Riveting Lower Wing Skins

My apologies, and greetings to everyone here; this is my first posting. I'm helping my brother build his first 14, an amazing project and plane. We're semi stuck at riveting the lower wing skins and I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on positioning the wings for better access to the trailing edge. Currently the wings are in stands so the trailing edge is uppermost (leading edge down). We are neither of use small guys and it seems near impossible to get the bucking bar up inside with any reasonable hope of getting a good rivet. We're thinking of options from raising the entire rack 2' so we're both standing, to suspending the wing w/ the working surface down just to get better access. What have you more experienced folks done, or is this just "one of those points" that have to be dealt with?
Thanks for your forbearance and any suggestions. I know he wants to keep going and I'm trying to help keep the frustration factor lower.

Try something like this

I just finished this on one wing, and as a first time builder the method described in the manual worked but I did modify it so I could access those areas better. The first few rivets are the hard ones starting at the rear spar.

What I found worked better and what I am going to do when I start the next wing, is to peel back from the side and not cleco all of the skin down so that I can access each rivet better. I ended up with a few dents doing it the way the manual decribed.

Something similar to this (not my image at all but was very helpful to me).

http://www.vx-aviation.com/rv-9a/photos/Wings/107_0765_1.jpg

Be careful

The RV-14 is different. We more or less followed the instructions, proceeding from the trailing edge forward to the stringer. The rivets forward of the stringer were mostly bucked through the access openings.

Welcome to VAF!

sljester said:

greetings to everyone here; this is my first posting.

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Stephen, welcome aboard the good ship VAF

We found it pretty easy to rivet bottom skins with the wing vertical and the bucker sitting on a stool or chair at the right height.

JDBoston said:

What I found worked better and what I am going to do when I start the next wing, is to peel back from the side and not cleco all of the skin down so that I can access each rivet better.

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This is how a lot of the other construction manuals describe doing it and a lot of builders end up with skins that get skewed out of alignment while riveting span wise.
The method in the manual helps to avoid this.
My recommendation would be to follow the manual and uncleco the skin along the fwd edge as needed.
In our shop we do this riveting with the wing laying flat (upside down). Positioning it trailing edge up, at a height that allows the bucker to sit in a chair and reach up inside to the rear spar, with the skin unclecoed just enough for their arm to fit works well for a lot of people. Once you have worked fwd far enough to reach the rivets through the access cover holes (approx to where the lateral skin stiffener is), cleco the skin down fully, and finish.

Wow, great responses all! We've actually begun a process very similar to JDBoston's and it's going more easily than anticipated. Only had to remove two rivets. As for the positioning of the wing, we actually went the KISS method and put the wing up on the assembly table in the frames built for the leading edge assembly. My brother is over 6' so it was a perfect height for him and I was able to work effectively from the third step of a ladder. After cutting my teeth helping with the fuel tanks, this seems like a breeze. Thanks again for the help and advice, it's all helpful to a novice like me and I enjoy the learning.
Fair skies.

To clarify what I actually did, I mostly used the method in the manual because I was also worried about the alignment. I did end up unclecoing more than the manual called for just to get my arm in comfortably so in a sense it is a combo of the two methods. I will say that the rivets close to the flap bracket are tough to get so I may uncleco a bit more around there.

sljester said:

Thanks again for the help and advice, it's all helpful to a novice like me and I enjoy the learning.
Fair skies.

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Now that you have all this learning and experience in, it's time to start on your very own. Beware, it's addicting.