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T&F Fabrication Practice Jig

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wwalton

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
241
Location
Hendersonville, North Carolina
I wasn't sure if I should just post this in my build thread and then ask questions or start a thread asking first?

Either way here is my first attempt at building the Little Scrapper Tube and Fabric practice jig, henceforth referred to as the jig.
Screenshot_20200529-115520_Gallery.jpg


I really enjoyed laying out the .090. I didn't have the layout dye, it's on order, so I used a sharpie and made the lines thick and marked areas for radius and holes with the sharpie. Used a scribe on the sharpie ink and it worked well.
20200529_102736.jpg
I made some mistakes that I will correct on the next one. I will go through what I see. I give it a C overall I consider it a airworthy part, so far. I'm not through fabbing this fitting.
I'm stuck at the bend.

First my errors, that I see: On the .5" radius I didn't use a caliper, I used a washer, so the radius doesn't match the hole center.
Also my hole center was slightly off. My center punch was pretty close but the starter drill bit, 3/16", drifted some.
20200529_103412.jpg20200529_104551.jpg20200529_105610.jpg
I used a metal cutting band saw with a table attachment in my vise to cut the fitting off the sheet. And a bench grinder to shape the radius.
20200529_105800.jpg20200529_110750.jpg
Now I'm up to date with my progress because I'm hung up on the bend.
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This is the bend layout, just half the length of 4.5". I've laid it out 90 degrees to the grain. And my first thought on bending. Just pinched on my weld table with a C clamp and large piece on top? No heat and big hammer?

So I would like advise and constructive criticism, I realize there are a lot of ways to do things. I will find my comfort zone. But it's been over 30 years since I did some of these things in A&P school so if I'm doing something wrong I want to know.

Particularly I'm looking for a good (best) way to make an accurate bend. I don't have a hyd. press. Do I need one?

Thanks
Walt
 
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