A Useful Assembly Tool

Ordinarily, our single place gliders are easy to assemble with the help of a second person and a wing stand.  But sometimes there is a difficulty.  One of the two wings has been put into the fuselage and the tip is on the wing stand.  When the second wing goes in, it is easy to twist the wing somewhat and thereby push the first wing back out a little.  It may be only 5 or 10 mm but the result is frustrating.  The main wing pins won’t go in and no one is there to push the first wing back in because the kind helper is 9 meters away on the other wing tip.
After the man on the root end has tried in vain to pull the two wings together by pulling on both leading edges at once (which won’t work) finally he has to go to the wing tip which is on the stand and push it blindly back in.  After some wiggling and pushing, it finally goes in.
Assembly ToolA clever customer of ours had a better idea.  He built a plastic main pin with an eccentric and handle which he uses to prevent the first wing from being pushed back out.  It looks like a main wing pin that is no longer than the thickness of one spar tang.
After the first wing is put in, this assembly tool is put in the inner tang hole and the handle turned downward.  The piece jams against the fuselage and prevents the wing from sliding out.  Then the second wing can be put in with some force, the first wing pin inserted, the assembly tool removed, and the second wing pin inserted.
Very quickly the owner can shout: “Release!”
Where should you store this assembly tool?  When the glider is assembled, there is room in the pin bag.  When the wings are in the trailer, the assembly pin can be put in the empty spar tang hole right where it will be used during the next assembly.
All DG-800 owners can order one of these useful innovations and we highly recommend them for new orders.

– friedel weber –
translated by:  D. Noyes, Ohio


A little trick for assembling your glider

Especially customers for new gliders complain sometimes that their gliders are difficult to assemble.  They usually make one simple mistake:

When the first wing half is put in it is supported with a stand or by a helper and is often held too high.  Then the wing is at an angle with the fuselage, too much force is used and the pin will “not” go into the hole.

The solution is simple:
After the forked tang is put into the fuselage it should “float” at the halfway point in the opening.  It should touch neither the upper nor the lower rim of the fuselage opening forcing the fuselage out of its vertical position.  Then when you put in the second half of the wing, the tang holes line up immediately and the wings go together like “warm butter”.

Try it!