Monday, September 10, 2012

Cutting front wing rib blanks

Tonight I traced my forming blocks onto a sheet of .020 aluminum, and cut them out. 18 total... Man my arm is sore! And I am a sheet metal worker by day! I cut them out with snips. I formed one up just to see how it would go and they are about 1/16" big after formed. So I am going to run the top and bottom edge along the belts sander again to take a little more off. I am also going to taper the flange part of the forming block about 10 degrees to allow the flanges to be over bent slightly to allow for the flange to "spring" back to 90 degrees. I assume I will have to file my indentions in the forming blocks a little deeper to maintain the "flute" that I have now. I'm pretty happy with the first rib. It lays flat on the table. Next work session I think I will work on putting the jig holes and the lighting holes
In the blanks.

1 hour

1 comment:

  1. Nice work! I will be following your building blog. I am purchasing plans this month. I hope to get started on my project soon after the plans arrive and I have time to study them and setup my shop (garage). Appreciate your detail and pictures. Greg.

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