'This is how we did our wings. The root end was held with an angle
iron fixture pinned to wing fittings the adaptor was bolted to an
engine stand. The engine stand was from Harbor Freight @ $34.99 inc
shipping. Cut the stand to raise center of rotation to suit. Used a
22' joint of 3/4" black pipe and used a conduit bender and made
slight bend every 5" of length. This made a circle 7' in dia. Weld
ends together. This will accept 6' chord wings, longer if strut
fittings in aileron well area. To get a nice round circle use a
grease pencil and trammel a circle on floor for ref. Make a roller
setup for the hoop and tie it to engine stand with 2) 11' joints of
the same pipe. Mount these out at ends of stand that way you get
maximum vertical clearance staying away from centerline. Tie the tip
end of these pipes with cross piece of angle and let hoop roll on
these pipes. Rollers aren't really needed as the round section of the
pipes makes very little contact area thus not much friction but
sufficient to hold wing in any position w/o having to lock it down
every whipstitch. It was all done for way less than $75 including
casters but you need to have a welder. I even bent a pipe without a
bender. I put it on dry firm soil, backed the tractor over it,chained
the end to wheel, then continued to back over it till 360 degrees.
The 38" tires resulted in a hoop over 6'dia. Probably OK but I wanted
one to be able to handle some 73" chord wings I was working on. I had
never thought of the bale feeders as Mr. Wyss suggested, good idea!
Go down to TSC and take a look. These are very strong.
--- In
fairchildclub@yahoogroups.com, "John Wyss" wrote:
>
> A fixture can be made to hold a wing so that it can be rotated
during
> covering and finishing. I have used one to cover the wings of my F
22
> wings. It certainly makes life a lot easier.
> The butt of the wing was attached to a fixture that rotated.
The lift
> strut fittings were bolted to a round piece of steel that rotated on
> rollers. Some farmers feed large round bales of hay. One of the
feeders
> they use is constructed using large round pieces of steel. Happy
covering.
> John L Wyss 573 265 4512
'