From the last log entry, I am now a week behind where I would like to be.  This last week has been something else.  Always something distracting me from working on the plane.

Sunday-  A shelf in our closet fell off the wall when I was putting laundry away and took about half the drywall with it. Tami said she was glad I did it instead of her.  Basically said screw it and Tami and I put 150 miles on the Goldwing since it was a beautiful day.  Rode to Omaha to the famous Nebraska Furniture Mart and bought some DVD's.

Wednesday-  Had an airport authority meeting.  Found out that the FBO where I am taking flying lessons does not have a plane this year to rent out as all the owners who were leasing their plane(s) back to the airport don't want to do it this year.  WONDERFUL, slight setback.  I wonder how many hours this is going to cost me to back track with another CFI to get where I am now?

Thursday-  A friend of mine realized that I actually knew how to turn on a computer and wanted me to re-load all of his computer software after his kids trashed the OS after trying to "FIX" it.

This log entry is roll up of the minutes I was able to spend putting up the wing stand.  I have been anxious to get the wing stand up so I can start assembling the wing.  I have about 100+ hours on the wings already and don't have any major structures riveted together to show the results of my effort.

My garage lights kind of washed out this picture, but at the top you can see a 2" x 4" (26" long) lag screwed to the ceiling trusses.  Once I had the 2" x 4" mounted to the ceiling, I attached a angle iron (you can get at Home Desperate decking department) to the 2" x 4".

I then hung a plumb bob from the center of the angle iron to mark a point on the floor where the back and center of the vertical 4" x 4" would need to be mounted in order to be somewhat plumb.

I then measured the center of the 4" x 4" brackets and placed the back, center side of the bracket where the plumb bob pointed.   The 4" x 4" bracket was secured to the concrete floor with concrete anchors.

 

When I was mounting the aluminum angles that will hold the wing spar, I looked for any reference on how high to mount these things.  I could not find any info to offer me a guideline of how high to go.  I decided to mount them aluminum angles pretty low.  The top of the aluminum angle is at 42 1/2".  This will allow me to:

• Work on the aft side of the wing while sitting in a chair or a the roll around seat (in the picture).
• Work on the forward side of the wing with nothing taller than a short step stool.

I don't think the height is all that important here or Van's would have given us a dimension for mounting.

With the line level, I was able to get both aluminum angles at the exact same height considering that my garage floor has about a 1/2" difference in height from one side of the stand to the other.

Before drilling the hole(s) to mount the aluminum angle to the 4" x 4" post, I checked that the aluminum angle was level and then double checked the line level.  When everything indicated level, I drilled the aluminum angle mounting hole(s).

One of the first things that will be required after mounting the wing onto the stand will be to take out any twist in the wing.  For that, I wanted some adjustability in the wing stand.  For the aluminum angle support hardware, I used two turnbuckles.  Just turn the center section (buckle) it will rotate the aluminum angle both clockwise and counter-clockwise.  With the smart tool, it is easily adjustable to 0.1 of a degree.

I am finished with the wing stand and tomorrow Tami and I are planning on riveting the wing ribs to the main and rear spars.  Should be interesting.  This is the first time we will be using the rivet hammer with AN470 rivets.  I would expect I will renew my proficiency with drilling out rivets tomorrow as well.