To "break-in" the bending brake, I chose to bend the vertical tail spar (aka rudder spar). This is a fairly long, tapered part made of .025" 6061-T6 sheet aluminum. Moving from bending a small part like the bellcrank support to this spar was a lesson on the force required to make bends. It is not physically difficult, but the pressure required does increase dramatically with additional length. It will be very interesting to see if I can actually use all 10 feet of this brake, given the force required to simultaneously bend that length of metal. That will be an interesting experiment in building.
