Tip: Setting Ribs to 90 Degrees

[eric_marsh]

This is such a simple idea that I'd be surprised if nobody has come up with it before, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Right now I'm prepping the wing ribs for my RV-6. The book says that they need to be bent perpendicular to the main spar using a seamer. I started to do so but found the process to be tedious. Here's the alternative approach that I came up with. It did a lot to speed things up.

I cut a small piece of angle iron and using welding clamps secured the rib ad angle iron to a table.



I then gently bent the rib, applying pressure with my finger tips or the palm of my hand near the flange until it was square.



In some cases it was necessary to slightly bevel the flange next to the one being bent slightly so that it won't hit the table during the bending process.



As an added benefit, this process flattened some flanges that had developed some minor bends in them.

[larrynew]

I copied many before me with this flange straightner. You'll need something more narrow when you get to the curved parts of the flanges. I also notched the back of the pivoting arm so I don't smash the web where it's got those indentions.