Preparing Wing Ribs #1: Flange edge deburr marathon!

“Welcome to airplane building!” Alexander exclaimed as I got through my second hour of deburring flange edges. It really was a marathon this evening doing essentially the same thing for every single rib of the airplane. Fifty-two ribs in total. About 4 sides per rib…over 200 flange edges. Two sides per flange…over 400 sides to debur. At 30 seconds per side…. 12,000 seconds of scotch-brite wheel work. I know it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft, but I’ll say I got WAY better at the wheel today.

Imagine this, 52 times    ——>

 

(If you’re wondering why I only wear a glove on one hand, it’s not because I want to be Michael Jackson, but because I needed one hand glove free to feel the edges after deburring to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

So that’s it. 3.5 hours of that. I did label all ribs as I went, and enjoyed stacking all the ribs on a table afterwards (oddly satisfying). Best of all, the Braves beat the Dodgers! (At this point I’m rooting for Anyone-But-The-Dodgers…ha ha!). Here are some picture highlights of the evening.

Next up I need to deburring the lightening holes and scotch-brite pad all the small notches. After that it is fluting and bending the flanges. Fun fun!

Bonus Update!

Yesterday I submitted my order for the Fuselage! This puts a clock on the wing build. Currently the backorder is 9 months, so I guess I’m shooting for 9 or less remaining months of wing build! Excited to know sometime next year I will have all the kit parts that make a plane!

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