Veeduber wrote:
Again, Tubemiter program to the rescue. I can't overstress how much my
work improved after I got ahold of this program. It prints a template
for the fitup.


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This is yet another nice example of how computers can ease the task of
airplane-building. (The Old Fashioned Way is to coat the tubing with soot or
Dykem, fix the thing at the proper angle, then slide a flat-sided scriber
around the intersecting tube.)

While templates for tubing joints are an especially good example of using
computer-generated patterns, the same principle may be applied to any part
requiring the lay-out of holes, bending lines and so forth. For those
interested, the article for the carb heat box in the Fly5kfiles Group archive
uses this method to create both the box and the tubular ducting connectors.

-R.S.Hoover

Find a friend with a plotter (or the Kinko's type places charge about
$1/linear foot), and you can have full size rib layouts done. Get an
exact curve EVERY time.

This is especially important with a Delta aircraft. Each rib is
different, and small variations can really ruin your day.

BTW, I took your advice...sort've...on building my elevon ribs. The
part about beating the edges down to form a flange. Found a new friend
who has a shear and a brake. Cut and then bent the ribs, but being less
than an expert, the ribs once again did not taper properly. So I cut
some blanks out of an old oak shipping skid. I put matching ribs back
to back with a form inside each, ran a few bolts through the 'sandwich'
and beat the flanges down to the forms. I'm still welding the ribs into
place, but both sides should be exactly the same when I'm done.

--
http://www.ernest.isa-geek.org/
"Ignorance is mankinds normal state,
alleviated by information and experience."
Veeduber