Spent way too much time on this one. Removed the clecoes on the Rt side arm rest, F-620. Used that and Dwg #29 to fabricate the form blocks for making the Lt side arm rest. Don't know for sure whether the original owner fabricated the Rt side but it appears to be a 'factory' component that is primed with the clear primer only available by the factory.
There seems to be a rigidity problem with the arm rest (IMHO) because there is no Fwd end bracket to support it. The Aft end is secured by an angle bracket riveted under the end. Without a Fwd bracket the arm rest is secured only by the fuselage skin and this seems to be too flexible.
Will need to communicate with Van's for info.
Decided to use a sink cut-out of high density particle board and formica for the form block. This is good and bad. It is extremely dense/heavy and with formica covering, the bandsaw blade seemed to be degraded quickly. In fact, this emphasized deficiencies in the ShopMaster bandsaw and I decided to bite the bullet and replace it with a Ryobi unit. (See Tools for details)
After a lot of cutting and setting up the new bandsaw, it was finally possible to complete ONE of the two blocks required. I also misunderstood the size of the block and did the raw cut of the wood too big. Didn't see that the block size is ONLY required to be under the flat (core section) of the arm rest. Instead I approximated the entire size of the sheet aluminum to be used. Of course, this leaving NO place to turn down the flange. The correct size of a form block is the WEB size.
For the arm rest this size is on Dwg #29 and is shown by 1" increments widths. I used the formica side of the block to draw the increments and the digital micrometer to correctly measure and layout the curved edge. (Photo #2) - written notes on the form blocks themselves. If I made another arm rest, I would use a brake/bender to form the straight side. It seems very difficult to fold the alum without leaving 'some' unevenness. In addition, a brake would fold the e
