WORKING alternative to Rib lacing – WANTED

[rogerh12]

Howdy all;

I just went to Oshkosh rib lacing class, and boy was it a bear. Do you have a known and working alternative to rib lacing, assuming a guy is going to use the Poly Fiber process? Something good-as lacing that you have used, but without all the string attached?

Thanks

Roger

[Wiley]

I'm sure this isn't necessarily what you want to hear, but once you've done a couple ribs you'll develop a rhythm, and find it isn't that bad. I started on the short section of the rib under the fuel tank...did it, pulled the stitches, did it again, pulled the stitches, did it a third time, finally satisfied, and moved forward from there. The more I did, the better I got and the quicker it went. Just keep the internal structure in mind when you lay out your spacing and you'll be done before you know it, and have a marketable skill too! A couple tips: make sure you leave enough room for the needle to pass between the rib and the fuel tank and it will make lacing on that rib a lot easier; also, I found having a work light under the wing made it easier to spot the shadow of the needle and work it to the pre-punched holes...occasionally, I used a flashlight when the work light wasn't enough.

[DanB]

Roger,
I think you will find that a consensus here is to do the lacing. There are other ways to "shortcut" the process, but lacing is the best way to go. I found a DVD of the lacing process helpful when I was learning. It made it easy to watch and do. Like others will mention...once I did a few knots I found my stride and it was easy. Hang in there and you will be fine.

[rogerh12]

Thanks for the good solid advice guys. But having said that, I want an "Easy" button on this !!!!! Anyone who has done it with another method, please reply. Help me make my life easy !!!

Roger

[Geowitz]

This doesn't answer your question directly, but maybe the type of knot they demonstrated might be scaring you more than the process? I used the "Staggerwing" knot described here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OsIBk_RWQY

It's very easy. Was a lot easier than the other versions and is easily done with only one person. It took me about 15 minutes per rib once everything was marked out and I was going slow since it was my first time. Use flat chord and take your time on the first few. It will become second nature.

[jtpitkin06]

Roger,

There are three ways to mechanically attach fabric to the ribs. Lacing, screws/rivets, or clips. Martin and Cessna clips are available at ACS. The Martin clips are by far the fastest and easiest but they are the most expensive. Truss head screws being the least expensive.

One of the forums I attended at Oshkosh was the fabric covering forum put on by Poly-Fiber, Ceconite, and Randolph. It was very informative. The forum lasted about four hours and everyone got hands on experience covering a control surface from start through Poly Brush.

We also got to practice rib lacing on a wing section. Once you get into it you will find rib lacing easy and fairly fast. To ease your job, it's pretty important you have a jig that can rotate the wing so you can get the surface vertical. You can make a jig from PVC pipe. It will really save your back.

One of the nice things about lacing is it doesn't need to be done all at once. You can do it over several days if you like. It's really quite relaxing once you get into the rhythm.

If you don't wish to lace, screws or clips are perfectly acceptable choices for a Kitfox.

John Pitkin
Greenville, TX

[Slyfox]

when I did mine, yes it was a pain. so I went with the individual tie. That's where you loop it around the rib and over the fabric, than double tie, cut the string and move to the next spot. This airplane is not some big certified thing. In fact many will argue that you don't need to do it. I have 1500hrs on mine and the rib stitch still looks perfect. I say don't sweat it and at least do what I did.

Oh and to add a little here, I'm not your normal flyer. I do pull some g's on a normal basis.

[War Eagle]

See my post under wing covering.

This talks about the riveting method that we used on a lot of Kitfoxes.

I wouldn't use any other way.

[egp8111]

I agree with Geowitz. The Staggerwing knot is quick and easy.

[rogerh12]

Thanks for all the advice guys, like John I went to the fabric class at Oshkosh this year, which didn't scare me much, but the rib stitch demo across the way did !!! I will look into the stitch type alternative, right now it looks like I will be doing fabic work all winter.

Thanks again for all the info

Roger

[DesertFox4]

Roger, your anxiety over rib stitching is somewhat understandable but if I can do it anyone can. I finally caught on to the knot after about 10 attempts on a practice piece. Took about 2.5 hours per wing on a rotisserie. Looking in from my wing tips the lacing lines up perfectly and if laid out correctly you don't run into any internal wing components. Quite proud of it if I may say so and feel confident that it was done right. It actually was an enjoyable part of the build.

With the speeds attainable now days in the model 4's -7's I feel it's easy and cheap insurance.

[t j]

I found that covering was the most enjoyable part of the build and rib lacing the most enjoyable of the covering part. It is an excellent opportunity if you would like to get someone else involved in building your plane. I built a simple rack that held the wing leading edge down and my wife and I passed the needle back and forth through the wing. She is is proud to tell how she did the rib lacing whenever we are talking to anyone about building our kitfox.

[t j]

Ha, I just took that photograph of the rib lacing rack back out to put it back in my builder's log. She asked what I was doing and I said "Posting a picture of our rib lacing rack on the internet. She replied, "Did you them them we are available for hire?"

[bbryan]

Did mine with Martin Clips. Took about 30 minutes per side to install clips after I drilled several hundred holes spaced PERFECT. Looks OK but different. Knowing what I now know I think you may want to listen to the guys about the rib lacing. Mine may work OK but I think it also may decrease the value of my plane. The only fast part was sticking the clips into the holes. I think the rest was slower than lacing because its a bit of a chore to get it to look good with all those vertical bumps running from leading edge to trailing edge as the ribs don't have a grove for the wire to lay in. Haven't finished the plane yet so don't know how it will effect performance.

[dginok]

I haven't started the lacing yet, but I watched a YouTube video yesterday on the SuperFlite lacing process. From what I recall from looking at the other methods, the SuperFlite method looks simpler. I may be completely wrong, but it might be worth watching the video.

http://youtu.be/rneWclUSONw

[avidflyer]

I remember asking about alternatives to rib lacing also, and one I thought of using was the method used by Avid aircraft on their Magnum models. That method was the use of stainless steel staples. Those staples are designed to curl as they go through the rib so they are really hard to pull out. In the end I ended up just going with the standard rib lacing though. It turned out to be kind of fun and I don't regret having done it at all. I used the knot that is shown in the polyfiber manual and it really isn't that hard to do. I'm sure if you do the regular rib stiching, when it's done, you will say, that really wasn't near as bad as I was expecting. Take care, Jim Chuk

PS I did have the wings on stands that rotate when I did the lacing and that helps lots if you are doing the work by yourself

[chefwarthog]

Dose the lacing has to go thouth the composit leading edge or the fabric is glue on it?

[Dick B in KY]

When it was time to lace my wings, I watched the Homebuilders Hint on the EAA web site about knot tying and lacing. This showed in great detail how to tie the knot and was the most simple explanation I found. Worked great and was a joy?? to do, very rewarding and you know the fabric is on to stay. Good luck and enjoy the process.

Dick B