. . . in the airplane building world.

After cutting the ends of the spar cap even with each end of the CS spar & removing the peel ply, I flipped the spar onto its front face to remove the dam that was now not only bondo’d solidly to the CS spar, but epoxied, floxed and glassed as well (even though it’s covered with duct tape… thank God!) .

Well, when I flipped the CS spar onto its front face, I noticed a decent delam along the corner edge of the lower spar cap channel. The glass must have had issues with flowing around the corner from the rear face of the spar to the bottom spar cap channel.  The delam was about 14″ long x ~0.5″ average on one side of the center line and about 8″ long with a few areas reaching 0.75″ in width on the other side.

I searched the blogs/Internet & then called Dale Martin to get a crosscheck from a seasoned EZ vet.  My initial plan was to cut out the bad glass, recover with 2-plies UNI in the same orientation as called out for the original layup, overlapped onto the existing glass. I would then add a protective 1-ply BID over the entire repair.

I have to say I was feeling much better about it all after talking to Dale, especially when his recommended repair was EXACTLY what I had planned!  Not to take anything away from Dale, because he really helped me through this builder’s crisis, but I was just glad that as a newb my decision-making was not too far off kilter.  One of the issues that Dale honed in on was the build temps in my shop.  The weather in Germany was getting much colder, and the temp swings were often distinct.  Guessing on how many heaters to use & when was a constant challenge since even entering & exiting the garage by opening the one big door could keep the Mercury jumping up & down.

MGS is a German epoxy, so it’s good down to around 65° & scoffs in the face of humidity. But my personal minimums–if you will–for building was the normal 70° low end glassing ops temp target. Keeping an un-insulated detached garage, with no central air, heated during the German winter to say, 80-90° F constant, was cost prohibitive and simply wasn’t going to happen. My only other option was to stop building, which was going to happen in mid-October regardless, since I was deploying to Tampa for 6 months (the irony of having such a great Winter building location as Florida, with your entire project located in Germany!)

So I did some more research & then developed my plan of attack.  I then cut out & removed the delam’d glass.

To get back on track & get back into a positive build groove, I cut the 3″ UNI tape for the lower spar cap.

I then went to the cutting table in my downstairs shop & cut the 2-plies of UNI and 1-ply of BID for the repair.

I refilled the hardener bottles & poured the last of the MGS from the large plastic container into a gallon jug.

I then went back to work removing some of the bigger chunks of the 1/4″ plywood dams. The thin ply wood worked well as a dam, but it was playing hell getting it off the CS spar because it would simple splinter & shatter when I tried to remove it since it just didn’t have the strength to stay together.

I cut & sanded the glass overhanging the edge at the end bulkheads using the Fein saw.  I hit the edge with a sanding block & cleaned them up nicely.  I then pulled the peel ply off the cured CS spar shear web layup.  The layup looked good.

I cut up a bunch of the 1/4″ ply that had been used as the “sled” for the fuselage bottom to use as dams for the top spar cap layup.  Just like the wing, a dam is required to keep the 3″ UNI tape in place as it’s laid up.  Unlike the wing, which only required a dam for a small section of the spar cap channel, the CS spar spar cap sits on the entire aft edge of the spar–one on the top side & one one on the bottom–so it requires a dam the entire full length of the spar.

I then bondo’d & weighed down the dam sections into place.

I cleaned off the table & then grabbed my 3″ UNI tape dispenser.  Due the large number of cuts I need to make, I threw my UNI tape onto my table top peel ply dispenser.  The CS spar caps take A LOT of 3″ UNI tape, the top a fair bit more than the bottom.  It makes sense of course since the spar holds the wings onto the fuselage.

Once the bondo on the dam had cured & I had all the 3″ UNI tape cut, I thoroughly sanded the spar cap trough.

I vacuumed the spar cap trough & all the foam, and then taped up the edges of the foam lying next to the spar cap channel.

In preparation for laying up the spar cap, I measured & marked the BLs for each length of 3″ UNI tape.  The top spar gets a few full length pieces, and then they start to get successively shorter in pyramid fashion.  And just like with the wings, the warning in the Canard Pusher Newsletter mandates to test the cured thickness of the 3″ UNI tape being used, and add plies if it cures too thin.  The test I did before I glassed the wings showed my 3″ UNI tape was too thin, so I’ve added a number of lengths of 3″ UNI glass here as spelled out in the plans change.

