Right Wing XI

8/3/2006

I have been focusing upon the leading edges lately. My idea to form the 1/16 ply leading edges started out great, but then started to turn a little sour...read on......

There are a few ways to bend plywood. The way I chose was a bit of a short cut, which came to bite me back in the ass later...

I have a buddy who fabricates kitchen counter tops. On the splashback there is usually a radius going down onto the counter top, this is bent using a heated bending brake. Basically, there is a heated tube running along the bend point on the brake. I tried a small test of ply on the brake, and it fitted the nose rib sample beautifully. So I went ahead and bent the 5 pieces required for the wings. Problem: on the long pieces, the ply is pliable near the ends and will manipulate around the rib, BUT as you get nearer to the middle of the length of ply, the ply becomes extremely rigid, and is impossible to manipulate.

I have worked out a way to remedy this, but it involves making a former for the ply and soaking the ply for a period of time. Meanwhile I was getting frustrated -Lately I have been feeling the project has been dragging a little so I decided to order 2 pre-formed pieces from Steen, so I could keep moving forward. When I get to the top wings, I will re-visit my existing ply pieces and re-fabricate them with a 'guaranteed' method.