Bend longerons. Where to begin? First I needed to have a good stable bench vise to bend the longerons. The small vise I own is mounted to a bench but is not strong or stable enough to be banging very hard on. So I mounted the vise onto a doorway in the basement about chest high. Since my basement is not finished I picked a doorway that would allow me to maneuver the long angle into position to bang. Next came some research into how other people bent their angle. I was looking for the degree of difficulty because the way Vans directions make it sound the precision is important, no twist, smooth radius, and correct angle. I couldn't find much for information, most other people just said "bent the longerons", not a lot of help. Lots of anticipation before the first bend!!
The rest of the story is almost anticlimactic. I started to bang as per the directions with my trusty rubber mallet, small hits at first and then progressively harder. Bam! Then move it about an inch. Bam! As the bend started to show I matched it against the template. Yes there was some twist but warping it back into shape was not difficult. Bend a little more here; bend it back there because I went too far. Check against the template. Took about an hour and a half to get it very close.
There is a bend at the front end and it takes a completely different direction. Again, I was nervous about this bend. In the end the actual angle is not that severe. It is really only a few degrees. I bent it with no problems.
One down one more to go, only make this one a mirror image. I took about an hour getting the other side to match both the template and the previous angle. All in all it was not that bad. Preparation mentally was the most important part. Keeping my head wrapped around what direction the bend needs to take and how well the bend is beginning to match the template were the hardest part. Someday soon I hope to see if these parts are correct and fit properly.
