Spar/Rib Match Drilling Complete
Match Drilling Done
After the assembly of the left wing spars/ribs last night, I was anxious to get the match drilling done on it. I pulled out the #30 reamer and went to town on the spar attach holes. There are several holes in the ribs for the wing walk area that require a drill over the reamer because they are new and do not line up with the pre-punched holes in the ribs/rear spars. I am sure this was done at Vans to save production time/cost on the ribs. No big deal, you simply have to drill them and abandon the punched holes. The same applies to the first two leading edge ribs outboard of the tie-down block. I was able to match drill all the ribs for the right wing and then disassembled it. I was actually sad to see it apart. So was my son who ran out to the shop too late to see it all together. Oh well, it will be back together soon enough.
I then moved on to the left wing and repeated the process. Assembled, match drilled, and disassembled. I then deburred all the holes on the ribs and spars.
The night ended with the start of scuffing the ribs for primer. I made it through eight ribs before I ran out of Scotchbrite pads and will power. I will purchase some more pads tomorrow and hopefully be able to get the rest of the ribs scuffed this weekend. Then I can prime the ribs, assemble permanently, and hang the wings in the stands [that are being sandblasted/painted by a neighbor as we speak]. Despite the pain of rib prep, I am excited to be making progress again.
