Routing the wing ribs on an XL

[ultra]

I was wondering if it's acceptable to rout or laser cut the wing ribs for the XL using a router or laser cutter instead on a single piece of wood instead of gluing multiple pieces together in a jig?

It would save me some time and money if I could cut them all out in a day for the wing as well as other wing parts.

[Tom XL-7]

A few thoughts: Saving money on materials is probably not happening. A solid board of 1/4" isn't cheap to cut most of it out and throw it away. Other issue on the solid board is grain orientation. It would be wrong most of the time. aircraft grade ply isn't cheap either but it eliminates the grain issue somewhat, you could include the gusset. Tricky to nail or glue thru the edge. Predrill it or it will delaminate. 
Do you have the machine to perform this work? I don't. Laser burn needs sanded off anywhere you expect adhesive to work. 
I'm not feeling the advantage here other than push a button. It would save some hours but building an aircraft from plans is going to consume quite a few hours.
if it is a serious issue it will only get worse. 
Ribs are fun. Don't require much money or space. I believe the "stick" version would be much stronger than the ply. I would rather trust foam board over the wood board version. As in I wouldn't trust the solid would board version at all.
Tom XL-7

[scottiniowa]

I was wondering if it's acceptable to rout or laser cut the wing ribs for the XL using a router or laser cutter instead on a single piece of wood instead of gluing multiple pieces together in a jig?

It would save me some time and money if I could cut them all out in a day for the wing as well as other wing parts.

Your question about routing or laser cut "the wing ribs" is perhaps to vague. Or perhaps you said something that might not be what you intended. So here goes, on what some have done, in the quest to build the wing faster in overall terms of time.  But perhaps not in saving money.

• "single piece of wood"   I presume you mean single piece of plywood?  If you didn't, then the answer is simple  NO- and NO one has done this before--  Before you start, it would be wise to calculate your nesting and cost of the sheets, thus your parts count., but in answer yes it can be done, and has been done by planes such as avid magnum 30 years ago, but in today's world very expensive.  Gosh, where has time gone, I guess 40 years has passed when this was done to some extent on some aircraft with plywood.
• Now if you mean parts of the wing rib, absolutely it can be done.  But these are parts (lots have shown how they route out "parts" to perfection and I fully agree with this. I and another fellow , had our metal form parts done- (for the router) and in three hours had every part that could be router shaped- done. Could the whole rib be done in plywood in this fashion, yes, but see the first line again.
• 20-30 minutes seems to be the time for a rib.... with a good jig.  You can do the math.  This is not saying you can have two ribs in one hour, but I would say you could have a rib in the morning, and one in the evening... every day... and in two weeks... you got them.
• We did an experiment with two kids working together, and we had a hard time getting one rib in 15 minutes. for labor.
• There are lots of areas on the aircraft where good thinking/planning will save time, but that can be said of almost any build.  But you won't get much cheaper than the prescribed way.

Hopes this helps, best of success
Scott

[ParQld]

I Laser Cut my DE Nose Ribs.

Not sure about trying to rout or laser cut the main ribs. Thats a whole different animal

see Earlier Post https://www.eaglersnest.com/forum/index.php?topic=635.msg3410#msg3410

Videos here:
https://photos.google.com/u/1/share/AF1QipN1ukwh7DTPh8r0vpRNPwEx2D4iZuNdA4q_QXSvhGKw0lWkJrahkG7Q06A4xF3RMw?key=V1lUWUlLc1ZCaEVHT0lhY1R6VlRJWTFxbm1lcFJR

cheers Paul

[scottiniowa]

I Laser Cut my DE Nose Ribs.
Videos here:
https://photos.google.com/u/1/share/AF1QipN1ukwh7DTPh8r0vpRNPwEx2D4iZuNdA4q_QXSvhGKw0lWkJrahkG7Q06A4xF3RMw?key=V1lUWUlLc1ZCaEVHT0lhY1R6VlRJWTFxbm1lcFJR

cheers Paul

Yes, an excellent way to go, and you can add into this layout, your K blocks, aileron Nose blocks,  well everything else you need cut out of this same thickness and you don't have much left over from the sheet-  Read, FAR FAR less waste.

The beauty of laser cutting is that the kerf is so thin, that your layout (nesting) can be so tight, that you can slide in parts that were never possible with a band saw/router.  Often 1/16" or (,0625") part separation.  

Just another way to skin the cat!

Best of success!