The wing jig is up today. And as I put the spars up on the jig I noticed something that concerns me on the second to last crossbar on the stiffener. So I will fire off an email to Van's and see what they have to say about it. Basically it looks like there were some dings and scratches in one part of the spar stiffener. So they apparently they took some large grit sandpaper to it... It wouldn't concern me if they had gone over it with some scotchbrite or fine grit paper afterwards, but there are some fairly deep sandpaper gouges in the aluminum. If I were to guess, I'd say it was 60 or maybe 100-grit paper that was used. Considering the structural importance of this part, I would think that this is completely unacceptable. I hope Van's sees it the same way and ships me a new spar set.. But we shall see what they say. Email me and let me know what you think... Many pics below
Update 6/28/05: It's OK, and I'll just leave it as-is. Here's the response I got back (quickly!) from Van's: "Zach, received your photos and had Ken K. (chief engineer) look at them. We see this on many of our spar sets as material blemishes are removed using an orbital sander. Ken said that the scratched are superficial only and do not compromise the strength of the spar in any way. The area is arguably a bit unsightly but will not be a structural problem. .... a builder could smooth the area out with finer sandpaper if he/she chooses but this will remove the anodizing and the area should be primed afterward."
And here's it is all set up.. We'll have to see if I get to start working on it or not...
