December 22, 2018 - Triplane: Bend Spar Mount Straps
In order to make some spar bushing reinforcement straps, I needed to bend some .063 steel strips.  Mick A., a fellow member of my EAA Chapter is building a Mustang II, and has a hydraulic press.  So I went over to his garage shop Saturday to use his press.  Here is his Mustang II.  He is on the home stretch with his project.  The workmanship is outstanding!
   
To make the reinforcement straps, I needed to make a bending jig.  I was able to make the jig components myself but found my gas welding rig just didn't have enough heat to melt the thick steel of the jig.  Mick has a TiG and Mig welding rig and said it would be a piece of cake to weld the jig together with the MiG.  And so it was.  I had never seen MiG welding before.  It was perfect for this job.
   
A few minutes later, I was using the newly welded jig to bend the straps with the hydraulic press.   I had never used a hydraulic press before but as Mick said, if you can use a hydraulic jack to change the tire on your car, you can use a hydraulic press.
   
It only took a few minutes to bend the eight straps.  Here you can see the finished product as well as the bending jig.   I got the idea for the bending jig from a recent article in EAAs Sport Aviation magazine (pictured at the right).  Until then, I had no idea how I was going to make the straps.
   
   
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