Well, it's time to bend the longerons and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. I began with the lower longerons which are made from fairly heavy material. Thankfully, the initial bend is made at the factory. Producing the vertical bend on the lower longerons, slight as they are, would have been difficult in my home workshop.
Per the plans, my first task was to twist the forward portion of the left longeron counterclockwise as you look forward to the firewall. I used the bench vise and a large crescent wrench to make the twist. The longeron was test fitted to the fuselage structure to check for the proper angle. It took a couple trips to the vise but wasn't too difficult.
Step 2 in the process is to open or spread the angle at the aft end on the longeron. I used a 2 lb dead blow mallet from Harbor Freight and the concrete floor of the workshop to accomplish this bend. This wasn't as easy as twisting the angle. The 2 lb hammer worked but a larger mallet would have been better. Surprisingly, very little marring of the angle occurred and was easily removed by polishing on the scotchbrite wheel. The final step of twisting the aft end of the longeron was actually easier than the forward end.
Finally, I put the slight bend in the mid-cabin longerons per the instructions. The method described in the manual works great. It doesn't take much preloading on the angle and just 1-2 moderate whacks with the dead blow hammer to get the required bend. By the way, I switched to a lighter hammer on the mid-cabin longerons (about 1.5 lbs). You have to watch the amount of force here or you can get too much bend in the angle.
I am not going to bend the upper longerons until it's time to fit them to the fuselage structure. They are easy to store when straight but will take a little more room once bent.
