Aileron Progress

There's something about announcing that you're building an airplane that immediately makes a million things pop up to take your time.  Over the past month and half, I have snuck away here and there to make progress on the ailerons. The challenge is to get a long, consistent bend without a wavy surface and without breaking the bank.

Take 1  - Hit it with a Hammer

I started by trying to bend them by hand using a rubber mallet, a board, and an 8' long 3" angel bolted to the bench as an anvil; but that resulted in scrap metal (at 91" long, that's more aluminum than I prefer to waste).  Not that others couldn't do it, but it is just not a skill that I have mastered.

Take 2 - Build a Brake to "Save money"

Next, I decided to build a bending brake using some plans I found online.  Overall, I think it would work fine, but one of my angles has a bow in it, and I do not have the talent or the tools to straighten it.  This ended up costing at least $150 when all was said and done.  I'll keep it, but without spending more money on it, it just isn't up to the task of making airplane parts with that bow in it.  Here's the brake I made.

Take 3 (Recommended) - Rent a Brake

This one is a big hit on the Thatcher Yahoo Group, so I should've started here.  I rented an 8' brake for about $75 for the day from Home Depot and a U-haul truck for under $50.  I ended up with nice straight bends for less than the cost of the homemade brake.


I was able to move this by myself, but just barely.


It is hard to see it here, but you can see that I used two long strips of sacrificial aluminum (from my previous failed attempts) to make a larger radius on the bends.  Just cut two 8' long and 2" wide strips of .020, and bend them in the brake together.  Then keep them in the brake when you bend the actual airplane parts.  I was happy with the results.  The tape kept those pieces from moving in between bends.



Here is the end result.  I made two ailerons, two trailing edges for the wing tips and some new wing tip spars in just a few hours.  I WANT ONE OF THESE BRAKES!


The bends a little closer up.



To get the ailerons to take the final form, I had to manually manipulate the bends to make the two ends touch.  I did a lot of this with my hands, a couple pieces of plywood, and a mallet.

At first, I did not make the bends tight enough, and I ended up with some "oil-canning".  Here is a video of the problem.  Making the bends a little tighter fixed this.

And here it is next tot he wing with the ribs in place and some masking tape holding things in place.  Next step is to measure and cut the hinges so I can mark the rivet holes and drill them.

Merry Christmas!