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Bottom wing skin riveting- flat or vertical?

Iluke

Iluke

Well Known Member
I'm getting ready to rivet my bottom wing skins and see that some folks follow the plans and lay the wing down on the bench while others do it with the wing vertical in the wing stand. I can see advantages to both, but then again I haven't yet actually started the task.

Anyone have any strong opinions on which is best? I will be working with a helper.

thanks
-Ivan
 
I tried mine on my table and because I am only 5' 8", I could not reach very far over the top of the wing. I ended up putting the wing on the floor and laying down next to the wing. It's wierd I know, but it worked for me.
My wife sat on a stool next to the wing and worked the rivet gun for about 25% of the rivets, the rest I could get myself.

I also used a rope and pulley system to pull the skin back so I could reach under it. That was mandatory to get to some of the rivets. Just have to be careful not to crease the skin.
 
I started mine solo in a rotating stand...
FP07082013A00050.jpg


It ended up being way easier doing it with a partner on a bench. Just make sure you can access the wing from both sides of the bench. My usual benches are too wide and too heavy to move, so I turned the wing skins crate upside down on sawhorses to make a temporary bench:
FP11082013A000XF.jpg


FP11082013A000XG.jpg
 
We did it vertically with two people and it was fairly easy to reach everything.
 
I did one on the wing stand... easy as pie.

The other one I did on the bench after disassembling the wing stand. I spent a couple of days kicking myself in the butt for not leaving the wing stand assembled. It was MUCH easier for me to work on it vertically, training edge down.
 
Wing jig

One complete. Both were left in the jigs. I checked it before riveting just to be sure it was square. Thankfully I had help. Some was done solo but outboard skin would have been really difficult with my short arms. One to go.
 
I did mine in vertically on the wing stand, solo. It was actually pretty easy except for some far corner rivets where there were no inspection covers to aid access. Van's should really add one more out there beyond the bellcrank just to make riveting easier! I'm 5"11 with relatively skinny arms which made it significantly easier to get in through the lightening hole at the ends and into the far corners.

See more at:

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=wjbencze&project=2206&category=0&log=194080&row=5
 
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I laid my wings flat on a pair of small desks and was able to solo rivet the bottom skins. Long arms help. :)
IMG_1874-M.jpg
 
On the wing stand was easy. Most rivets solo. Took help when I could get it or made tools like this when I couldn't.

IMG_1072.JPG
 
Thanks everyone for all the good hints. There seems to be lots of ways to skin this particular cat!
 
Mine was done in the wing stand. On the RV-10, it's a two man job. My arms weren't anywhere close to being long enough to do the job by myself.

FP16112010A000QT.jpg


The other item I'll recommend for whomever ends up bucking is to cut the toes out of a tube sock and wear it on your arm. It will prevent many cuts on your arm.
 
...and another hint

Be sure to put some padding under the area you are bucking in case you drop the bucking bar. :eek: And especially if you have your wing on a wing stand. A bar (esp. tungsten bar) falling to the leading edge would make for a bad day. :(
 
Tip

rleffler said:
The other item I'll recommend for whomever ends up bucking is to cut the toes out of a tube sock and wear it on your arm. It will prevent many cuts on your arm.
Click to expand...

I used that tip as well. Best idea ever.
Also, I made a shim for the bar so the face would be at the right angle when it was laying down against the rear spar. Then I added a string lanyard so I couldn't drop it.
 
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