Something new!  I haven't updated since Oshkosh; a long time for sure.  After getting back it was time to start another school year and that always takes up a lot of my time.  Once I finally got back at it in early September it was time to make the aileron and flap hangers.  These proved to be a lot more time consuming than I ever thought.  So here we go.  The initial concern was figuring the difference between the aileron hangers from the drawings and the flap hangers needed but not part of the plans.  Between the flap drawing in the 2+2 plans, the aileron drawings, and looking at a couple of planes up close I was able to generate accurate CAD drawings of the two different hangers.  All the parts are the same just the final jigging is different.  The flap hinge point is a bit lower and a bit closer to the false spar than the aileron.  I have cad drawings that I will post to show the difference latter.  I also lost a bunch of time by making the "U" channel that welds at the end of the 3/4" tube out of mild steel as called for in the plans.  I just wasn't happy with it and made a second set from 4130 and was much happier.  Same with the end of the tube with the bushing.  The plans do not show a finger strap.  I first welded this up with a piece of mild steel capping the end but did not like it.  After three  ends were welded I cut them off, make new bushings and used 4130 .030 for small finger straps and was much happier.  Was this too much work?  Possibly. I think it would have been faster if I had used tube rather than making my own channel for the angle brace but I wanted to follow the plans and make them light.  If you are only going to have ailerons you might want to buy these from Wag but at something like $185 each, too pricey for me and they do not have flap hinges so I had to make them my self.  How much time?  Well, more than I have counted but I bet over 50 hours total.  So here we go.  First, a picture of the finished hanger.

 

And now, the process:  First, layout of sheet metal followed by forming of the channel for the angle brace.

 

 

Next, fabricating, drilling, bending, and welding the channel.

 

 

Then, welding the end at the required angle, more drilling, and final shaping to fit the 3/4" tube.  Very time consuming.

 

 

I made extra of everything, 12 or 13 of each.  Next, the "U" bracket for the end of the 3/4" tube.

 

 

 

I drilled the holes after bending by placing the pieces on the edge of a piece of 3/4" wood.  Next, I made the square sheetmetal piece that will fit onto the false spar.

 

 

Next, the 3/4" tubes were cut, drilled and fitted with the bushings.  I pre-drilled the bushings to .246" and latter drilled to .248 and then final reaming after welding to .250.  This was done to keep everything in alignment and square. 

 

 

Ready to weld with finger straps.....

 

 

Welded and ground to width.  Not sure if you can see but I squeezed the diameter of the tube after drilling so that when the bushing is welded in I could grind down to finished size of 3/4" and still have the sholder of the bushing with a good weld for strength.  Again, something not in the plans.

 

 

Next, I made a wood jig that would hold both the flap and aileron hangers in place for tack welding.  The first couple of pictures show the CAD drawings of the two hangers and how they compare.

 

 

 

 

 

Some tack welding ....... careful not to burn up the jig.

 

And lots of finished hangers!

 

 

Next step will be mounting on the rear spar and the wood for leading edge and false spar.  I hope these steps will go much faster.

 

 

 

 

Two wings "finished",  ready for flaps, ailerons, leading edge, and false spar.  This second wing only took me about four weeks to bring to this same level of completion.  Very excited to move forward from here.

Steps for this wing were the same as the first.  All false ribs were attached using T-88 and brad nailer.

Each rib and false rib had a corner gluing strip for stronger attachment.  False ribs used two strips; ribs used eight strips.

Close up of the false rigs and ribs finish glued with the strips. 

Next, the two strips of Ash were steam bent and clamped till dry.  Then, glued and clamped again in the form till glue dried.

By using this method to make the tip bow,  no spring back happens when removed from the form. 

Next, rout the edge and sand before attachment.

Attaching the tip bow was the same as the first wing.  Nice to do something a second time and have it go  so much faster .

I did the corner blocks, gussets, and braces the same as on the first wing.  I was able to do this in about half the time.  Finished corner bow below.

And here we have it, two wings basically finished and ready for flaps, ailerons, leading edge, fuel tanks, etc.  I still have a lot of work to do.

All the compression struts are in place with proper hardware.  All ribs except root rib are in place ready to be glued after trammeling of the wing.  "N" strut is finished, painted and in place. I have been able to get all this finished in just two weeks!  This took months to accomplish on the first wing!

