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Another Hole in The Rib Question

mfleming

Well Known Member
Patron
I want to drill another hole in my main wing ribs.

This topic has been covered before but I am still confused if this is OK :confused:

I've read most of the threads about this and even talked to Van's about six months ago when I originally added some conduit holes. Van's led me to believe that there could be more holes drilled than their guidelines spelled out.

I came across an adventures in aviation video that does exactly what I would like to do. The adventures in aviation people seem pretty squared away.

I would like to get the warm and fuzzies before I drill the ribs.

Here's a photo of what I'm proposing:
 

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Extra hole

I did.
If you run plumbing through those holes, be aware they will be passing the bellcrank.
I made a bracket to keep the plumbing centered under the bellcrank. You also need a plan to enter the fuse as the lines will be near the control rod. Just my $.02
 
IMO definitely not a problem.
Thanks!

I did.
If you run plumbing through those holes, be aware they will be passing the bellcrank.
I made a bracket to keep the plumbing centered under the bellcrank. You also need a plan to enter the fuse as the lines will be near the control rod. Just my $.02

Good information.

No worries on the bellcrank, as all the pitot, AoA lines and the pitot wires stop just before the the bell crank bay (that's were the heated pitot is).

Haven't made the control rod yet, so I didn't think about interference at the wing root.

Have any ideas on avoiding the conflict?
 
It is my understanding that there used to be another tooling hole in the ribs which is why some builders blogs have three holes. Below I attached a link to Mike Bullocks blog, it looks to me that there were three holes from the factory, mine only came with two.

http://www.rvplane.com/?categoryid=3&dayid=178

Maybe Mike or Scott will chime in and tell me if this is in fact true. (oh and thanks Mike for having such an awesome builders log!)



I only drilled the two existing holes on my ribs as many people just put a hole in the plastic conduit (and put in some kind of rubber bushing) if a wire needs to exit mid run. This is what I plan to do, but I thought real long and hard about adding the third hole like you are asking.
 
It is my understanding that there used to be another tooling hole in the ribs which is why some builders blogs have three holes. Below I attached a link to Mike Bullocks blog, it looks to me that there were three holes from the factory, mine only came with two.

http://www.rvplane.com/?categoryid=3&dayid=178

Maybe Mike or Scott will chime in and tell me if this is in fact true. (oh and thanks Mike for having such an awesome builders log!)



I only drilled the two existing holes on my ribs as many people just put a hole in the plastic conduit (and put in some kind of rubber bushing) if a wire needs to exit mid run. This is what I plan to do, but I thought real long and hard about adding the third hole like you are asking.

Thanks for that link...and, as you said, thanks to Mike B. for a great log.

Now it all makes sense...
I had seen unaltered ribs with the third tooling hole but mine only has two and that was confusing. I think that come Monday, I'll call Vans about this third hole. I can't imagine that if the ribs used to have three tooling holes that adding one more to my ribs will hurt anything.
 
Thanks for that link...and, as you said, thanks to Mike B. for a great log.

Now it all makes sense...
I had seen unaltered ribs with the third tooling hole but mine only has two and that was confusing. I think that come Monday, I'll call Vans about this third hole. I can't imagine that if the ribs used to have three tooling holes that adding one more to my ribs will hurt anything.

Ya that is what I think as well (same rib design and thickness I'm assuming). Let us know what Van's says as I'm sure we aren't the only ones to ponder this.
 
Plumbing conflict

...
Have any ideas on avoiding the conflict?

If you uze SafeAir plumbing, turn them 90 degrees after exiting the wing root and enter the fuse aft of the control rod. Or make a bracket of some sort to keep them from interfering. Lots of options.
 
If you uze SafeAir plumbing, turn them 90 degrees after exiting the wing root and enter the fuse aft of the control rod. Or make a bracket of some sort to keep them from interfering. Lots of options.

Thanks for the tips Larry.

SafeAir seems to be out of business so I'm using the Dynon Pitot kit.

Im sure that once I have the control rod and the pitot tubing and wiring in place the conflicts will be much clearer.
 
Ya that is what I think as well (same rib design and thickness I'm assuming). Let us know what Van's says as I'm sure we aren't the only ones to ponder this.

Just sent a email to Van's support with the photo from the first post.

I'll give Van's a call Monday morning and see what they say and report back here.

-M
 
SafeAir

Thanks for the tips Larry.

SafeAir seems to be out of business so I'm using the Dynon Pitot kit.

Im sure that once I have the control rod and the pitot tubing and wiring in place the conflicts will be much clearer.

Cleveland and Stein both sell the SafeAir kits.
 
I sent a similar question to Van's when I was drilling my ribs and they basically said follow the FAQ and the holes you get should be enough. So I chose not to drill another set of holes. I plan to make due with opening up only the existing tooling holes.
 
Good to Drill

So I received a email from Vans today. The photo they commented on was the post #1 photo shown below.

attachment.php


They said "This additional hole will not be a problem."

So...As soon as I get my new step bit, I'm drilling the third hole :D

The ?" center hole will have my 14AWG heated pitot wires and the two ⅜" outside holes will have the pitot and AoA tubing. This way, I don't have to exit the conduit wth any wires or tubing on the way to the wing tip. And on the right wing, I can run my A/P servo cable through the ?" hole and all the wing tip light wires in the conduit.

My Garmin GAP 26 unregulated heated pitot should be here tomorrow:D
 

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Michael thanks for updating this, this will be nice for future people to see a response from Van's on this topic.

Also, thanks for the good pics, it helps big time when discussing things!
 
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