Rudder construction

[geraldmorrissey]

I thought the rudder construction would be a breeze. But the T.E. tube is kicking my butt. I spent almost 4 hours just getting the lower bend in. The tube is easy to bend but the shape is challenging. Perfect project for a rainy day.
Gerry
Patrol #30

[Untainted123]

When your building, you pray for rainy days to get stuff done. When you're flying you pray for sunshine days to fly. The weather is always to blame!

[alaskabearhawk]

Good job keeping after it...those are the things that you'll see when it's all done and you'll be glad you put in the time.

[geraldmorrissey]

Success, my arms are dead. It's funny the things that put a smile on your face. Getting a smooth curve and not a series of straight segments is the hard part.

[U2fletch]

I don’t know, a “digital” versus analog curve could be considered a design choice.

[fairchild1934]

Gerald--- I built a big bending for from two back to back pieces of 3/4 hardwood plywood. Used the router to put a 45 degree bevel on the edge to form a
v groove for the tubing. I think I later refined it to half round to better support the pipe. Bolted it down flat on the table. Then I got a piece of 3/4 inch solid steel shaft about 4 feet long. I has a couple of feet extra tubing- which was fortunate. That allowed me to use the extra hanging over tp slide the rod into and use that for extra leverage. The section the rod was in I cut off later anyway. But the rod really helped in bending the bigger tubes. The form is kind of a french curve- so different sections can be used on different parts of the tubing curve.