Hi Keith,
I had a devil of a time with this step so I can speak from experience. The short
answer to your question is that you don't really have to worry about marking
the fuselage. If the pins don't contact the fuselage, you don't need a hole.
Just mix up some redux, set the incidence, and bond the socket to the fuse. Read
below for more detail on this.
Now, since you brought it up, I thought I'd relate my experience so other
builders
might benefit when they get to this stage. This applies mostly to those whose
pins [i:79927d94d9][b:79927d94d9]do [/b:79927d94d9][/i:79927d94d9] contact
the fuselage and hopefully this message will appear when they search on the
subject.
First, I'm assuming that you have been able to get the wings in the fuselage
with
the pins full through both port & starboard sides. If you haven't already,
make up guides out of tufnol to support and guide the spars/wings into the
correct
position. This isn't mentioned in the manual but is shown in great detail
in photos on Bob Borger's album on the Europa Owner's gallery. (Thanks Bob for
making those available. They were invaluable!). There's just no way to keep
the wings held in the right position throughout the process of setting the
incidence
without these, IMHO.
I'm also assuming you've already made the cutouts at the trailing edge (TE)
socket
on the wings that allow you to access the pin in the TE socket.
Now, on to fixing the problem. I, too, followed the manual and reduxed in the
bolts.
Then I discovered there was just no way of getting a good mark on the fuse
to set the incidence. So, I heated up my bolts and removed them. This was easily
accomplished by using a plumber's cloth that I got at the local plumbing
supply. It's a black cloth that takes heat to something like a bizillion degrees
and will protect the area around the pin. I cut a small hole in the cloth,
pushed it over the pin, then heated with a butane torch until it loosened.
You'll
mar the pin a bit with your wrench, but that can be buffed out.
Then I got 2-12mm (I think that was the size) bolts from the hardware store and
screwed them in place of the LE pins. You might have to re-tap the threads to
clean out the old redux.
Next, with the help of another builder, Gary, we set up the fuse level in all
directions
as best as we could and put supports under each wing.
Put a small dot of a paint or dye on the head of the LE bolts. I used that
orange
stuff you put on nuts & bolts to indicate slippage. Screw the bolts into the
wing so they won't touch the fuselage and then put the wings back in place and
pin them. Get the correct incidence set, carefully place supports under the
wings, then reach in and unscrew the bolts until the dot of color contacts the
fuselage.
You now have your mark for placement of the LE socket. If your pins do contact
the fuse, drill your hole on this mark now. If not, don't drill- you don't need
it. Mix up some redux, coat the back of the LE socket and the appropriate amount
of shim, coat the TE socket and shims, then push the wings in place.
Check your incidence again (and again) then add some more redux around the
sockets.
Gary sanded down a mixing stick so it'd go into the gap between the wing
and the fuse. Works a treat.
Now, check the incidence a couple of more times until you KNOW you have it all
set correctly and leave undisturbed until it cures.
A couple of things that might not occur to you until it's too late:
1) Since you're setting the incidence relative to the fuse being level (measured
at the window sill) we discovered that my kit wasn't exactly the same on both
sides and couldn't be leveled this way. We decided that this was due to some
variances in manufacturing and used the port window seal as our constant and
set both wings to that.
2) Put plenty of grease on the LE pin and in the socket as redux will get in
there
during cure and you don't want to have the pin reduxed into the socket. If
this happens, a little heat from a heat gun will help followed by a nice hard
jerk on the wing. (personal experience here :oops: ) No jokes about the jerk
on the wing...
3) Use a digital level if you have one but know that it's still tough to get
this
set EXACTLY right. I got both my wings set to 2.6 deg and just have to accept
that. At least they're both set the same. Like Gary says, "measure with a
micrometer,
mark with a crayon, cut with a hatchet" :lol:. It's something like
that but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and feel we did a good job of setting this
as correctly as we could.
Alright, that's about it. Now, this is what worked for me. Proceed at your own
risk! And let me know if you need clarification on anything.
Good luck!
Dan
Subject: Setting wing incidence
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