Wing box Fabrication

The Wing Box fabrication starts with the assembly of the welding fixture. Using deck screws we built-up the tooling to accept the 4130 steel tubing.

The boom mounts are the first parts that need to be bolted on to the fixture. Unfortunately at the time of wing box mock-up our shop was not quite set-up for welding. That meant we could not weld the boom mount washers to the 1.125″ tube. In the mean time we designed and 3D printed temporary inserts to act as the washer. This would allow us to align and bolt the boom mounts to the fixture. At that point we could proceed with the coping and fitment.

Brian Carpenter @ Rainbow Aviation has refined the coping process using templates generated using his CAD files.  He has produced a good video that describes the process.  Brilliant!

Wing box tooling sides.

Wing box base tooling with alignment pins.

Wing box tooling ready to accept tubing.

3D printed temporary inserts act as washers until the real washers can be welded. They allow for the boom mount tubing to be bolted to the jig so that fitment of the other tubes could proceed.

Close-up of the temporary 3D printed insert holding the tube in place for initial tube fitment.

The teplating procedure gives a near perfect fit.

Getting close to tack welding everything in position.