Longeron Question

Question for anyone who has finished their longerons. What is the secret to opening the angle on the end (the portion that is to be opened up 5.4 degrees)? I used a soft-faced heavy hammer just as instructed and hit it very hard repeatedly and did not succeed in opening the angle at all. What weight hammer have others used? Mine is 12 oz.

I thought those RV-12's built themselves?!

To bend the angle you use a mallet. To twist (open) you simply put the longeron in a vise where you want the twist to start and then use a crescent wrench on one face of the longeron and twist it open or closed as necessary.

Good luck.

alpinelakespilot2000 said:

I thought those RV-12's built themselves?!

Click to expand...

Just add water and they grow themselves.

They sure go togeather nice.

Thanks for the tip!

Opening Angle

The instructions say to use a hammer. I had to use a 3# hammer to get it opened. Vice and wrench can do it also.

John Bender

I also had a hard time getting the 90 degree angle on the end of the longeron to open up- the soft hammer method simple didn't budge it. Here's what I wound up doing: step 1. Take the ten inch or so piece that you cut off the longeron to trim it to length and place it over the angle that you want to open up (this will protect the longeron from the next step) Step 2. I used a short 3# sledge hammer to beat directly on to the scrap piece on top of the longeron (as an anvil, I placed the longeron on top of my table saw cast iron top). You will really have to apply some force to get it to budge, but the srap piece will keep it from being otherwise deformed. After that, the twisting was easy- just put it in the vice, like they say, and use the monkey wrench on the flange. Steve

thanks for the suggestion Steve- quick question

So can I assume that extra 10" of angle that is cut off each longeron is not used someplace else? I have looked ahead and don't see anywhere that it is used but I wanted to confirm.

I checked that myself, and could not find anywhere down the road where I would need the scrap pieces. Steve

Opening longeron

I used a 3/4 inch pipe coupling inside of the angle and squeezed it with a vice. Check it with a square and there should be about 1/16 of inch gap at the vertex. The plans do not explain the twisting step very well. The object is to have the top of the longeron flat and on the same plane for the entire length.
Joe