Category: Tooling

I’ve been working on updating this site for a while and finally have it mostly finished.  It shouldn’t look too much different but it will be easier for me to maintain.

I continued deburring the holes in the leading edge wing skins. After finishing the deburring I took a look at my large drill press in order to figure out what is required to get it ready to drill the large holes in the wing spars.

With my small workspace (single car garage) I needed a place to store completed parts. Today I designed and built a wall mounted wing storage rack.

Today I purchased a couple of lengths of 3/8" x 2-1/2" cold finished flat bar from the Metal Supermarket. I had one piece cut to 15" long and I had one piece 30" long. From the 30" long piece I cut a 2-1/2" long piece. Next I ground a 10 degree angle along one edge. I finished the edge with a file and then put a 1/8" radius on the edge. The 3/8" clamp bar replaces the 1/2" that came with the brake. This allows me to form tighter bends when they are in the same direction as required for the elevator ribs. I also made sure that I radius the top edge so that it would not dig into the first flange when forming two tight 90 degree flanges.

Over the last few days I have continued deburring the Wing Ribs. I got to the point where I had 10 left to deburr. At this point I decided I needed to make the -01 through -05 wing ribs. I marked each according to the plans. Drilled a new 1/4" relief hole and then made the extra cutout using the Andy Snips. I now have 10 ribs ready to be deburred.

Today I purchase a 30" bending brake. The local Princess Auto store has these for $79.00 dollars (Canadian). I picked this one up in Hamilton, Ontario. It looks pretty sturdy and should do the job for all of the small parts. I plan on purchasing the pre-bent metal kit so I only need the brake for small parts. It was made in China but the quality is reasonable.