skin from a ceiling joist; and PRELOADED THIS END SLIGHTLY UP; and slowly decreased this up-preload as I worked outward such that by the last 2 ribs it was even. The wings came out extremely straight. The reason I say this is because if you simply assume the skin will lay flat as you progress outward; it won't; it will gradually work itself low, and when you crank it up to match your rivet holes this will put a twist into the wing. I hope I explained this well enough to make sense!!

Just to nit-pick, O'Neal is based out of Birmingham, and TW is based in Exton, PA. I work for a software development group also owned by O'Neal. I'll pass along this thread to the rest of the gang here in the office. It'll either get a smile or a chuckle from the others.

sbalmos said:

Just to nit-pick, O'Neal is based out of Birmingham, and TW is based in Exton, PA. I work for a software development group also owned by O'Neal. I'll pass along this thread to the rest of the gang here in the office. It'll either get a smile or a chuckle from the others.

Click to expand...

That's right! I guess I assumed O'Neal was in Louisville because they were giving us stuff in Louisville....

Single piece skins

Just looking at this thread as I contemplate my next build - tho I'm still working on the current one!
One change I would really like to make is to single piece wing skins.

I guess everyone who does this uses 0.032" thickness? Do most folk do top AND bottom or just the top?

Rivet the top or bottom skin first? My preference would be bottom first because of the access to buck the rivets on the rear spar (bottom are internal, top are external).

Once the (say) bottom skin is on, with the wing still in the jig, is it OK to rivet the top skin with the wing on the bench rather than in the jig?

Finally, is it necessary to do anything special along the rib where the joint between skins would have been? I assume not but just checking.

Many thanks.

Chris