Today I tackled the bending of the longerons. For those unfamiliar with the building process, you are required to bend a curve in to pieces of angle aluminum. Each longeron is 173+ inches long and, when installed, run from the firewall back to the tail. The curve bends around the cockpit and creates the taper you normally associate with the fuselage of an airplane. After creating the curve the longeron must be bent downward 5 degrees and to match up with the firewall it needs a 17 degree twist inward. All of this sounds difficult and I admit I was a little stressed by the process. The designer of the plans simple states, measure where the curve starts and stops, place the longeron in a vise, apply some pressure in the direction of the curve and hit the angle aluminum with a rubber mallet. Move the longeron an inch and repeat. They do provide a template to measure your progress. Slowly work the longeron and create a curve. It works, just like it said in the instructions. I have not finished the downward bend or the twist. I am going to purchase a digital level and measure those accurately. 1/18/10 Update. I bought a device to check the downward bend and the inward twist. Both were right on on the right longeron. The left took about 20 minutes to get where I wanted it to be.
