Heavy Compression Rib Members

The wings have several different ribs along with the light ribs. One such is the heavy compression rib at the strut attachment point. This rib uses the light contruction for the nose and tail portions with heavy members between the spars. The first step in making these ribs is the 2 heavy members cut from 3/4" wide spruce. The curve and spar cuts were laid out using a light rib as a pattern along with the drawing dimensions (D/N 3662).


With the cuts all drawn on the sticks, the first cut was made for the 1/4" wide web. The order of the cuts is important to be able to handle the sticks as each cut is made.

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The next cut was the ends of the sticks to fit the spars. The miter was set by using a straight edge lined up with the saw blade and the cut line on each end of the sticks. Not only are the spars tipped from square but, each stick is at a different angle to the spars.

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Next, the curves were cut on the band saw and sanded smooth.

The last cut was made to form the 7/16" thick foot of the "L".