Laying Out Ribs & Bolt Holes on Upper Spars

 My first task is to layout all the Rib Locations and Hole Locations, in pencil, on the spars.  I wanted to work on all the upper spars as a group so I could see that they match.  They all fit nicely on the table saw and the roller stands.

 To make sure I get everything located correctly I marked the ends of all the spars and the faces.  The aft spars are more obvious but the forward spars rectangles and easy to mix up the orientation.  I stuck a sticky to mark the lower edge at the root end, just to help visualize what I was doing.

 All the bolt hole and routed areas are on the spar drawings but the rib locations and root attachment holes are only on the wing assembly drawings.

 I started with the rib locations.  To make sure the measurements didn't creep as I moved down the spar all the locations were recalculated from the root end.  The 1/4" thick root rib covers the spar ends so the start spars is 1/4" in from the start of the wing dimensions. 

To double check my calculations I measured each rib spacing after marking it using the tape measure from the root.

As I worked down the spars I kept the drawing positioned on the current location to help make sure I used the correct spacing.

 With the centers located, edge lines were drawn for each rib.

 I drew the rib locations on the between the spar surfaces since those are the faces I'll use installing the ribs, the forward face of the aft spar and the aft face or the forward spar.

I drew one spar at a time using the first spar to see if I made any errors.  I actually found a small error on the first spar when I did the second.  The width of the rib was wrong on one location.

With all the ribs located I moved to the spar drawing and located all the bolt hole.  Not all the holes are the same between the forward and aft spars.  I also marked to hole sizes for each to help assure I don't ruin a spar by drilling the wrong size hole.

Started Making Wing Spars

I stopped working on the WACO so I could get our Fly Baby out of the attic workshop.  The plan was to get enough room to build the wings.

 Fly Baby is back at the airport just about ready to fly.  I actually had it there in the spring last year.  I got it all assembled and climbed in to discover I couldn't operate the right heal brake until my hip replacement in September.  The surgery and recovery went great.  After 4 months I'm back flying a C-172.  Soon Fly Baby will be back in the air.

 I'm finally back working on the WACO.  I got out the spars I bought in 2008 and learned an important lesson.  I had checked the size when they arrived but did not do a detailed inspection of each board.  One of the rear spar boards had 2 defects which prevent it from being used.  I've contacted Aircraft Spruce and they are working with me to make it right. After all these years I appreciate their kind help.  Make it easy, check your wood when it arrives.

The other 7 spars were fine.  I ordered the boards wide enough so I could get some other long pieces from the scrap.  It looks like that will work out as planned.

 My neighbor George, a retired college football coach, helped guide the 15 foot long boards through the saw.  After Fly Baby left the attic I split it into 2 room with the door placed so we could saw the spars.  We set up 2 roller stands on each side of the saw, went slow and it worked well.  The next step is to locate and drill all the holes for fittings, etc.

Rich Wilbur has been working on his first wing and has it about done.  The 100th anniversary of our planes, 2026, is coming up fast.  Looking good Rich.