THE

SPORTPLANE
MAKING FITTINGS
Part 1 BUILDER
By Antoni (Tony) Bingelis
EAA Designee Program Advisor

8509 Greenflint Lane

Austin, Texas 78759

MAKE BENDS ACROSS

r ITTINGS, ALTHOUGH UNDESIRABLE from a de- METAL IDENTIFICATION
CODt RUNS WITH THE GRAIN
THE GRAIN

sign-structural point of view, are, none the less, essen-

tial because to build a one-piece airplane would impose
horrendous construction conditions on any builder (or
manufacturer).
Fittings are undesirable because they add weight,
because they add to the cost of construction, because
they add to the time taken to build, and because they
add to the complexity of the structure. Additionally,
they are difficult to analyze accurately and pose in-
stallation and alignment problems which would not exist
if the structure were in one piece.
Don't let these introductory remarks dupe you into
assuming that fittings are unimportant. They are im-
portant, indeed! Poorly made fittings can result in lost
wings in flight, the engine falling out, the gear busting
off and other even more serious consequences. So, make
your own fittings with care.
Some Things Aren't Obvious
Using the proper material for making the fittings
is very important. You should abide by the designer's
plans call-out. This means the correct steel alloy or
aluminum alloy should be used, and in the thickness
designated. Sometimes a fitting could be made of a
lighter gage and still have the strength necessary for
its assigned function. However, there is another con-
sideration . . . that of rigidity. Substituting a lighter
gage metal may result in a fitting that lacks the rigidity
it needs for a particular function and location. This in-
creased flexibility could contribute to an early failure
of the part or, in some locations, result in jammed con-
trols.
You are on safe ground, usually, if your substitu-
tion is to a heavier gage (when you have no practical
alternative), but then, you will suffer the consequences
of added weight. The substitution urge, if encouraged,
soon develops into a mental attitude hard to break.
Grain Orientation In Metal
\
'***/!> jn fsaof Olio tHL-S-/t?ltC /
FIGURE I.
METAL GRAIN ORIENTATION
However, not knowing the intricacies of metal working,
things like bend allowance, setback, bend radius and
sight line mean nothing to him, and the builder simply
doesn't consider any of that at all. As a result, the sce-
nario that often takes place is as follows.
The builder draws his layout using the overall dimen-
sions shown on the plans. Then, he cuts out and traces
this pattern onto the metal. Next, he drills the correct
size bolt holes . . , most likely without first punch-
marking their locations. After that, he saws the fitting
out with a hack saw following the outline as closely as
possible. And finally, he clamps the part in a vise, and
after many less than gentle whacks of the hammer, he
has his first bent-up fitting . . . but what kind of a part
does he really have? Maybe he has a fitting something
like the one illustrated in Figure 2. A fitting that doesn't
fit, or worse, one that is unsafe to use.
An informed builder knows that he must not make
sharp corner bends in metal, and that, instead, the part
should have a generous radius for the bend in order to
avoid creating abnormal stresses and a crack potential
along the bend line.
A builder not as informed will probably attempt to
make a bend using a vise as his bending block. The vise
INSUFFICIENT
EDGE DISTANCE

The direction of metal grain is a matter of impor- EVIDENCE OF EXCESSIVE

tance when laying out any part that must be bent. That HAMMERING

is, the bend should always be made across the grain or FLANGE ANGLE —
WRONG -OVERBENT
as close to that orientation as practical. If the fitting
HOLE ELONGATED
is to be a flat one (with no bends), the direction of the
grain in the part is of no concern and may be ignored. 'ISIBLE STRESS CRACKS
See Figure 1.
NO RADIUS FOR BEND

About Fittings In General

ALL EDGES ROUGH-UNFINISHED
Some plans provide full size layouts (flat patterns)
for all fittings but many plans show only the more im- VOLE ELONGATED

