by Marshall L. Henley

CombatONE Speed Build Jig Protype Ready-to-Go

I finished and tested the prototype of the CombatONE Speed Build Jig today. Click here for a video of the CombatONE Speed Build Jig prototype.

It was a lot harder to make than I thought, due to the three-dimensional angles. A bit of trigonometry was required, followed by some hard-core rasping to get the profile I wanted.

I built a left-side one and will build a right-side one next. The reason for building the right-side one is not because we an only build left side wings -- the wings are symmetrical both aerodynamically and structurally, so all we need is one jig to build a wing.

I'd like right side jig so we can build two wings, and then slide them together for the glue joint. Even without that, we can have two jigs running if there's more than one user.

The jigs run off a vaccuum from a shop vac. I think a small one would work, but I'm using my big shop vac right now. In addition to building a right-side version, I have a few improvements I'd like to make:

• I build the jig slightly over-size so small differences in wing-skin cuts won't affect it's use. I'd like to add a rear-edge registration device of some sort to dial in the skins when they're cut right.
• I would like a top-side, hinged press to push the top skins down onto the spar and rib during assembly. That's a nice to have; perhaps even an "unnecessary." I'll use Chivetta foam as the contact surface for the top side if I do this.
• Finally, if I get the right-side wing done, I'd like to align both wings on a sliding bed where they would come together with competed wing halfs to speed and make more accurate the wing-center gluing operation. I can do this easily without the folding top half concept.

I'm shooting for something that would let us do a group build in an assembly-line type fashion, or even build a plane if we crash during an event.

Let me know if you want to give the jig a try!