Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

[EricAos]

Does the drawing CD contain the plans for them?

Thanks,
Eric

[Bigdog]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Yes. There are 3 main types. D-A8223 is the full length rib. D-A8225 is the aileron bay rib. D-A8227 is the tip rib. I found the #10 rib (D-A8226) to be the only varient that could not be created from one of the 3 types. It has wider spacing of the verticals around the spars to account for the doublers and a slant to the mid-chord vertical. The root rib is metal and there are drawings for both the notched and un-notched wing rib.

I didn't find a drawing with the full profile ordinates but with those drawings and some of the component parts like the nose piece (D-8458) you can get it laid out correctly. With the latest batch of L-2 parts I just picked up there were some intact ribs with TAC inspection stamps and my new ribs were spot on.

[cvavon]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

If it is possible can you weigh the finished wood wing before it's covered I would like to compare it to a metal wing for future build i am planning thanks chuck

[Bigdog]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

What are you trying to compare - the original L-2 metal wing vs the later wood wing or some other metal wing? I have a set of assembled but uncovered wood wings and also a a set of metal wings. One metal wing is beat up but still assembled with the other disassembled. Having just moved them I can attest that the metal wing is considerably lighter. Just comparing components it's obvious. The individual spars are much lighter as are the ribs. The aluminum leading edge is much lightere than the plywood. My SWAG would be about 15-20 lbs difference per wing.

[M Towsley]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Hi Greg,

A question...A friend of mine out west is building a light pre-war to tow antique gliders. He is wanting pre-war wing parts to build a light set of wings. He and his mother are some of the best known Taylorcraft folks out there, (the Reids). I guess I am confused as to why the metal wings would be lighter and why, with his knowledge, he would want to build wood wings to save weight. And, I didn't even know L-2 wings were ever made of metal. Mine was all-wood, but had been updated with metal leading and trailing edges. Just curious on the weights, as I would think it would be the other way around. Hmmmm......

[Ryan]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Marty, not sure I have this right when comparing the two D model wings, but the wood L-2 wing is heavier than our B model wings. Internally they are much different. There is a restoration of an L-2 at Forrest's, and the internals of the L-2 are much beefier than our aluminium wings. Most of the heavyness if you will looks to come from the components used to quickly disassemble and crate L-2s. I am wondering if the early D models with the aluminium wings had these features or if they were closer to B wings. The weight may not just be in the wood vs. aluminium parts. I would be interested in seeing a pic of early D model wings...

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Someone in the tribe used to have a clip wing he built wood wings for (I am pretty sure he was looking for STRENGTH not light weight). When you hold a stamped rib they are pretty light. I have never built a wood rib, but I built a lot of models and it would be tough to make a wood rib as light as the stamped ribs. I would think the stick aluminum pre-war ribs would be lighter than the stamped ones, but have been told they are not (that the stamped ones are actually lighter). If someone can weigh a metal and a wood stick rib I can weigh a stamped one. I plan to go out to the airport this afternoon.
The Magnesium hinge fittings are lighter than the welded ones, but I hate those stinking things. Seems like every one I pull off a wing is either cracked or corroded.
Hank

[EricAos]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Some digging turned up 80 pounds for an uncovered metal clip wing, and 70 pounds for an uncovered wood clip wing. That's what got my interest up. If wood wings are good enough for acro, and they are lighter too, how can you loose?

Eric

[M Towsley]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Okay, thanks guys.

Ryan, thanks for the explanation that cleared things up.

[Bigdog]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

The early L-2's had metal wings and then switched to wood for war production. The L-2 metal wing has extruded metal spars along with the truss-type metal ribs. For a realistic comparison you's have to compare the wood rib with metal rib plus the false leading-edge rib. This is not a great picture of the metal wing but you can see the structure.

One place I can see where the L-2/D wing is heavier than the B wing is drag wires. They are 10-32 threads vs 8-32 on the B. The beefier wires are worth a couple pounds. All the little differences can add up.

[Jim Herpst]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

I am almost certain the wood wings are NOT lighter than a TRUSS TYPE (read early model Taylorcraft...pre war) Those ribs are getting really tough to find in good shape. I would like to see an actual comparison of a wood CLIPPED WING (NOTE : NOT AN L-2 !!!) vs the later stamped rip version with metal leading edges andtrailing edges. Mt guess is the wood is 10 or more heaver BUT a bit stronger... If I were doing acro I would prefer wood...no memory.....That said I let a ton of very good truss type ribs go through my hands several years ago (not THAT long) Oh boy

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

OK, hope you are sitting down. A full stamped aluminum rib (all three sections with rivets and all) weighs in at 280 GRAMS! That is just about 10 ounces. If someone can make a wood rib that light, I'm not sure I would want to fly under it.
Who has the actual weight of a wood one and a metal "stick" rib?
Hank

[Bigdog]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

OK, hope you are sitting down. A full stamped aluminum rib (all three sections with rivets and all) weighs in at 280 GRAMS! That is just about 10 ounces. If someone can make a wood rib that light, I'm not sure I would want to fly under it.
Who has the actual weight of a wood one and a metal "stick" rib?
Hank

I've got both types of ribs but I'll have to round up a scale that sensitive.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

I used my wife's Weight Watchers scale. Nothing else was small enough!
Hank

Maybe the local dope pusher had one, but asking him to weigh a rib was probably not healthy. If he found out I have several 5 gallon cans of "dope" out in my hangar there could be some SERIOUS misunderstandings!

[M Towsley]

Re: Looking for drawings of the wood ribs

Hank,

Four years of undercover dope work and way too much time with a gram scale, (including the reliable triple beam scales we always came across at dope raids), taught me a lot about weight and balance. Just not aircraft weight and balance. It's been about twenty years ago and I still remember 28.3 grams equals an ounce.

For Ebay weighing I bought a nice digital scale, off of Ebay of course, that would be perfect for this kind of stuff. Airplane stuff, that is.