Rib Nails

[914pete]

Getting ready to rack my ribs. The rib nails look to be a little tricky to hammer into the front and rear spar. Are they more for holding the ribs in place while drying or structural? Pre-drill the cap strips?

[Kamcoman77]

More for holding things in place while epoxy dries. In Leonard's Wing Video he uses a tiny hammer and drives them in (no pre-drill). I haven't installed my ribs yet, but I'll probably pre-drill the ribs so the nails will go in straight. Then I'll use a long punch and hammer the nails in.

[Poorman2]

I nailed my ribs but left them proud so I could pull them out after the glue dried. I used t-88 epoxy. worked good. Even though it is not much weight, every little bit adds lightness.

[Chuck in Indiana]

It would take a bunch of them to make a measurable difference in weight. Just the same, they are only used for glue pressure. They *can* be removed after the glue sets up, though.
Mostly. 

[Dan_]

Personally I would not just leave them proud to be able to remove them. 

To me that would seem to reduce the "clamping force" by a lot. 

I would put some folded up paper or cardboard and nail through that, still leaving the nail head proud but holding the wood tightly together.  Thus allowing the easy removal even so...

For the extremely retentive builder, you could coat toothpicks with epoxy and drive that in to fill the hole.

2,000 nails per ounce seems off somehow...  Could you count that many out and weigh them again? 

[EthanP]

I used clamps with blocks to distribute the force across the vertical

[jrbirdman47]

Me too, Ethan. Couldn't stand the thought of beating a nail through a 1/4" stick into another 1/4" stick!

[Vince Carucci]

Same here, made clamps. It distributed the clamping load much better.

[914pete]

Same here, made clamps. It distributed the clamping load much better.

did you make those clamps?

[Vince Carucci]

Yup. I believe I have the drawings at home. I could check tonight and post what I find. I lent the clamps out when finished.

[Chuck in Indiana]

2,000 nails per ounce seems off somehow...  Could you count that many out and weigh them again? 

Since each one weighs 2 thousandths of an ounce, it only takes 500 to add up to 1 ounce.
FWIW, I clamped the ribs to the front spars. On the rear, I ground a shallow taper on popsickle sticks and used them to wedge the spar against the vertical member of the rib until the glue set up..

[Vince Carucci]

I attached an image of the front and back of the clamp. I glued/screwed/nailed a piece of wood between the 2 that is 1/16" bigger than everything that needs to be clamped. Then I used a 1/4-20 bolt and wing nut to squeeze the clamp during glue up. The photo in my other post shows how they look when finished and in use. I got the idea from a video that Les Homan posted with still shots of his build. Good luck.

Vince

[jrbirdman47]

I made similar clamps. Just 1 X 2's with a square notch cut out to allow clearance of the upper rib structure, 1/4" carriage bolts and wing nuts. Nothing fancy, but it worked well. Wish I had gotten close-ups of them now.