In wetting out the spar cap channel before glassing, I didn’t like the significant gap that was present along the outside dam edge, due to the radiused corner (although it was only about 1/8″) of the foam when the shear web got glassed.  Even though it meant a little more weight, I lined that edge with a flox fillet to keep the layup even & intact, and to ensure the edge would cure strong.  I also added some flox along most of the inside foam edge as well since I had it left over.

I spent hours & hours laying up the CS spar top spar cap (I want to say start to finish was literally over 10 hours).

The pics don’t do it justice, and it seems like so much epoxy should NOT be wasted and should be able to be reused. I did actually reuse a ton of epoxy, but it just takes so long to prep, wet out, layup & squeegee one length of 3″ UNI tape, that by the time you get around to even attempting to reuse most of the epoxy, it has already started turning gummy & gloomy (even with a hair dryer… which I fried BTW!)

The pics below give a decent idea of the shear amount of volume of 3″ UNI tape that was used… below is just the pile of roving string & red side strings that get cut in multiple places and then carefully pulled & extracted from the 3″ UNI tape so as not disturb & completely jack up the fibers in the glass tape.  The only thing that remains after these are removed is the long fibers of UNI… a good majority of them running 10 feet in length.

Finally, below are some shots of the completed & peel plied upper CS spar cap.

I started out today by taping the outline template of the wing BL 55.5 jut out to each end bulkhead of the CS spar.  This outline template shows the width of the wing where the wing meets the spar.  Since my CS spar is just slightly wider than the wing in certain areas, I’ll narrow the spar down just a tad in those areas before it all gets glassed.

The black triangles in the corner represent the foam that gets removed per plans.  The blue marks show the area where the spar is wider than the wing.

I set up the UNI glass in pre-preg for the shear web.

I micro’d the foam on the CS spar.

I then wet out & laid up the shear web.

After laying up the shear web, I peel plied the glass.

I cleaned & prepped the aluminum extrusions, lined them up & took a pic.

I started by routering out the bottom CS spar cap trough.  I then hand sanded to final shape using the bottom templates to ensure the depth was correct (just like the top spar cap trough).

I used the Dremel tool to remove the 1/4″ yellow foam on the aft face of the CS spar over the interior (inside the spar box) mounted extrusions.

I cleaned up the newly exposed extrusion surfaces with Perma-Grit tools & sandpaper.

I floxed in 4 each LWA4s (2 each Outboard ends) & 2 each LWA5s (1 each side Inboard). I covered the extrusions with plastic & weighed down.

I then taped all the foam except that which would be covered by the shear web.

Finally, I cut the UNI as per plans (the original plans called for BID, but there was an optional mod to the layup schedule which allowed UNI to be used… saving a number of pounds by using the new UNI layup schedule).

I started today by sanding both winglets.  I then cleaned them up & put them in the living room.

I then focused on the CS spar.  I started by making a sanding board jig to sand the spar cap troughs.  Before I used the sanding board though, I cut the majority of foam material away with my router.

I set my router at 0.5″ depth & routed the middle 30″ of the top spar cap trough.

I then set the router to 0.4″ depth and routed the remainder of the spar cap channel.

Once I got most of the material out, I used the sanding board jig and other various sanding implements to carefully get the spar cap trough to the depth outlined in the plans.

The plans have you use 4 templates to set on the top of the spar at various points (Butt Lines = “distance from center line of aircraft”).  Since the BLs are the same from the center line of the spar, they can be used on each side, and then the depth set at that point to match the template.

From a tip I picked up from David Orr (“Beagle”) and gang, I was fortunate enough to have built my wings before my spar [normally the wings are built later].  Since the end of the spar is nestled into the L-shaped crook of the wing, it makes sense that they should both be the same width . . . lest something (as in a lot of filler micro) must be added to make them match.  This of course is not the optimized way to build the wing-to-spar interfaces.

However, having been educated by Beagle, et al, that some builders in the past had dealt with issues of the spar end being significantly thicker than the wing… enough to cause some major work, rework & consternation.

I was able to ensure that the spar end & wing “root” would match by making a template of the wing root at BL 55.5 (the jut out) and match it to the end of the spar.  The end of my CS spar was, in fact, slightly thicker than my glassed wing.  I taped the BL 55.5 template to each end of the spar and marked the overage with a Sharpie.  Later I’ll sand it down to match the wing width, accounting for any glass layup thickness as well.

I then vacuumed up all the blue foam dust and called it a night.

Today I pulled the peel ply from the Left winglet & took the TE clamps off.

The Right winglet still seemed just a tad tacky after a few hours.  But it was only a few hours after the layup & it turned really cold, so I turned on another heater to kick the heat back up over 70° for a few hours.