 
I did a few things different this time to speed things up and make for a better end result.  The "N" strut was the only part needing fabrication as it had to be built in place for alignment of the two strut end fittings.  I did everything the same as first wing but with the patterns for the "fish mouth" tube ends already made the process was done in about half the time.  Everything was tacked in place and removed for welding.

 
Here is where I changed the process from first wing.  I don't know why but on the first wing I did the final welding in my vice.  I had to make the parts twice, first one was no good at all and second required some heating and bending after welding to get the proper alignment.  This time, after tack welding, I attached each part to a board with standard wood blocks for welding.  It worked great!

And the second part of the "N" strut ...... 

This time when I did my test fit, everything lined up perfectly and did not need any heating or adjustments.  Next, prime, epoxy paint and let cure in hot attic a few days before assembly.

 
I needed to remove some material from the double uprights on the ribs where they fit over the ply and lift strut attach fittings.  That took about an hour, about the same as first wing.  Lastly, I did the same to the rib that fits over the ply reinforcement for the hinges a,d then glued the ply in place.

I discovered a mistake that I had made on both wings regarding the ply.  I used 3/32" ply rather than the 1/16" ply as indicated in the plans. It's going to be ok to be thicker; other way would be a mess and would have required reworking both wings.  The thicker ply is at the lift strut area and hing area, not at the wing attach fitting ends.  I am making my own lift struts so the different ply thickness will not be a problem.  Only issue is I will need to get more 3/32" as I only have 1/16" remaining.  Not a big deal but  shows I need to be very precise and careful.

Next, root rib, cross brace at tank area then trammeling the wing.

Second wing is moving along very fast!  I knew that this would be the case but not to this extent.  In three days I have been able get further than in the first three months on the first wing.  It is a matter of having parts finished, understanding the process better, and having the tools I made for the first wing ready and at hand.  These pictures will detail how much work I have been able to accomplish in the past three days.  First off, I decided to get a new spar to replace the rear spar I had previously made.  That spar was laminated from three pieces and would have been fine and airworthy.  I wound up needing more Spruce for the flaps and ailerons so I decided to buy a new spar and use the laminated wood for the control surfaces.  The extra cost was only about $50 -$75 over just buying wood for the control surfaces so well worth the cost to have all spars the same.

Below is the shop just before getting the new spar; just three days ago.

 

After getting the new spar, I laminated the plywood reinforcement onto the root end.

I used my drilling jig blocks to drill the holes for the wing attach fitting.  After drilling the holes, I varnished where the fitting covers the wood and inside the holes. 

Next, I drilled the holes for the compression struts and the lift struts.  I only drilled the front spar for the compression struts before assembly.  This way I can match drill the rear spar to line up with my compression struts.  I found with the first wing that my compression struts were not perfectly lined up so I need to match drill the rear spar.  Below you will see I am drilling the lift strut fittings before gluing the ply on the spars.  This was easier than drilling it in the upright position as on the first wing.  I will have to use these holes as guides to drill through the ply but that will be easier I think.  

Finished drilling the lift strut, I next needed to fit ribs 3-8 and then glue the ply on one side only of the spars.  The second ply will go on after drilling through the first ply.

Lots of clamps are needed to secure the ply to the spars.  After drying and drilling, I will glue the second ply and drill last holes for the fittings. 

After just three days, lots of progress!

I finished the wing tip bow on the left wing and am now ready to begin the right wing.  I will build up the leading edge and the false spar after the right wing is built to same configuration as left. 

I decided to make my own wood bow for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost is the looks; I like the traditional wing tip better than the glass tip.  Second, I like bending wood.   My first bending experiences were building guitars and canoes.  I used the same hot pipe to steam the bow that I made 28 years ago to make my first guitar.  Last is cost (but a very big factor) of the wood bow.  The fiberglass wing tips with shipping cost about $500.  My cost to make the wood bows?  $25 worth of ash and some scrap partial board for a jig.  The piece of ash I bought will yield four wing tip bows so the cost is about $6 each!  Bending the bows is not for everybody.  I think you can buy two bows for about $100 including shipping and that is still a saving over the glass tip.  There is nothing wrong with the glass tip, many builders and owners will argue that the glass tips are better.  Me, it's about the looks.   So, How did this work?  I stated by buying a piece of White Ash 10' long and about 6" wide.  I selected a piece with very straight grain for steam bending.  I cut the piece into pieces that when finish planed were 1/4" thick x 1" wide, by 10' long. 
i had previously made a jig using particle board that matched the dimensions of the Piper tip bow.  The pictures will detail the process including the bracing I used.  I am very pleased with the outcome of the bows.  I was very impressed with the strength of the wing with the tip installed.
 
