Tami wanted to run to Omaha tonight after work to go quilt shopping (boring) and after some groveling, I talked her into staying home tonight to help me prep wing ribs for priming.  So now she gets all day Saturday to shop quilts. 

We set up an assembly line of sorts.  We sorted all the ribs by wing and in order.  The locations on the ribs scribed with a sharpie marker usually comes off during the alumiprep "scrub" so we wanted to make sure we kept track of which ribs go where.

Really...  We are quite organized all though it doesn't look like it here.

By the time we were done tonight, we had accomplished:

• Alumiprepping 28 main ribs and 10 leading edge ribs.
• This represented 8 man-hours of continuous scrubbing of parts.
• Alodined all ribs, resulting in an additional 3 man-hours of effort.

The first stage of this priming marathon is complete.  Parts are drying tonight and I will be ready to spray on the AKZO epoxy primer tomorrow morning since I don't have to work (gotta like these Fridays off>>  get lots done on the plane). 

Its 2 a.m., I am beat.  Time to call it a night (morning)>>>  WHATEVER.

After getting some sleep and recovering (somewhat) from the first leg of our priming marathon, I am ready to spray the AKZO epoxy primer on the wing ribs.  But first, I needed to re-work the spar end rib (W-707F) that I incorrectly countersunk a couple of days ago.  I am not going to beat the dead horse here, but what I wanted to bring up here is that I had purchased a micro-stop countersink with a half skirt (cage). 

As you can see below, it allowed me to use the countersink cage even when countersinking close to the bend.  Worked well, cost me $16.95 from the Yard Store.

Alright, enough about fixing my screw-ups.  One thing I had to figure out before I started priming was where was I going to put all the ribs to let them dry.  Up to this point, room hasn't been a problem as the priming sessions and parts have been small.  However, this is a lot of ribs to prime.  What I did was take my 10' 4" x 4" that I am going to use for my wing stand and pounded in some 1 1/4" roofing nails to hang the ribs on .  I spaced the nails approximately every 10" to prevent the ribs from banging together.

Just another close up shot...  I think that the 4" x 4" timbers may be a little over kill here.  That's okay, I actually bought them for the wing stand...

Fast Forward>> to the end product.  I primed one side and then hung them on the nail to dry.  When they were dry to the touch, I primed the other side.  Because the ribs like to sway a little on the nail, I always put the dry side of the rib facing the 4" x 4".  This worked really well. 

Here's my "rack of ribs".  The statistics for the priming marathon include:

• 28 outboard/inboard ribs primed
• 10 leading edge ribs primed
• 5 hours of spraying primer
• 16 hours of total effort
• 8 scotchbrite pads
• 18 sets of latex gloves
• 1/2 gallon of Alumiprep
• 8 oz of Alodine
• 16 oz of Acetone
• 1/2 gallon of AKZO Epoxy Primer
• Being done.... PRICELESS (Actually, around $60 for all of the supplies)

I am a day ahead of my "planned" schedule.  If all goes well, I will have the wing ribs riveted to the spars and in the wing stand before I go to work on Monday.