One-man rigging question

I have an ASW 15 which has fork and tongue spars with two main pins.
My current assembly method is to insert both wings and then have the
helper raise the tip of one wing and slowly lower it while the other
wing tip is on a stand. I work the pins and when they are going in I
have the helper hold the wing in place. I do this for each pin. Its
easy to do and takes only a minute. This old glider goes together much
easier than many new ones I've seen BUT the holes have to lined up
exactly.

Anyway, I'd like to rigged and waiting for the tow pilot on good days
and be able to stay up so that no one is waiting for me to land so
they can help de-rig before they go home. I envision making many trips
between pins and rigging aid trying to get things just right. I also
imagiing it will be a little different each time since I rig on grass
that nobody would mistake for a fairway. What are your expeiences with
one man riggers, two pin systems and uneven ground? I'm wondering if
the hassle will outweigh the benefits. Tip and tricks welcome.
Thanks.

I used a one-man rigger with my ASW-20 for several years and had no
major problems. The easiest way I found to align the holes was to use
the fuselage ramp height adjustment after getting the wings
approximately aligned. Not many iterations. I now use a one-man
system (WingRigger) with my Discus 2 and find I need to have better
alignment for the one-pin system since the spar pins need to engage
with each opposite wing. I sometimes need a helper to wiggle the
final adjustment with the Discus, but rarely needed to do this with
the ASW-20. You shouldn't have any problems with the ASW-15 - just get
a nice unit with big wheels. I recommend the WingRigger built here in
Arizona by Steve Koerner.

Mike

On Aug 17, 1:38*pm, Mike wrote:
I have an ASW 15 which has fork and tongue spars with two main pins.
My current assembly method is to insert both wings and then have the
helper raise the tip of one wing and slowly lower it while the other
wing tip is on a stand. I work the pins and when they are going in I
have the helper hold the wing in place. I do this for each pin. *Its
easy to do and takes only a minute. This old glider goes together much
easier than many new ones I've seen BUT the holes have to lined up
exactly.

Anyway, I'd like to rigged and waiting for the tow pilot on good days
and be able to stay up so that no one is waiting for me to land so
they can help de-rig before they go home. I envision making many trips
between pins and rigging aid trying to get things just right. I also
imagiing it will be a little different each time since I rig on grass
that nobody would mistake for a fairway. What are your expeiences with
one man riggers, two pin systems and uneven ground? I'm wondering if
the hassle will outweigh the benefits. Tip and tricks welcome.
Thanks.

We have been using a one man rigger and a single wing stand to
assemble a '19 with no issues. It WILL take a few assembly and
disassembly cycles to learn the tricks. We do it on an old trailer
which has no provision for fuselage lifting and have no problems.
good luck.
UH

"Mike" wrote in message
...
I have an ASW 15 which has fork and tongue spars with two main pins.
My current assembly method is to insert both wings and then have the
helper raise the tip of one wing and slowly lower it while the other
wing tip is on a stand. I work the pins and when they are going in I
have the helper hold the wing in place. I do this for each pin. Its
easy to do and takes only a minute. This old glider goes together much
easier than many new ones I've seen BUT the holes have to lined up
exactly.

Anyway, I'd like to rigged and waiting for the tow pilot on good days
and be able to stay up so that no one is waiting for me to land so
they can help de-rig before they go home. I envision making many trips
between pins and rigging aid trying to get things just right. I also
imagiing it will be a little different each time since I rig on grass
that nobody would mistake for a fairway. What are your expeiences with
one man riggers, two pin systems and uneven ground? I'm wondering if
the hassle will outweigh the benefits. Tip and tricks welcome.
Thanks.

The one I made for myself uses a hydraulic jack and I think some others do
as well. With one like this you could raise it up higher than it needs to
be and open the valve so it lowers the wing verrrry slowly. When the holes
line up push the pins in. In fact, I do this very thing now sometimes when
I de-rig because it makes it easier to get the first wing out.

