Fluting party

[Chris In Wisconsin]

So I thought it was time for a title change. I routed the slots in the edges of the bending form and rounded off the edges so the metal doesn't split. Also routed out the lightening holes so the flanges fit inside (not pictured here).

Then I sandwiched the metal between the forms (started with the full-length ribs), and bent over the flanges with a mallet. Then I took a screwdriver and the mallet, and stretched the metal into the slots. You may remember me doing this on Bearhawk 4-place ribs some time back.

I used a little too much pressure and the rib came out bent a bit from too much stretching. So I used the seaming pliers to take the excess stretchy out. Looks mighty fine now.

Learn from the first, make the rest less worse


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[Bdflies]

That's some mighty fine work!

Bill

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

Working on the nose ribs tonight. Might get through one side. Takes a few steps to get them perfectly straight, between the bending, fluting, and Vans straightener. But dang they look good.

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Finished up the right side nose ribs tonight, and with my friends Alan and Don, we got a start on the .025" center ribs. I've done this before, so I thought it would be a good experience for Alan, an apprentice A&P, to try his hand at tin bending.

Nice and straight.

About half done on the right side.

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[N3UW]

Chris,
Things are looking great. I love your fluting method. I had tried one I had seen that was similar but the fluting groves on the edge where at angles. I did not have good success Andy went back to the fluting pliers. How much tweeting with pliers do you have to do after you take it out of the jig? I like your innovation.

Finished up the right side nose ribs tonight, and with my friends Alan and Don, we got a start on the .025" center ribs. I've done this before, so I thought it would be a good experience for Alan, an apprentice A&P, to try his hand at tin bending.

Nice and straight.

About half done on the right side.

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Chris,
Things are looking great. I love your fluting method. I had tried one I had seen that was similar but the fluting groves on the edge where at angles. I did not have good success Andy went back to the fluting pliers. How much tweeting with pliers do you have to do after you take it out of the jig? I like your innovation.

Thanks! Regarding tweaking, it takes very little, surprisingly. The grooves are quite shallow, maybe 1/8" inch deep, made with a 1/4" router bit. I've found that way, even if you get heavy on the hammer, it doesn't overstretch things. They come out of the jig almost perfectly flat every time. And after it goes through the Vans straightener, the flanges are fabulously straight. I did watch a video of a guy that used a Forsner bit in the side of the form to make his slots, but they were just a bit too big for my liking. And because our rivets are so close together, I thought I'd give this method a go. The results are way better than I could have ever imagined.

If it does curve up a bit from over-tightening, using some seaming pliers to gently squeeze out the fluting depth three or four at a time until it lays flat will do the trick. Kind of the opposite of the way you showed in your video with the fluting pliers to get it to lay flat.

I'd hoped I could get your flow-forming method to work for me, but I don't have enough rivet gun or air compressor capacity to make it work for me. So it's back to the hammer.

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

Wrapped up the right side .025" center ribs, and the right side .032" center ribs. Started the false ribs behind the fuel tank. The .032" stuff takes some extra gumption to get those flanges bent over.

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Finished up the .032" stuff (center ribs and false ribs), as well as all the aft ribs, and this completes the right side. Time to do it all over again on the left side.

The aft ribs can't be straightened at the tips with the Vans straightener, so went with the seaming pliers.

Group shot.

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[Bcone1381]

Chris, You are really doing a great job. In my opinion the methods you are using are what we should our community should publish as an "Industry Best Practice" for rib forming.

Brooks Cone
Chelsea, MI
Scratch building Patrol #303

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

Thanks so much for the kind words, Brooks. It means the world!

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

Getting a move on the left side. Routed out the other side of the beater board, relieving the lightening hole flanges. In case you were wondering what they look like because they weren't shown the last time around:

Not beautiful, but functional.

Did the full sized rib first, and starting with the nose ribs.

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Jake stopped by to join Alan, Don, and myself with some rib bending. Another young fella and A&P hopeful working in the jet shop for a local business, I felt he needed some time working on "real" airplanes for a while. So we put him to work, trading places on the hammering crew and the straightener.

Didn't take him long to figure out how to get them nice and straight. The expression on his face when he watched the fluting pliers flatten out a rib was priceless. It's like it was some sort of black magic!

Don and Alan helped to finish up the rest of the nose ribs, too.

That's the last of those. Center ribs next!

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Didn't have a lot of time to spend in the Airplane Factory tonight, but managed to get the .032" stuff finished up.

Taking next week off to take my family on a well-deserved vacation.


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[lsa140]

Looks awesome Chris. Thanks for all of the good reference photos. Keep it up.

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

My pleasure. Just got back from vacation, so time to get back in the groove.

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

After a week of downtime soaking in solar radiation in the tropics, I'm getting back in the groove in the airplane factory. Finished up the aft ribs and aileron ribs for the other side. Flaps tomorrow, and the rest of the 0.025" center ribs.

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[Chris In Wisconsin]

Well, it's a wrap! Finished up the rest of the 0.025" stuff tonight, and the ribs are finished!

Daniel and Riley were my helpers tonight:

Family photo:

Time to move on to stiffening angles, rib attach angles, and spar webs. All are going to need a shear and a big brake. As Brooks mentioned last week, EAA has a 10-foot brake and very large shear. I'll get all of those taken care of in a long day in the next weekend or two. Headed to Weeks Hangar this weekend with the chapter to work on the B-25 restoration, as well as B-17 and Ford Trimotor maintenance. So my metalwork will have to wait until the following weekend. I have a lot of angle counting to do anyway between now and then. 😀


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[Bcone1381]

Thank you for your service Chris! You guys will make memories that will last a life time. When I walked into the Weeks Hanger, I had no idea what I was in for. Before I left I climbed up and sat in the B-17 Bombardier seat in the nose. I also carefully looked over the waist gunner position where my Dad served.

Brooks Cone
Chelsea, MI
Patrol #303

 

[lsa140]

That last photo is a thing of beauty.

 

[Chris In Wisconsin]

My pleasure, Brooks . We make it a point to go work on those aircraft once or twice a year. My son, now 16, has gone with us every time we go, and has a lot of time working on those planes, and others. How many of his friends, when asked, "What did you do on Spring Break?" will be able to say they put the wing back on a WWII bomber?

Yes, LSA, that stack of tin brings a tear to my eye!