RV-10 Wing Cradle Plans?

Hello All.

I ordered the RV-10 QB kits in November and would like to build suitable wing cradles and fuselage rolling platform before they get here. Any idea where I would find specifications/drawings for these things?

I'm also planning to build a few of the EAA 1000 workbench units, unless someone has other suggestions for a better bench?

Thanks for your help
Dave M.

Hi Dave,

I just built both of the Wing and Fuse Cradles.

I shamelessly stole the wing cradle plans from Mouser's build site:
http://mouser.org/projects/rv-10/wingassembly.html

It went together easily. A chop-saw makes quick work of both this, the fuselage cradle and the EAA benches.

Regarding the Fuselage cradle. I'm going to make some modifications to mine now that I've received the QB Fuse.
- Buy 2 saw horse bracket kits from home depot along with several 2x4x10's. Do the math for your bench height and length to determine how many.
- Cut the legs of the saw horses short. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 12".
- Attach the saw horse leg bottoms to 2 lengths of 2x4 - one for each side. I went too short for my first revision and will likely go with ~5ft for each side to give a solid base.
- 1 2x6x8 cut in half and drilled to the top of the saw horses to give a stable platform and spread the load. i attached a strip of carpet to this as well.
- If you want to get fancy, drill a piece of leftover plywood between the two long legs to make a platform to store tools or hold your beer.

Regarding the EAA benches. I built mine with a ~2" lip all the way around. If I were to do it again, I would only put a lip on one side. I put wheels on mine but would not waste my time with that noise again. I rarely move the tables and when I do, dragging them is no big deal!

Have Fun!

Like Eric, I used Mousers plans for the wings. I haven't gotten to the fuselage yet.

I built 8 or so eaa tables. Short and normal length ones. (Reusing the scraps from the plywood). All mine are on wheels. I also have 2 tables that have a mounting bracket on one side so I can rest my Drdt and have it level with the tables

Tables: Don't forget to add a lip to clamp to. I put mine all the way around and don't regret it. I also added retractable wheels on all tables and don't regret it. Every quarter or so, I roll everything out in the driveway and do a full cleanup of the shop, using air in most cases. It's a great way to clean up and give my parts some dusting too. Plus, wheels allow you to reorganize your tables for different parts of the build, giving you more flexibility. While you can drag tables, the wheels allow you to move them without having to remove all the heavy stuff from the table shelves.

Thanks For The Advice

Thanks everyone for the good advice.

ERushing - Do you have any photos of the Fuselage cradle you have built. A picture or two would help me understand your recommendations.

And thanks for the suggestion of including a 1 - 2" lip on the work benches. I have that on my current general work bench at home and agree it makes clamping much simpler. I just hadn't thought about it for the EAA workbench, but will include in my plans now.

Dave

Here you go. As I said, I want to lengthen these a couple feet and lower them ~4 inches before I start working on the fuse in earnest. I want to be able to work on the floorboards without leaning over too much and the rest of it without having to reach up, etc...

The eaa work bench is inadequate in my opinion. A good bench is a 3/4 inch piece of smooth plywood with a shelf under it. I built my entire empennage on that and it worked great. The only problem is it takes up a lot of space. I made the legs out of 4x4's and made the frame out of 2x4's.

Having a small work bench makes life hard sometimes.

I built some thing similar to the eaa work bench. But that's what I have my drill press band saw and vice on.

Thanks for the Photo ER

ERushing,

Thanks for the photo of your fuselage on the cart. How do you have it attached? Is it tied to the wing spar or is that just some type of protective "cover" you have bolted to the spar?

Dave

It's just sitting on the car. I'm not planning on climbing up into the fuse so I haven't attached it to anything.

The wood attached to the spar is direct from the factory. That's how they ship the QBs.

Warning On Width of Cradle

I built the Mouser wing cradle, and it worked great until now. However, I wish I had placed the wheels about 1 inch closer together in width so that it would fit up the loading ramp of a rental truck!

U-Haul trucks have a loading ramp that is 24.5 inches wide between the rails. Penske trucks have a loading ramp that is 23 inches on some trucks, and 24.5 on others. So I would strongly suggest anyone building one of these wing cradles be sure the wheels you install are no more than 23 inches max between them so you can get them onto a truck for transport to the airport.

ERushing said:

Here you go. As I said, I want to lengthen these a couple feet and lower them ~4 inches before I start working on the fuse in earnest. I want to be able to work on the floorboards without leaning over too much and the rest of it without having to reach up, etc...

Click to expand...

Depending how long you plan to keep the fuse on the dolly, this type of stand will be quite limiting. I spent a decent amount of time inside my fuse and this type of stand will only allow you to sit/stand in the front seating area and even that would scare me with such a short spread on the two supports. Lose your footing and step back into the rear seating area and down she goes on the tail.

Larry