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Tom's Rans S-19 Builders Log
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Date: 12-19-2010
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Bending of Forward Longerons
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Peformed bending of the forward longerons as follows:
Working with a machine shop, some aluminum bending dies were fabricated to perform this task The dies are used in conjunction with a minimum of a 4" vise. The bends were performed in a 6" vise.
The dies are machined out of square aluminum bar and include a slot in the "male" side to keep the horizontal part of the aluminum angle from kinking or twisting as the bend is performed. All you need to do is use some electrical or duct tape on surfaces of the longeron to be bent, place the longeron in the dies, and clamp down with the vise. The instructions recommend a 1" spacing in the bends, but the S-19 longeron has two different bends. The forward bend is a tight one over a small distance whereas the aft one is rather gradual over a longer distance. I marked the area of the bend on the template provided by Rans.
The bending of the forward curve, which is the steeper one was quite easy. I moved the material about 1/2" between bends, beginning at the center and moving outward and using the full bending deflection the dies could achieve.
For the aft curve, which is longer and more gradual, I used about 1" - 1.25" spacing between bends and less than full bending deflection - probably about 1/2 to 2/3. Ideally, two sets of dies would make this foolproof, but it's no big deal. Again, I began from the center of the bend and worked outward, constantly checking against the template. I did over bend one of the longerons a small amount on that aft curve, but it was eased by clamping the angle stock directly in the vise and bending back slightly.
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Longeron bending dies
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Beginning the forward curve
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Both longerons complete
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