 
Here is my set up.  I had to use my trailer for a work bench; no more room in the shop!  The PVC pipe holds the wood, pipe on right is my hot pipe and my jig is on the bead of the trailer.  I soak the wood in the pipe for about 30 minutes, pouring in boiling water first.  The hot pipe is used to force the wood into the internal structure of the wood; softening the lignum allowing the wood to be reshaped and retain the shape after drying in the jig.

Close up of the jigs.  I latter drilled holes for "C" clamps, easier than the cheap Harbor Freight bar clamps I first used for drying the wood.

Here I am bending the wood against the hot pipe.  I have a heating element inside that I found 25 years ago.  You can use a metal BBQ lighter (electric wand type) bent and placed inside the pipe,  The pipe is a 3" exhaust pipe extension ($8) from Chief Auto Parts.  Can you say CHEAP???  You simply apply pressure, re wet with a rag, move along wood, bend, and keep checking with the form for fit.  It really is pretty easy (ok, I'm a Industrial Arts teacher, 3o years of wood working so I am biased here) to get the hang of it.

 
Keep checking the fit with the pattern.  You can see it holds it's shape without any clamps.  Bend a second piece the same way.

The two pieces are clamped in place to dry.  I chose to use two pieces of 1/4" glued together to make a bow that would better hold it's shape after everything was dry.

I let the pieces dry for three days before removing from jig.  You can see the spring back.  Next, laminating with T-88 structural Epoxy.

I used wax paper to keep things from sticking to the jig.  Lots of "C" clamps needed for this step.

After the epoxy dried over night it was removed from the jig.  You can see here that it matches my pattern with no spring back at all.  The nice thing about this over solid bows from suppliers is that there is no pressure on the spars or ribs when fitting to the wing.  Next step was to use a 1/2" round over router bit to profile the outer edge.  The drawings call for a taper toward the end of the bow; I added this after glued in place.

Routed and beginning the fitting.  See how nice it is to not have any spring back?  Needless to say, I like working with wood.

Here I am fitting the bow to the spars.  Don't do any final spar cutting until you have the bows in hand and ready to install.  I have a drawing posted here to show all critical dimensions.

More fitting; not to difficult at all.

Fitting up front.  I used a screw to hold in position here and at aileron bay rib while the glue dried.

Holding things in place as the glue dries.

Before you glue things in place make sure you do any reshaping necessary on the tip rib.  Here I have the reshaped rib over the tip rib for the other wing. 

The bow is glued first to the spars and aileron bay rib, not to the tip rib.  I decided to do my glueing in steps.  this does take time with over night drying of glue but worth the wait for me.

Next I glued in the tip rib.  I needed to shim it up from the bottom to get a look that seemed right for the fabric to attach latter.  I had to decide the location for the tip rib myself.  It is close to the location on the Wagabond.  The 2+2 drawings have nothing for a bow wing tip so I am on my own here. 

Shimming the tip rib up to get a good line for the fabric.  Others may not ned the shimming depending on the location of the tip rib.

Front tip rib shimming was just a little bit more.

Next comes corner blocking.  I decided not to use the metal brackets or 3/8" metal channel as shown on the Wagabond plans.  I also looked at the Super Cub drawings and they have double channel compared to the Wagabond; maybe due to more vibration due to higher hp?  Not sure so I opted to go with double 3/8" square spruce with these thick spruce corner blocks.  I glued the blocks up alternating the grain for better glue joints (less end grain exposed to the joint)

 
The blocks were carved to fit and glued in place.  You will have to get creative with your clamping.

More blocks glues in place.