Bruce

I ALWAYS self assemble my ASW-20b with a (1) man rig (20 year old
Cobra unit). Works find and just about as fast 2 people. Like UH
says, it will take you a few times to find the tricks but my technique
is:

0. Make sure fuselage if perfectly vertical!
1. right wing first. need to find the correct height for your wing
stand. I never change the height or location for the wing stand.
Before leaving the right wing, I pickup the tip (off the stand) and
gently rock fore/aft to make sure the wing is squarely seated on the
drag pins. If it is not, you will never get the main pins in.
2. Left wing on. Same drill, make sure squarely seated on drag pins.
I also "know" the approximate correct wing dolly height (Actually, I
almost never move my wing dolly height.
3. Crank fuselage ramp dolly jacks up/down to get (1) pin in (hard
part) then tweak jack for 2nd pin,

Total time less than 5 minutes for both wings. On good days, about 2
minutes.

Disassemble: Nothing other than the ramp should have moved, so put it
back where it was and the main pins should slide right out. I pull
BOTH pins at ONCE in one quick turn and pull motion. Total time to
pull pins and return both wings to trailer: 2 minutes 11.5 seconds
(approx)

ST

On Aug 17, 12:21*pm, Todd wrote:
I ALWAYS self assemble my ASW-20b with a (1) man rig (20 year old
Cobra unit). *Works find and just about as fast 2 people. *Like UH
says, it will take you a few times to find the tricks but my technique
is:

0. Make sure fuselage if perfectly vertical!
1. right wing first. *need to find the correct height for your wing
stand. *I never change the height or location for the wing stand.
Before leaving the right wing, I pickup the tip (off the stand) and
gently rock fore/aft to make sure the wing is squarely seated on the
drag pins. *If it is not, you will never get the main pins in.
2. Left wing on. Same drill, make sure squarely seated *on drag pins.
I also "know" the approximate correct wing dolly height (Actually, I
almost never move my wing dolly height.
3. Crank fuselage ramp dolly jacks up/down to get (1) pin in (hard
part) then tweak jack for 2nd pin,

Total time *less than 5 minutes for both wings. *On good days, about 2
minutes.

Disassemble: *Nothing other than the ramp should have moved, so put it
back where it was and the main pins should slide right out. *I pull
BOTH pins at ONCE in one quick turn and pull motion. Total time to
pull pins and return both wings to trailer: 2 minutes 11.5 seconds
(approx)

ST

I'm not as good at rigging as the other guys, about 70% of the time I
rig my DG303 like lightning, about 30% of the time something is off
and it can take me some time to find it. I do have a spacer block I
use to make sure the trailer jack is the exact height every time and
witness lines scribed onto the wing dolly, as repeatability is the
key. Of course if you move the trailer to another location you start
all over if the slope of the ground is different.

DG gliders have a flat top to the instrument pod, so I've started
using two Black & Decker laser 'levels' attached to a thin sheet of
plywood. These are shimmed such that the dot of the laser hits the
leading edge of the wing about 10' out. With this system you slide the
wing into the fuse, return to the wing dolly and crank it up or down
until the dot shows on the wing, the wing then glides onto the pins.
When both dots are where they should be the pins slide right in or
out.

The laser I use costs $14 and looks like a red tape measure, part
number BDL220S. It comes with a lens attached to the laser that makes
the dot into a line and I remove that.

Brian

"One man riggers" are a great investment. Get one with lateral (side-
to-side) adjustment.
As mentioned before, with practice the AS-W15 should be pretty easy
to rig by yourself, with any of the riggers. You could build a drift
pin or cam-shaped pin out of Delrin as a rigging tool to align the
spars. A 15 would usually not have a trailer with adjustable ramp
height, so you'll use the jack in the rigger.
With a glider that doesn't "slip right together" you'll enjoy having
the rigger supporting the wing while you scratch your head, instead of
a friend who might be harder to find next time.
Lasers sound a bit complicated. If you need a reference line, while
the glider is rigged draw fore/aft and top of spar lines in the
baggage compartment with a magic marker.
DOH! Come to think of it I don't remember if there's a place to draw
lines in the 15.
Jim

