Overview of Chapter 19: the wings

Well, here it is... THE BIG ONE! THE WINGS!

In this chapter, I will build the wings and ailerons. They are made out of 2 lb/ft^3 styrofoam cores.

With today's CNC technology, there is no question as to whether I was going to hotwire them by hand or purchase them from Eureka CNC - they do PHENOMENAL work. Not only do they deliver perfect cores, but they also have jigs available that perfectly match the cores. The amount of work and time saved is well worth the cost. I normally have a hard time deciding whether to purchase something or to make it myself... this one is a no-brainer... Eureka CNC all the way!

Ok, so let's discuss Chapter 19...

The wings are made up of a left wing and a right wing. Each gets attached to the center-section spar.

The plans give instructions on how to make the right wing - with a note that states the left wing is mirrored. The good news is the jigs are the same for both, so only one set is needed.

Because I purchased the foam cores from Eureka, I'm able to skip over the tedious work of step 1 and 3 - which is to make the jigs and to hotwire all the foam cores.

Once all the cores are made, the aileron torque tube conduit is cut and a second conduit is made to later route all the nav and strobe light cables to the wing tips. These conduits have also been cut by Eureka - talk about getting a great deal!

Similar to the canard, the shear web is glassed first, followed by the spar caps and finally the skins. Wing attach reinforcements are also made. After the wing is glassed, the ailerons are cut, reinforced and installed.

Here are a few pictures from Eureka CNC's website showing how the cores fit in the jigs.

The wing jigs...

The jigs are made to be modular... this allows the builder to use them for each phase of the glass layups.



One last item to note... the original Long-EZ wing has a small almost unnoticeable kink on the trailing edge root. This kink was incorporated so that a Varieze (the predecessor to the Long-EZ) engine cowling could be used and matched up with the wing. Since I plan on making my own cowling from scratch, Eureka CNC offers an option to get rid of this kink and have a perfectly straight trailing edge. See details below (photo taken from www.eurekacnc.com).

 

Alright then... let's get started!