22 April 2013

Wings: Ribs. Deburred, drilled, staightened and fluted.

So far, I'd say each rib has received about 45 minutes or more of attention.
  • All edges on the main ribs are deburred.  
  • All #40 holes are final-sized.  
  • All flanges are straightened.
  • All main ribs are fluted and flat.
The 3M Utility Cloth Roll 314D did the trick on deburring the tabs and other hard-to-reach areas.

 

The rib straightener rocked every flange.  I taped part of a cereal box underneath the pressing lever to get the edge as close to the rib bend as I could by just kissing the top of that part of the rib that curves up.


Fluting was an interesting experience.  Chapter 5 of the plans has little guidance, so off to the web I went.  One gentleman has a nice video explaining the whole process, so I tried that originally.  But I found it to be time-consuming and too much of a shot-in-the dark.  I had remembered reading that it isn't necessary to flute every space between holes, so off I went to the Internet for more ideas.  This fellow had a great technique which I adopted.

Step 1:  Notice that rib is curled here.



Step 2:  Start by fluting the part of the rib with the largest curl and work your way out.  As you press on the fluting pliers, the curl is reduced.  You can watch the rib get straighter as you press.  Notice that not every portion is fluted below.  That is the same rib as above.


Here is a nicely fluted rib.

 

All main ribs fluted.  You'll notice that each rib is fluted in the same general area and each one is done differently, according to its needs.  Initially, I was concerned that my table wasn't flat.  But I checked it with a straight edge.  Upon closer inspection of unfluted ribs, they tended to be curled in the same way.


This stack used to have a lot of springiness to it.  Now that they've all been fluted and are straight, this is a fairly rigid stack of ribs.


Next, these ribs need to have their #40 holes deburred on both sides and then dimpled properly.

No comments:

Post a Comment