Elevator stiffeners and bending

March 25, 2010 – Sounds like old age… Anyway, I’ve got the stiffeners installed in both elevators and I bent the trailing edges. Got some help from my bride and my friend Joe. They helped me get access to the rivets in the stiffeners along the trailing edges, since it was hard to get my gun straight on those rivets.

Then it was time to bent the trailing edges. Thanks to Don Crum in Midlothian for the loan of the brake (2 2x8s with several door hinges) The skins come from Van’s partially bent, so you have access to rivet the stiffeners. Once they are installed, you finish the bend to give the nice sharp trailing edge, then the rest of the structure is installed.

I was a little nervous about doing this, but the tool works great, and I got nice crisp edges.

The pictures below show the left elevator’s position in the tool, and the nice bend when it’s done.