The blocks are all glued in place and sanded to a nice profile to match the bow.  Very satisfying to sand everything to a nice smooth fit.

 
Next, beginning the bracing.  Again, kind of difficult to clamp.  I used my air nailer here with very small brads to hold everything in place.

Gussets will be needed where blocks have only end grain presented for the glue joint.  These will be sanded and filled before final varnish is applied.

Another gusset in place.

The gussets sand down very nicely.  They are only 1/16" so won't be very visible at all.

The finished wing tip!

Another view showing the gussets needed.

I just like this view; it now looks like a wing.  I will build up the second wing to this point before going ahead with the leading edge and false spar.

Ready to begin the second wing.  Everything is built so this should be relatively quick.

Here is a CAD drawing I made showing all the necessary dimensions that I came up with for my wing using 2+2, Wagabond, and Sport Traveler wing drawings.  I should be starting my second wing on Monday or Tuesday.

I finished gluing all the ribs in place and glued the false "D" ribs in place also.  I first had to make small corner molding pieces for each rib and false rig.  So, after making a few hundred corner pieces for both wings, I started gluing.  I used my air nailer to set the ribs in place and to hold the corner mold in place.  The corner mold increased the surface area glued for each rib from 1/2" (the two 1/4" spruce uprights at each spar) to 1-1/2" per spar.  I was advised to add the corner molding by a engineer and builder friend.  Some wings I have looked at have the corner molding, some don't.  It sure made the ribs and "D" ribs secure when the epoxy dried.

So first I had to make the couple hundred 1/4" corner molding pieces.  I first cut strips and planed them down to 1/4" square.  Then, I tilted the table on my band saw and cut them into triangle shaped molding.  Last, I cut a notch in each one so the piece would fit over the gusset and fit against the spruce upright.  I had to alternate each piece so I would have left and right pieces.  This took a lot of time; about 6 hours or more to make them all.  A lot of time but well worth it when I saw how secure the ribs were after the glue dried.  The pictures below show the pieces as I made them.

 

 
 

After all the pieces were made and sorted by correct length and position, I started gluing at the root end of the wing at the attach fittings.  At first, I used small brads and very quickly realized that my small air nailer would be a lot faster. 

Typical rear spar rib in next photo.

Finished tank area.  Note second rib is removed in the middle for tank. 

Rear of tank area shows the short end of the second rib.

I did have to notch one upright and add a doubler where the diagonal goes through the tank.

The next three pictures show detail of the lift strut area with the corner molding glued in place.

Next, between a false rib and full rib at front lift strut.

Last, the rear lift strut with corner molding in place.

Here I am using the air nailer to finish up the last rib and false rib.

Close up of last corner molding.

Next step will be to make the wood wing tip bow.  I like the look of the traditional wing tip over a glass wing tip.  It helps that I can make the wood bow for a few bucks vs about $600 for glass tips.  More on that soon.

Wing trammeling is finished!  I squared up my first wing yesterday using a trammel I made and followed the procedures on the Cub Club J-3 wing assembly video and procedure outlined on Supercub.org.  I was worried about this step for a while now but it turned out to be very easy.  It only took me about an hour to do my first wing.  All the bays came out exactly on the target marks and the wires all pull tested to the correct amount as on the video.  It sure is nice when a step goes this smooth.  My picture show trammeling the last bay.  I did the root bay first, than the middle, than the last.  I was very surprised that as I moved down the bays, the previous bay stayed pretty square, only requiring slight adjustment when finished with the last bay. 

After the drag and anti-wires are in place and finger tight, the next step is checking the distance across bay using a trammel with adjustable points.  There are lots of commercially available trammel points but I made my own.  Set the points on your target marks (center of compression member at top edge of spar) and lock in the distance. 

Next, with out changing the setting, check the opposite target marks.  The bay is square if the measurements are exactly the same. 

 

If you are short of the mark, tighten the wire at that point a few turns.  The wires will tension up pretty easy.  If you are long, loosen the wire.  If the tension seems low, tighten each wire about a half turn. 

Check to see how much that changed the distance.   When the distance between the two points are the same checking diagonally both ways, the bay is square.  Next, check the tension of the wires. 

