Nose Rib Feedback

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Looking good! Now just need to get some more flanging on your lightening holes.

[way_up_north]

It never gets old....looking at good looking nose ribs....it's like the genesis of the plane and the personality ......

well done ....they look like they came off a factory machine ...wish you were working in my garage....

[fairchild]

I tried making a bob-stick out of hard maple. It broke twice after not too much use. I would have to make it out of something stronger If I was going to use one.
I used it a little bit early on when once I got a little reverse kink in the circular flange. After I got the process figured out I never needed it again.

I also tried making an MDF plug and die to stamp the round flanges. It worked but it caused a fair amount of distortion in the flat areas around the flanges. So I ditched that method.
The rubber works so well and so easy---- just a 1 step operation pretty much. The main (long) ribs I do using about 4 or 5 overlapping presses.

I must have 4 or 5 home made presses. They come in handy for all kinds of things.

Maybe you can try the cheapest Aircraft Spruce fluting pliers. 18$ They seem to make a nice narrow impression. I DID smooth and polish them with a Dremel with rouge. these----- https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...iABEgKt4_D_BwE


Then I placed 1 layer of electrical tape on the jaw faces. That helps guard against any marks.

I can see a few little waves in the flat areas but that looks like as good as you could expect for that method. Just check your flanges with a protractor for 30 degrees. My first
attempts were about 20-25. Only thing I would do is make narrower fluts using different pliers. It all most looks like your pler jaws don't have the proper shaped pocket to force the
sheet to roll-out at the outer boundary of the flut. That "tail" takes up some of your precious flat area. Can you show us a pic of your pliers faces ?

T

[S Lathrop]

I struggled with the Bob Stick for a bit. After that I used a offset flange system. The tooling consists of 1/8 inch aluminum piece that fits inside the rib flang. In the picture shows a citculat piece. That is the male die and the larger plate is the female die. The wool block also fits inside the rib flanges. The various parts are placed on a flat surface under a press. The circular, male die is against the flat surface. Next is the rib, then the larger female die and finally the wood block. There are dowel pins that align all the various parts with the wood block that fits inside the rib. When everything is pressed down against the flat surface, the rib cutouts have an upset flange that is 1/8 inch deep. Both holes are flanged at the same time. The finished rib is at the top of the picture. I think the big advantage of this process is that it tends to help flatten the rib, and it is way faster than working with the Bob Stick. there is no reason that you could not make the dies from wood and produce the same flanges that Bob drew on the plans. Nose Rib Flangine Tools.jpg

[Weldingiron]

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Here are a couple pics of my fluting pliers. I got them from Aircraft Spruce for around $18. They were advertised as non-marring, which they are, but there were no pictures of the actual fluting surfaces. They definitely eat up a lot of flat area on the flange and I wish there had been a decent picture on the website. I'm still trying to decide if it is worth buying a new pair.

[Weldingiron]

I've decided I'm not going to get a rib I'm really happy with with the Bob-stick and am going to go with the rubber press method. Can it be used to start the edge flanges while flanging the lightening hole or do I need to do the lightening holes separate and switch blocks to do the edges. I've seen the edges done for aileron nose ribs and such but not the main nose ribs. Thanks!