The wing is turned once again, bottom side up. The wing walk is put back on temporarily to open the rivet holes to #30, then removed. The main spar rivet holes are also reamed to #30 at this time, preparing to rivet on the bottom skins.
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But first, the fiberglass tip rib must be fitted. The aft flange is notched to fit around the rear spar, the top notched to fit the end of the main spar cap, and the lower edge must be trimmed to fit against the #12 rib flange near the lower main spar cap.
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I find the die grinder cutoff wheel to be a fast way to fit material. But, it generates a lot of dust, so we mask up and prepare to strip in the mud room on the way in to make supper. I think this was the main reason I decided to build a metal airplane versus composite. The Sonex/Waiex/Xenos family is looking cooler every day that I work on my Waiex. The layered look isn't just for dust: it was 42 degrees (F) in my shop when I started work this afternoon. It's officially Winter in Montana today, has been below zero (F) off and on for a couple of weeks now. The shop is insulated, and so small that just running the lights and tools bring the temp up to the mid-50s rather quickly.
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And, here is the tip rib, drilled and clecoed in place. The fit isn't perfect, but close enough. The tip ribs will be one of the last things riveted, so maybe some shims will be in order to eliminate waviness in the skin where the rib is a bit undersized. This one took about one-fourth the time to fit as the first one. This really is an educational process. I drilled out the bottom holes to #30, will do the top ones after the skins are riveted and there are enough 1/8" clecoes to go around.
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