On Aug 17, 1:51*pm, JS wrote:
* "One man riggers" are a great investment. Get one with lateral (side-
to-side) adjustment.
* As mentioned before, with practice the AS-W15 should be pretty easy
to rig by yourself, with any of the riggers. You could build a drift
pin or cam-shaped pin out of Delrin as a rigging tool to align the
spars. A 15 would usually not have a trailer with adjustable ramp
height, so you'll use the jack in the rigger.
* With a glider that doesn't "slip right together" you'll enjoy having
the rigger supporting the wing while you scratch your head, instead of
a friend who might be harder to find next time.
* Lasers sound a bit complicated. If you need a reference line, while
the glider is rigged draw fore/aft and top of spar lines in the
baggage compartment with a magic marker.
DOH! Come to think of it I don't remember if there's a place to draw
lines in the 15.
Jim

Jim,
the laser is a little complicated to set up but it works well after
that. I enjoyed building it as an interesting project and do not like
hassling with the wing, so it was all good.

The problem with any reference line or aid at the spars is that when
the pins are in, everything lines up perfect, but there could be a lot
of pressure on the pins making it too hard to get them out. Then you
see people bouncing the wing tip around trying to get the pressure off
the pins by trial and error.

On Aug 17, 1:49*pm, brianDG303 wrote:
On Aug 17, 12:21*pm, Todd wrote:



I ALWAYS self assemble my ASW-20b with a (1) man rig (20 year old
Cobra unit). *Works find and just about as fast 2 people. *Like UH
says, it will take you a few times to find the tricks but my technique
is:

0. Make sure fuselage if perfectly vertical!
1. right wing first. *need to find the correct height for your wing
stand. *I never change the height or location for the wing stand.
Before leaving the right wing, I pickup the tip (off the stand) and
gently rock fore/aft to make sure the wing is squarely seated on the
drag pins. *If it is not, you will never get the main pins in.
2. Left wing on. Same drill, make sure squarely seated *on drag pins.
I also "know" the approximate correct wing dolly height (Actually, I
almost never move my wing dolly height.
3. Crank fuselage ramp dolly jacks up/down to get (1) pin in (hard
part) then tweak jack for 2nd pin,

Total time *less than 5 minutes for both wings. *On good days, about 2
minutes.

Disassemble: *Nothing other than the ramp should have moved, so put it
back where it was and the main pins should slide right out. *I pull
BOTH pins at ONCE in one quick turn and pull motion. Total time to
pull pins and return both wings to trailer: 2 minutes 11.5 seconds
(approx)

ST

I'm not as good at rigging as the other guys, about 70% of the time I
rig my DG303 like lightning, about 30% of the time something is off
and it can take me some time to find it. I do have a spacer block I
use to make sure the trailer jack is the exact height every time and
witness lines scribed onto the wing dolly, as repeatability is the
key. Of course if you move the trailer to another location you start
all over if the slope of the ground is different.

DG gliders have a flat top to the instrument pod, so I've started
using two Black & Decker laser 'levels' attached to a thin sheet of
plywood. These are shimmed such that the dot of the laser hits the
leading edge of the wing about 10' out. With this system you slide the
wing into the fuse, return to the wing dolly and crank it up or down
until the dot shows on the wing, the wing then glides onto the pins.
When both dots are where they should be the pins slide right in or
out.

The laser I use costs $14 and looks like a red tape measure, part
number BDL220S. It comes with a lens attached to the laser that makes
the dot into a line and I remove that.

Brian

I'll second the vote for lasers. I did a few trials comparing
"eyeball" wing tip positioning with the precise alignment possible
with a laser. The eyeballs were usually 6" or more out of position.
A laser aligned wing just slips in perfectly every time.

A secondary benefit is much less stress on the root fittings. The
human reaction to assembly difficulties is to just "move it around a
bit" to try finding some "magic" alignment. If you KNOW the wing is
aligned and it still isn't going together, you'll quickly find the
real culprit (like the water dump valve) and fix it.

That's also a benefit of one-man riggers. With the wing balanced on
the dolly, there is little weight on the root so the wing fittings
just 'float' together with little force on them. You'll feel any
resistance.

Laser levels are cheap. It's not hard to design a simple jig fixture
that fits on the canopy pins to hold the laser level.

I've been solo rigging since 1982. Gotta be some kind of record. Same
comments as everyone else. It works. Takes the stress out of assembly
when something doesn't line up. No wingtip holder wilting in the sun.
A few cautions: