The longerons are nothing if not frustrating. I think I'm growing neurons though and that's a good thing! I started by marking the "end of the twist", start of the curve, etc. as well as the curve section with 1 inch incremental marks. This helped immensely! I used the Marty Santic method to open the angle 5.4 degrees. That is to say, take a scrap piece of angle, place it over the longeron portion to be opened and hit it hard with a hammer. This worked well. Then twist the end of the longeron 2.7 degrees. I used a level of sorts that shows degrees. I twisted until it displayed approximately the 2.7 and moved onto curving the longerons. The 1st was the Left longeron and I overbent it. From there is was pure frustration. I finally got it to where it was passable, then began the right longeron. I know I grew dendrites on this job because the 2nd longeron went much faster and easier than the first. My advice is to use a vise, put the longeron under a "pre-load" and whack it at the point where it enters the vise. Don't over-do this part. If you didn't whack it hard enough, you can always revisit this, inch by bloody inch. After 9 hours, I quit for the day.
1 comment:
Way to stick with it, Dad! I am proud of you for taking on such a complex project. I love you. I also had fun at Pops and Verta's.
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