 

I used a fish scale from Wall-Mart to check tension.  The Cub Club video says that a deflection of 1/4" should yield about 6 lbs. on the fish scale.  On Supercub.org. I was told 3/8" - 1/2" deflection will yield about 12 lbs.  Super Cubs use a metal spar, I have a wood spar as in the Cub video so set tension accordingly.  I used a bolt here to illustrate the 1/4" deflection.  Make sure you note how much pressure it takes to lift the wire off the lower wire than see how much additional force it takes to get the 1/4" deflection.  You can "zero" or use a tare setting for this but I just noted it as I pulled up.   It takes two hands, one holding the fish scale, the other using the 1/4" bolt as a gauge.  If the pressure is correct, you are done.  If they seem loose, tighten each wire on that bay 1/4-1/2 turn and check again.  If too tight, loosen each wire 1/4-1/2 turn and check again.  I was curious if I needed to check the lower wire so I did the same pulling down; same results.  I guess that's why the video only shows pulling the top wire up.  Note the red heat shrink tubing.  This is very important and keeps the two wires from chafing and wearing against each other with vibration.   I did my pull test before I slid the heat shrink in place.  After heating (two pieces on each wire) I checked again and no difference on my scale.

Next step, tighten the lock nuts in place and the wing is trammeled and square.  Next step for me is to glue the ribs in place.

Over the last few months, I have made a lot of progress on the left wing.  I have all the compression struts in place and am ready to attach the drag - anti drag wires in preparation to square up the wing using a trammel.  After the wing is square, each rib can then be glued in place.  Although the compression struts took a lot more time than first thought (like everything else) I have all the parts and tools necessary to assemble the second wing; requiring a lot less time.    

Lets take a look at the finished compression struts.  First one is the outboard most compression strut.  I am building my wing with the traditional wood wing tip bow.   This picture shows the outboard most ribs.

The second compression strut includes the lift strut attach fittings.  This bay took the most time as I figured out the layout.  I had to re make the "N" strut because of warping after welding.  I did not check alignment after welding and painted it.  Had to start over.  I also found that the holes for the drag wire that passes through the smaller tube in the "N" were drilled wrong by Wag.  I had to weld up the holes and re drill and re paint; very timely but live and learn.
 

The third compression strut is the same as the first.

The fourth strut has a tab at the end for the diagonal brace that goes through the fuel talk.  Notice here I have vanished before final installation and installed the nipples for the drag wires. 

This next picture shows the tank bay with the cross brace installed.  I will show detailed drawings of the assembly process in latter photos.

The first step was making the compression strut.  Inside the tube I welded a nut than welded a washer on the outside.  The plans did not show the washer welded in place, I chose to add that feature.

Next, rough fitting the cross brace to the tabs for proper fit.

 
Here you can see the tab to attach the brace.  I did not drill the brace for the right wing as that will have to be sized for the application.

Final fit before painting the tab and finial installation.

I had to cut the washer to fit under the attach fitting.  Not shown here but I will be using drilled head bolts for the compression strut and the hole above for safety wire.


 
Here is the finished tank bay.  I will need to move the upright in the rib that rubs the cross brace.

Next, the lift strut attach fittings needed washers welded to the bottom hole.

Here, the first paint job.  Unfortunately,  I had to weld up and drill the drag wire holes over so I had to paint these a second time.

 

Below is the drilling jig I used to drill all the holes in the spars.  The holes needed to be drilled as the assemblies were added.  Don't pre-drill the holes.  Even though I made a jig to weld the compression strut ends they weren't perfect requiring each to be location to be drilled for an individual strut.

This picture shows a piece of .090 I used to align the wood block for drilling.  This took some time at first but I got it figured out and it worked pretty well fore each set of holes.  I used a reamer for alignment than drilled the hole undersized, finishing it off with the reamer.  Worked great!

First hole done, ready for second hole.  DO NOT move the steel plate between the holes.

Second hole being aligned with the reamer prior to drilling.  All holes were drilled the same way.

Finished holes ....... repeat many times over.

Testing the hole alignment with an unused compression end fitting.

Below are all the compression struts and cross braces for both wings.  Second wing should be much faster to assemble.