I rechecked the winglet later and it looked fine… I probably laid it up just slightly on the dry side, but not too bad.

I pulled the peel ply from the Right winglet and then Fien sawed both TEs & bottom edges. I then sanded the TEs… both winglets looked good.

Later on I removed the bondo blobs with a hammer & chisel… often just takes one sharp whack for them to come off (It was too late to use a sander at that point).

I brought the CS spar back out to the work shop and then measured & marked the lines for the spar cap trough depths.

I made the initial cuts for the spar cap troughs & removed the foam.

I marked the Butt Lines (BLs) where I will use 1 of the 4 corresponding spar cap templates.

I  then measured & marked out the locations for the aluminum extrusions.  The extrusions embedded into–and laid on top of–the foam will line up with both the extrusions glassed into the inside of the spar box and to the extrusions on the wings.

Before I started on the winglets today, I ginned up some 50/50 flox/micro mix to fill in some minor gaps between the foam joints on the CS spar.

I then resanded the TE & rudder on the right winglet.

I installed the COM antennas onto the winglets . . . in the proper position this time.  I of course had to drill a long channel at the LE of each winglet and then work the antenna cable lead down through it.  It took a little bit of time, but it wasn’t that difficult.

I did have a minor issue with the Left antenna when actually sticking it onto the surface of the winglet: the last 1/4″ of copper foil ripped off as I was setting it into place!  I simple reattached it with just a hair overlapping (maybe 0.5mm) & did a continuity check.  My multi-meter rang out loud & strong so the connection was good! As long as I didn’t disturb it when laying the glass up … so it was fine.

Once I got everything set up, I bagged the antenna cable leads & carefully vacuumed the entire surface of each winglet.

I micro’d the foam surfaces & joints, including the antenna leads & runs, and then glassed a 2-ply UNI layup crossing at approximately 30° & the 1-ply BID reinforcement for attaching the winglet to the wing.  I also peel plied the BID layup & the LE overlap.  This was of course on one winglet at a time.

Again, I used my lengths of aluminum angle to clamp down the TE edges so they cured straight & even.

Today I started out by removing the tape & the peel ply from the winglets’ edges… and of course I cleaned up a lot of peel ply gunk.

I removed the winglets from their mounts… everything looked good!

I then cut the UNI, BID and peel ply for glassing the second/last/other side of the winglets. The pic below is just a shot of some of my leftover glass scraps.  There’s a lot of glass that gets left over and I try to reuse as much as possible.  One thing about fiberglass is that if it gets wet, with virtually anything liquid including water, sweat, or especially epoxy, it’s done for & must be thrown out.  Also, if it’s physically damaged it can’t be reused.

Another couple shots of the winglets.

I weighed down the winglets, one at a time, and cut off the fishtail & removed the peel ply from the trailing edge.  I will say one good thing on the winglets is that when the glass & epoxy are this fresh the TE peel ply comes off A LOT easier! (whew…)

Glassing the final layups on the winglets were going to be a lot easier if I could use more of the work bench, so I removed the CS spar from its jig–since it had cured for ~3 days–and tore down the jig.

The pic above shows that the whole jig stayed fairly level during the course of the first major part of the CS spar build.

After tearing down the jig & getting all the jig pieces removed, I did a fairly thorough cleanup.

I remounted the winglets Inboard side up (bare blue foam), sanded down the LE & Dremeled the dead micro from the winglets.

I refilled my epoxy jug & hardener bottles . . . apparently all this building is gettin’ it done since I only have about 2 gallons of epoxy left.

After getting the consumables reloaded, I made 2 COM antennas with 17 ft leads.  I then took them out to the workshop & mocked them up on the winglets (albeit they are not in the correct location on the winglets in these pics).

Today I cleared some area off of the workbench next to the curing CS spar to set up the mounting boards for the Left & Right Upper Winglets.  I’ll be skinning the outside of the winglets by glassing 2-plies of UNI crossing each other at about 30° (or 60° I guess, depending on how you look at it!).

Once I have the mounting boards screwed down to the table, I put bits of duct tape over the screws so they don’t inadvertently get epoxied or floxed into place.  The mounting boards do 2 things:

1) They stabilize the winglets, making them much easier to glass.

2) With the winglets secured in place, they won’t warp as the glass cures on the one side of the winglet.  Making for a straighter, truer winglet.

Once I got the proper spacing down so the winglets laid true on the wood mounts, I floxed the winglets to the mounts by adding little dabs of flox along the wood surfaces & laid the winglets on the mounts (Before I removed the mocked up winglets, I marked the edge so I knew where to place them back down).   After I mounted the winglets to the floxed boards, I weighed them down to ensure a good seal.

