Brief Description: Straighten wing ribs with vise grip flute tool.
The process of fluting using your vise grip hand fluting tool. The ribs have a curviture to them when they were manufactured and stamped out. Making a little ridge in the flange, between the rivet holes, effectivly makes the flange shorter, thus pulling the rib straight.
Each picture below shows 10 ribes that have been fluted and 10 that have not. 2 ribs per row.
Here is the bummer. When you start, the flanges are 90 degrees to the web from a previous step. After you flute the flange bends out, thus negating all that flange straightening you did earlier. Crap. I had to hand adjust the flanges again with the hand seamer to get them back to 90 degrees to the web. But, the process of adjusting with the hand seamer removes some of the flute. Do you see a pattern here.
Well after a few ribs you get the hang of things and it starts to go fast.
My procedure is.
1. Flute both sides. Don't check rib straightness yet. 2. Hand seam to adjust flange 90 degress to web using a square. 3. Flute a slight bit more if required to get the rib straight. If you flute a bunch more you have to go back to step 2. 4. Lay rib on flat table for final check and fine adjust flutes if required.
I found my eye was a very acurate measure of straightness.
Bummer number 2. The fluting tools is a modified vise grip. The adjustment end bolt kept adjusting itself making it impossible to get the same amount of flute per pressure of tool squeeze. I adjusted the bolt and duct taped it. I'll get a nut to fix it in place.