Next, cut and glue the plywood reinforcement that goes under the lift strut attach fittings.  MAKE SURE you have all the ribs from the root end to this point in place because they will not fit over the ply after gluing.   No, I did not make that mistake, I was warned before I started putting ribs in place!

Glued in place, LOTS of clamps needed!!!

Finished and trimmed; ready for hole drilling and attaching the lift struts, drag wire, and the "N' compression strut.

After I drilled and attached the lift strut attach fittings, I checked the fit of the drag wire.  I didn't realize the holes were in the wrong place and went ahead and fabricated and painted the complete "N" strut.  Between warping during welding due to poor fit and the holes being off, I had to start over on the "N".  Not the first "do over", and not the last I am sure.

So, lets start over.  This is where I found out the holes were wrong.  The next pictures show the paint removed from the bottom of the fittings due to the removal of the paint and welding and drilling of new holes. 

Here you can see the corrected fitting process.  I used the Metal Geek site to make the patterns for the fit of the diagonal tube.  The angle turned out to be 17 degrees and the paper patterns worked great.

Tack welding had to be done with everything bolted to the WOOD spars!  Not for the faint of heart.  Work quick with a hot flame and you won't have any scorching.  It was pretty easy and not to difficult.  then weld, install and make any necessary adjustments before painting.

After welding I did a last test fit.  I needed to heat and slightly bend the tubes for correct alignment.  then, final paint.

Painted and assembled in place.  Great fit ...... sure took me some extra time!!!

Here is a view from underneath to get a better look at how it all goes together.

All done for now with all the compression struts.  Next step will be squaring the wing and gluing  in the ribs.
 

 
The compression struts are coming along.  I have two finished with six that have one end welded.

The jig I used I made from some square stock steel I had from a trailer project.  Just about anything could be used.  I made sure the holes kept everything in alignment. 

I first rough cut the tubes to be close enough to check for alignment as I made the wood part of the jig.  This is just 3/4" pine used to hold the tube centered on the strut ends.  Next I tack welded and finish welded one end on the eight tubes needed.

Next I fitted the tube back into the jig with a shim at one end to establish the correct finished length.  The first ones I welded were ste at 30-1/4". 

 

Once I had the lengths correct I put the wood blocks back onto the jig and tack welded the second end in place. 

Than, remove and finish weld.  Pretty easy compaired to many of the other parts I have made.  The other struts will be different length but will use the same jig with different shims for correct length.

Test fit went well so on to finishing the other four at this length than finish the other lengths.

 

Starting to look like an airplane!  I did a test fit of the spars about a week ago (just before the rain started) to get an idea of how things were going to fit.  Wow, what an eye opener for me.  I had a real hard time getting things to square from front to rear spar.  After a bunch of checking and rechecking, I found a few problems.

First, the rear spars were too tight in the fuselage fittings.  The overall width at the fitting was oversize.  So, I had to remove the plywood and resurface the end of the spar.  Next, I had to remove the "U" fitting welded in the end of the attach fitting.  The fitting had to be cut and re welded to match the width of the new spar thickness.  Last, the holes had to be re-drilled using the jigs I had made previously.   The reworking of the spar and re-welding of the attach fitting took about 6 hours.  Oh well, it's all about learning.

Second thing I found out was that the wood I scarfed onto the rear spars ....... was not needed.  After rechecking my measurements and drawing a pattern for the wing tip bow, It was time to re-cut the length of the spars ..... again.

Next, lets start assembling the wing........

I started by fitting ribs 3 and 4 and the aileron well rib and tip rib.  The idea was to start getting all the measurements checked for square. 

I used trammel points to check the locations of the rib locations.  The locations were marked prior to fitting the attach fittings.  I transferred the lines from front to back using a square.  This turned out to be a bad way of setting the measurements.  I rechecked the measurements based on the center of the attach bolt hole.  When I used this point, I was able to get the measurements correctly placed and everything square.  I think I am actually assembling my wing now.  The wood at the end of the spars is a temporary piece to check the overall width from attach fitting to attach fitting.   I again used the trammel points to compare the width from the outside of the fittings to the attach brackets on the fuselage.  Back when I hung the spars I has problems with fitting width.  After re-working the spars and steel fittings everything seems to fit much better.  Now I can make the steel compression fittings and move right along with the assembly of the wings.