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047F6E8E-20B0-4CD7-813B-5B71F5C70EF2.jpegC8986A66-D0E1-4795-A6ED-1D879C7846ED.jpeg I re did my Bravo aileron nose ribs
Ive edited this post to add some details so other builders wont mess this part up like I did...Alaska Bearhawk has added a link to a mallet that would have done the job properly...long story short my rubber mallet was just too soft to deal with this part...what follows is a long winded explanation of how I went wrong with this part... you feel stupid when everyone before you didnt have a problem with making this part and you discover a new way to screw it up... ;)
to this point in my build, my trusty rubber mallet has worked great but seems to has met its match with the aileron nose rib...the area giving me trouble at the very nose of the rib..
the problem was my rubber mallet was just too soft to get the metal to form in the area and lay flat..2024 being pretty stiff material...my mallet has the feel like the material from a pencil eraser....moving up to a stiffer hammer would probably have done the trick ... I didnt think of that then ....and used a different technique with a brass mallet to get the metal to follow the form shape...
with the hammering (using soft rubber mallet) on the 1st set I ended up crushing the radius on some of the ribs and decided to start the set over again...this time doing it a little differently..
I`m no expert...so consult one before you do what im suggesting...
I set the rib blank on the bottom former with no top former... (lets call this naked rib forming)...held it on the table with my palm holding it down and the 2 bolts sticking up through the rib blank holding it in position ....and I was able to set the beginning of the curve/radius nicely on the part using a brass mallet...there was no deformation from not having the top former on and I could really get at the edge to form the radius really well...I set the curve to about 30 degrees then put the top former on and finished it, with a rubber mallet
Ive edited this post to add some details so other builders wont mess this part up like I did...Alaska Bearhawk has added a link to a mallet that would have done the job properly...long story short my rubber mallet was just too soft to deal with this part...what follows is a long winded explanation of how I went wrong with this part... you feel stupid when everyone before you didnt have a problem with making this part and you discover a new way to screw it up... ;)
to this point in my build, my trusty rubber mallet has worked great but seems to has met its match with the aileron nose rib...the area giving me trouble at the very nose of the rib..
the problem was my rubber mallet was just too soft to get the metal to form in the area and lay flat..2024 being pretty stiff material...my mallet has the feel like the material from a pencil eraser....moving up to a stiffer hammer would probably have done the trick ... I didnt think of that then ....and used a different technique with a brass mallet to get the metal to follow the form shape...
with the hammering (using soft rubber mallet) on the 1st set I ended up crushing the radius on some of the ribs and decided to start the set over again...this time doing it a little differently..
I`m no expert...so consult one before you do what im suggesting...
I set the rib blank on the bottom former with no top former... (lets call this naked rib forming)...held it on the table with my palm holding it down and the 2 bolts sticking up through the rib blank holding it in position ....and I was able to set the beginning of the curve/radius nicely on the part using a brass mallet...there was no deformation from not having the top former on and I could really get at the edge to form the radius really well...I set the curve to about 30 degrees then put the top former on and finished it, with a rubber mallet
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