Below are some good shots of the curing CS Spar.  I had weights all along the top of the spar for some 30+ hours to ensure a good seal between the front spar walls (top of jig as it sits here) & the spar box.  I removed the weights to keep them from somehow hurling themselves off the spar and onto–thus smashing into pieces–the unsuspecting TE edge of an innocent winglet (yep, with me it could happen…took no chances!).  The blue foam rectangular outline on top is to protect ME against the tacks protruding through the foam that hold the peel ply to the 5″ x 14″ center oval access that gets cut out later.

With the winglets weighed down & curing onto their respective mounts, I prepped for the upcoming layups.  I charged my Dritz scissors and soaked/cleaned some squeegees.

Also, my decorative top cap on the Left winglet was lacking at the tail end, so I cut & shaped a small foam wedge to add to the TE.  I micro’d it & held it in place with a thin nail.

I then went back to prepping for the upcoming layups.

I went to my cutting table in the downstairs shop to cut 2 pieces of 38″ x 54″ UNI and 2 pieces of 38″ x 64″ UNI.

I left the glass in the downstairs shop.  Since the flox on the winglet mounts had cured, I went back the garage to prep the winglets’ outside surfaces for glass.  I pulled all the weights off and then used the Dremel tool to remove all the dead micro in the seams & joints.  I then carefully sanded the leading edges smooth.  I also marked up where the rudders would be going (like the ailerons getting cut out of the wing structure, the rudders also simply get cut out of the glassed structure of the winglet).

Obviously the winglets get glassed to the wing, and just like the wing, they get a reinforcement piece of BID glassed onto the surface area that will get glassed to the wing. I made a cardboard template of the area where the BID piece will go.  After I cut the 2 pieces of BID–1 for each winglet–I then used the same template to cut the peel ply that would cover the BID.

I vacuumed the entire top surfaces of both winglets & then taped the LE halfway along the entire length.  I then tacked on a 1″ piece of peel ply down the TE trough that runs the TE length of the winglet, top to bottom.  Before I could do this though, I had to physically create that trough on both upper winglet caps that I added.

I also threw in peel ply down the center of the seam of where the rudder will get cut out of the winglet, since the foam & glass inside there will get removed with a glass-to-glass layup occurring where the peel ply gets removed (at least along a good portion of the peel ply… I’ll still have to prep some glass that has only foam attached to it).

Ready to do some layups, I grabbed my glass from downstairs & double checked my winglets’ surfaces.  As you can see in the pic above & below, I added angle marks to allow me to get my glass laid up in the correct orientation.

I dry micro’d the channels (where I had cut the dead glass out) & microslurried the fields.  I then started glassing like the wind!

Above pics shows second ply of UNI getting glassed on.  Below is the finished Left winglet.

The pic below shows my last minute top-cap add-on/repair result.

After the layup had cured for a little bit, I removed the tape from the LE.  The peel ply was having a hard time wrapping around the sharp bend of the LE & top, so I coaxed it a little by taping the dryer part of the peel ply and then wrapping it around the winglet LE & attaching it to the dry foam underneath.

After the winglets had cured for quite a while, but while still tacky, I micro’d in the TE trough with dry micro.

Today, as the CS spar cures, I started by spending around 2 hours at the Ramstein base wood hobby shop.  I finished cutting a bunch of templates, jigs & parts–mainly for the canard build.

I also bought stuff to restock the basic composite working supplies: duct tape, tacks, etc.

I then switched gears to focus on Chapter 20, the Upper Winglets.  I’ll knock these out as the CS spar cures completely for a few days.

The first thing I did was work on the cosmetics of the Long-EZ’s upper winglets.  I have noticed a lot of beautiful Long-EZ’s that seemed like the very top of each winglet was simply hacked off and stolen…. very square.  I would like my winglets to have a rounded look, swept back from the front and smooth all the away around.  So that, my dear friends, is what I worked on today.

I started out with a scrap strip of blue PVC foam.  Now blue PVC foam is not known for its ease of shaping, but I wanted something that could not be easily damaged with one swipe of the sanding block.  I slowly shaped the rounded blended top cap for the winglet.

I double-checked a ton, but finally got a good shape I could work with.

I refined just a tad more to get the finish & shape I was looking for….

And then, just to try out something different, I made the other side from the more porous blue wing foam.

I continued to mock them up on the tops of the winglets, and then continued to refine the shape of the top caps.

Once I was happy with the shape of each side, I micro’d the new tops onto the winglets & held them in place with nails.