Wing building tips

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks again. This stuff is a gold mine of info.

[jrbirdman47]

Tools:

Here's some of the tools that I found to be handiest and some indispensable:

Big ticket item: The big disc sander. Get the biggest/ highest power you can find. I see them on Craigslist all the time for decent prices. You will use this for final fitting almost every wing piece there is, as well as rough shaping your aluminum parts.

Next most used was the occilating saw/ sander. Never really used it to saw but holy cow can that thing sand! and get into small places too.

Indispensable: The fine cut hand saw. very fine cutting and cuts on the pull stroke. Used it constantly.

Occasional use, but sometimes was the only tool that would do the job: The mini version of above, a hobby saw.

And last, sturdy scissors of some kind. I used them to trim plywood, cut out gussets, etc. Very useful.

Drew blood with all of them except the occilating sander and scissors. Probably just not trying hard enough.

[jrbirdman47]

More tools; Clamps

An assortment of what I used. Some more useful that others. The only one I would not recommend purchasing is the blue and yellow one at bottom right. Not much clamping strength and never really fit where I needed it to. Used the padded vice grip version at left instead. It ALWAYS worked. You will never have enough clamps.

[jrbirdman47]

One more:

A big ticket item, but again, I see one on Craigslist for $75 right now: The scroll saw. I used it constantly for sticks, plywood, making jigs, etc.

Cheap and handy: Make yourself a glue rack like this. I got tired of flipping over bottles that were 1/3 full and waiting for the ever so slow glue to flow to the nozzle so I could squirt it out. This way the glue is ready when you are.

[JonBlackmore Irish Eagle]

Les uses these to hold the gussets in place when he's gluing the ribs

[jrbirdman47]

Those are used along with staples. I didn't want to use staples, so I needed more clamping power. Also wanted to do both sides simultaneously to cut the build time down.Plus I was afraid I'd glue the clothespins to the gusset! 

[Chuck in Indiana]

I just ordered a bunch of them. I think I'll clamp them open and put a couple of coats of varnish and some paste wax where they clamp on the gussets. Maybe I won't glue them to the rib..

[JonBlackmore Irish Eagle]

Those are used along with staples. I didn't want to use staples, so I needed more clamping power. Also wanted to do both sides simultaneously to cut the build time down.Plus I was afraid I'd glue the clothespins to the gusset! 

JR this is where I saw it Les doesn't seem to be using the staples but as in all things I stand to be corrected. https://legaleagleflyingadventures.com/2020/04/04/my-rib-building-procedures/

[jrbirdman47]

Sorry, Jon- My mistake. You wrote Les and my brain read "Leonard"! As with most everything Eagle, there are many ways to do things and the end result is what counts. That's the beauty of this forum!

[jrbirdman47]

Today I began suffering from "empty nest" syndrome. (Sort of)

Nearly a year and a half ago a friend and I embarked on an adventure in building Legal Eagle XL's. Every day I have been home since then I started my day by going out to the shop and working to build the wings, piece by piece. Yesterday we  finished the last one. This morning I went out to the shop and had nothing to do except start cleaning up, a considerable task in itself. It was kind of sad.

Pictured are the 4 wings, two in the racks above the garage door, (You get creative when you need to store stuff), and the last two on the work bench before storing them.

I have to admit that although I really love working with wood, I'm sort of over that now and I look forward to starting to work with aluminum and steel.  Hopefully, in another year I'll be putt-putting around the area low and slow.

Whether you are sitting on plans and contemplating getting started, just beginning to cut wood, or deep into the wing portion of the project, I know it seems so very far in the future , but there really is a day where you are finished with the wings.

[JonBlackmore Irish Eagle]

JR  "although I really love working with wood, I'm sort of over that now" . I had a good laugh when I read that line.

[Chuck in Indiana]

It's a bittersweet moment when you finish an airplane project. Even something a simple as a Legal Eagle requires "thinking about it constantly." 
You still have a fuselage to build, a powerplant to put together, covering, etc. Still *plenty* of things to enjoy before it's done. 

[jrbirdman47]

All four wings finished and stored above the garage door. Just for curiosity's sake I weighed a wing before storing them and it came in at 31.8 pounds, finished, sealed, and ready to cover. (I did have protective "bumpers" installed on all the attach fittings, so it's probably closer to 31.5) The other wing likely weighs about 5.5 pounds more with the aluminum tank and tank mounting structure. Of course this was on the digital bathroom scale that routinely lies to me by overstating my weight by at least ten pounds every morning.

Moving on to metal work!

[Theodore]

very well done, i cannot use hand drill, impossible to keep perpendicular, must use drill press or jig for horizontal drilling. I have used drill inside of pipe that was clamped(with collets).
 great journalist!

[Chuck in Indiana]

I'm an EAA tech counselor, and when asked what tools you *need* to build an airplane, I always say a drill press, band saw, and 12" disc sander.
The only tool I had when I was a kid was a Shopsmith. It got an airplane built, though.(with a *lot* of setups.)
For this woodwork on the LE, I bought an oscillating saw/sander. I'd call it necessary for all the sanding. I bought a 60 some dollar paper cutter for all the gussets. A trim router for scarfing and making the plywood parts may not be necessary, but is a great tool for that. I've always said that having the proper tool is normally about 2/3 of the job.