I was able to put in some "quality" time on the airplane today.  I set a goal for myself to finish the wings by the end of the month so that I can move onto the fuselage.  I have also been able to get out and fly the Cherokee the last couple of days so that has "resparked" the desire to get the RV done.

I took all the skins off the wing and countersunk all the spar holes for the leading edge and the wing skins.  Not pictured, but on this wing, I primed the countersunk holes with some rattle can self etching primer.  Mixing up Epoxy primer everytime you need to prime a small part or a quick job like this, is not only extremely time consuming, but expensive with the epoxy primer being $120 for a two gallon kit and that doesn't even cover the hazmat shipping expense of the primer.  It isn't as "pretty" as using all epoxy primer, but once the wing is assembled, you will never see it.

I decided that I would get the landing light kit installed on the left wing.  What seems like a long time ago, I decided to put in dual HID landing/taxi lights in the wings.  These things are extremely bright and draw minimal current.  At $450 a piece, they better work great.  There sure isn't much to the kit for that kind of $$$$.

I dug out my template that was provided by the Duck from the light kit I put in the right wing.  Following the Duck's directions, I drew a line on the top of the wing skin that was exactly 18.25" from the trailing edge of top side of the leading edge skin.

Then I lined up the template and drew the outline of the landing light on the skin.  This means I am getting close to cutting A REALLY BIG HOLE in the skin....

And then, the nervousness set in......  I started the hole using a cut off wheel in a die grinder.  This worked really great to get the rough opening of the hole made out.  I stayed at least 1/2 inch inside the lines I drew for the final hole cutout dimension.

This picture jumps forward quit a bit.  After roughing out the hole with the die grinder, I used some rotary burr bits to get the landing line dimension within approximately 1/8 inch of my final dimension.  Then to really straighten out the lines of the cutout, it was time to manually file the high points and "straighten up" the lines.  When i was pretty happy with how square everything was, I used 1" scotchbrite wheels in the die grinder to remove the last 1/16 inch or so.  Last, but not least, I sanded all the edges with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  It was a lot of steps that were taken slowly.  The rotary burr bits are really aggressive and not maintaining 100% control of the die grinder would have quickly ruined the leading edge assembly.

Last but not least, I re-attached the template to the cutout hole to line up the plexiglas reinforcement brackets.  At this point, I am drilling the holes that will attach the plexiglas window to the inside of the leading edge skin.

This probably took me 2+ hours to get the landing light cutout to look like this.  I am really happy with how the light cutout turned out.

After finishing the cutout, I took the leading edge off the wing spar.  This is what the rotary burr bits leave behind.  That aluminum didn't stand a chance.....

I was brushing aluminum out of my clothes and my hair all day long.

After success on the light cutout, I moved onto cutting the plexiglas lens to its final dimensions.  I fit the plexiglas to the outside of the wing to roughly determine how much material I needed to trim off the plexiglas to obtain dimension that was 1" on each side larger than the hole in the wing.

To prevent scratching of the plexiglas, "encapsulated" it in painters tape.  I was able to cut the plexiglas to a rough dimension using the band saw.  I cut to within around 1/8" of my desired final dimension.  That left me with room to smooth everything out and straighten (if necessary) using the belt sander.

The belt sander did a great job of taking the plexiglas down to its final dimension.  When I got to final dimensions, I rounded the corners of the plexiglas.  To put the final finish on the edges of the plexiglas, I sanded the edges with the 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  That left the edges of the plexiglas looking almost polished.

To make sure I didn't make any boo boo's, I checked the fit on the outside of the wing.  I think that I am in great shape on the top...

and the bottom....

By this time I was ready to call it a night.  Thrilled with my progress so far, I decided to mount the nutplates that hold the light assembly in the wing.  To get the squeezer in here to dimple (and rivet) the nutplates on, I had to disassemble the squeezer and reassemble after I ran the longeron yoke through the lightening hole.

Here the nutplates are riveted to the inboard rib.  One thing to note here is that I have changed the way I do business with nutplates.  Up to this point, I never was to concerned with priming the nutplates.  However, after working on the Cherokee the last year +, the parts that suffered corrosion have been the steel bolts, clipnuts, etc.  The aluminum looks good yet, but the steel components have been subjected to rust....  So from now on, I am making a point to at least put some rattle can self etching primer on them.  It only takes a few minutes with the rattle can stuff.  I guess I am trying to make sure that airframe will last at least as long as the pilot flying it (me). 

The outboard ribs were no problem to attach the nutplates.  Just get them on the right side of the ribs.

The brackets the Duck sent with my light kit had a mis-formed bracket that required the flanges to be bent out slightly to make the bracket longer to span the two ribs in the leading edge.  This was a pretty straight forward affair as I just made two bends by placing the bracket in the bench vise and bending the bracket....  To keep the lamp lined up with the hole I just cut in the wing, one side was bent out slightly more than the other side.

Just a pict of the other side.  My bends turned out pretty well.  After making the bends, I "dry fit" the bracket in the wing to make sure everything lined up.  It looked great, lets move on...

Attaching the nutplates to the light bracket....  Again, rattle can primer on the nutplates.

And finally, the light secured to the bracket.  All I have left is to finish up prepping the plexiglas lens and the light is ready to be installed.   Oohh yeah, I also have to mount the igniter, route and secure the wiring, etc...