portant fittings. A few plans show none at all in detail. ANATOMY OF A POORLY MADE FITTING
A first-time builder will naturally try to do the best
he can when drawing his own full-size flat patterns. FIGURE 2.
12 SEPTEMBER 1980
jaw has a rather sharp edge and it will cut into the bend
and cause the fitting to crack or (if he's lucky) break.
Mr. Builder now has two pieces where he only needed
one. But, even if the part doesn't break, it is almost
certain to show visible evidence of damage in the form
of an imbossed crease on the inside of the bend and stress
marks on the outside of the bend. That kind of a fitting
would be unfit for use in any aircraft! It should be dis-
carded.
But what of the rest of us builders who know about
the need for a minimum radius in bends. Wouldn't our
fittings be O.K.? Maybe, maybe not. There are other
factors. If we do not first smooth the edges of metal
parts to remove all saw marks and imperfections be-
fore bending them, we too might find cracks in the edges.
Additionally, if we had in our eagerness already drilled
the bolt holes to the correct size before bending the fit-
tings, we may also find that they are no longer dimen-
sionally accurate, that on installation they do not match
an opposite mating fitting. If the part happens to be a
control hinge fitting, we may learn that its hinge axis
is now slightly higher than required, or that each hinge
is a bit different from the other. Yes, a lot of us still
have difficulty in making multiple fittings to exact
dimensions due to that invisible culprit known as Ben
D'Allowance.
Coping With Bend Allowance
If it were possible to make a sharp 90 degree — some
call it a square — bend in metal like you can in a sheet
of paper, the dimension for each leg of the part would
be the same after bending as it was before the bend was
made. However, if an identical piece were to be bent
around a radius, the material would, in effect, take a
"short cut" to its destination and not as much material
will have been used in making the bend. This being the
case, the end result will be a part that is slightly taller
and longer. See Figure 3. Obviously, bend allowance is
a factor to be compensated for when laying out a flat
metal sheet provided the part you intend to cut out is
no more than 3 inches wide. That is about as deep as
the hack saw can reach. Sometimes by rotating the blade
in its frame 90 degrees a much longer cut is possible.
Of course, you could increase the depth of cut for
a hack saw by removing the blade, wrapping it with
a rag, and sawing away in that p r i m i t i v e hand-held
style . . . but is it ever tiring!
Method Two . . . The Sabre Saw
A sabre saw! Why not use your sabre saw! Wouldn't
it be easier than using that hand-held hack saw blade?
Couldn't you take a fine tooth (24 to 32 teeth per inch)
blade intended for metal cutting and slip it in the sabre
saw and be ready to go? Or maybe you could even make
your own metal cutting sabre saw blade from a hack
saw blade by breaking off a 3'/i inch length and grind-
ing it to fit the sabre saw socket. That would work too,
wouldn't it?
Sure, but that would be good enough only for cut-
ting aluminum and not for cutting steel. Most sabre
saws do not have a slow enough speed for cutting steel,
and even a high quality hack saw blade will not last
long if you try cutting 4130 steel with a sabre saw hav-
ing only that one speed . . . too fast!
If your sabre saw is not a variable speed unit, you
had better find an alternative way to cut 4130.
CAUTION: Always clamp your work securely and
do not overlook the fact that the sabre saw cuts on the
up-stroke. Don't take a chance with eye injury . . . wear
safety glasses.
I. IF YOUR PLANS SHOW
SOMETHING UKE THIS

pattern for any metal fitting which must be bent.

One way to nullify the bend allowance problem is
to ignore it. Ignore it, that is, provided you are willing
to do a little extra work in preference to working with
t r a d i t i o n a l metal-working formulas. For my part, I
don't mess with the calculation of bend allowances in
simple fittings. If the designer was kind enough to pro-
Ti 5 i
vide a full size layout for the part with the bend allow- 2 AND YOU MADE
A TEMPLATE LIKE . -4-
ance already provided for ... fine. Otherwise I use the
screw driver and hammer technique (picturesque pat-
THIS 1
-__i-_.
FIGURE 3.
ter). It is so much simpler to cut a fitting to its given 2
i J.
dimensions, ignoring bend allowance as a factor. The
bend is made first, and then the standing end and base i T [T~
ends are remeasured to see how much has to be trimmed
off. I never drill any holes until after the bends are
made. There you have it ... a fitting with the correct 3. AND BENT THE PART
LIKE THIS (RADIUS NOT USED)
height and base dimensions. Not a very professional ||T WOULD CRACK OR
DIMENSIONS WOULD IbHEAK HERE -
way to make fittings, but they will be accurate . . . con- BE ACCURATE, BUT..

sistently more accurate than many you'd make using

the metal working formulas involving bend allowance
charts, setback tables and that sort of thing. .5-———ll
. IF A GENEROUS BEND
r~.re--*i
RADIUS IS USED, A GOOD ft—f
How Do You Cut Small Pieces Out Of A Big Sheet? BEND WILL BE OBTAINED
RADIUS
BUT-
Before you can even make your first fitting, you SINCE THE TEMPLATE NOTE HOW PRC-DRILLED
have to cut a small piece out of a big sheet of steel or WAS DRAWN WITHOUT HOLES WOULD HAVE
DRIFTED
aluminum. This chore alone can become an overwhelm-
ing problem for some builders. Here are a number of THE PART IS SLIGHTLY
LARGE THAN CALLED
IT
ways to do this. One or two of them could work satis- FOR IN THE PLANS

factorily for you under certain conditions.

Method One . . . The Hack Saw

Sure, a hack saw will work in a corner of a large
SPORT AVIATION 13
 Method Three . . . The Cold Chisel
If a sheet of steel is not too large, and if you have a
large solid vise, a large cold chisel (about 1" widel and
a baby sledge hammer, you can easily chisel off a small
piece. Using this method you should leave about an VH"
margin for later grinding and filing the part to its exact
dimensions. It might sound like a crude method, and
it is, but it is also an effective method when properly
done. The chisel should be held against the metal at
an angle, when struck with the sledge, so that it acts
as a shearing tool. This results in a fairly smooth cut
along the surface of the vise jaws.
Method Four. . . The Metal Shear
A metal shear completely eliminates the problem of
cutting little pieces away from a large sheet unless the
metal is too thick for the capacity of the shear. If you
don't have access to a metal shear you might, never-
theless, find it worthwhile to have several strips sheared
off at some local metal shop. A project having a lot of
wing strap fittings, for example, could be expedited by
having a number of lengths of a uniform width sheared
off the sheet.
Method Five . . . The Aviation (Tin) Snips
Aviation snips are effective only on light gage sheets.
They will, however, adequately handle both aluminum
and steel stock in thickness up to .050". Some types of
snips distort the cut edges considerably and you should
therefore not cut closer than 3/32" of the line. These
aviation snips are made in three types. That is, in Left
Cutting, Right Cutting and Straight Cutting models.
There are also offset snips, or hand held shears, which
can cut easily across a large sheet without distorting
the edges.
Method Six ... The Cutting Torch
Cutting torch? Never! It wastes too much steel and
also causes a hardened area along the cut which is very
difficult to file or grind away. A large margin must be
left in order not to damage the part you want to use. It
might be all right to use the cutting torch for very heavy
steel plate but even here I wouldn't recommend it be-
cause of the possibility of creating localized locked in
stresses. This type of cutting introduces a greater risk
of crack generation.
Method Seven . . . The Table Saw
With the proper blade, a table saw will cut strips
of aluminum to uniform widths but this method is not
for steel. I don't think your neighbors will appreciate
this method nor will your ears.
Method Eight. . . The Carburundum Disc
These discs will cut through steel easily but are
really not suited for making many long cuts. I prefer
to use these discs with, a drill press and primarily for
slotting tubing.
Method Nine . . . The Power Hack Saw
The power hack saw will cut steel and aluminum
plate, tubes and rods as easy as pie, but it is not suit-
able for cutting sheet material. This is more of an off-
cut machine for tubing and heavy metal stock.
14 SEPTEMBER 1980
Method Ten . . . The Bandsaw
Ah! This is the way to go. A metal cutting handsaw
will really turn out the pieces rapidly and you should
be able to cut all the fittings for an entire airplane with
one blade.
Aluminum may be cut at the regular speed with a
handsaw. Try to do the same thing to 4130 steel and the
blade will become overheated and quickly ruined.
The bandsaw blade speed could be slowed for cutting
steel by attaching a speed reducer. Sears has one for
their regular 12" bandsaw. Or you can obtain the same
kind of speed reduction by using large pulleys mounted
on jack shafts. When the saw is ready to cut steel, its
blade speed will be noticeably slower than it originally
was. A blade speed of 125 to 150 feet per minute is good,
but in a pinch you might get away with a blade speed
somewhat higher.
Method Eleven . . . Hand Operated Nibbler
The manually operated nibbler works fine for lighter
gages but cannot be considered as a practical means for
cutting many pieces. It is wasteful of metal as it cuts a
wide swath and is very tiring to use.
Method Twelve . . . Pneumatic Metal Shears
Most of these are not suitable for heavy gage metal.
They do cut easily and smoothly and are enjoyable to
use, but do require a source of compressed air.
Any of the foregoing methods used to cut a small
piece of metal away from a larger sheet will give ade-
quate results sometimes . . . but not always.
Make Them Smooth
Whatever method you elect to use for the initial
separation of a fitting from that large sheet, keep the
saw cut well to the outside of your drawn line. Allow
yourself plenty of margin for error. The final shaping
of the part may be done on a grinder (for steel parts).
Follow that up by filing it with a smooth cut file.
You soon find that a file cuts very smoothly when
the file is pushed into the work at an angle. Keep the
file level . . . you want square edges not sloped or rounded
ones. And finally, remove the sharp edges and fuzz by
passing the file lightly along the edges of the fitting.
All file and saw marks must be removed. Rub the edges
over sandpaper or emery cloth laid on a smooth hard
surface. For other hard to get to edges you might try
a piece of emery cloth wrapped around a dowel or block
of wood.
Making Bending Blocks
A single bend up to 90 degrees is simple to make
provided the part to be bent is wide enough and you
have a solid heavy-duty vise and bending block with
the appropriate radius. Making a second bend is more
difficult but the blocks illustrated will probably allow
more options for bending than other types.
Larger vises have removable jaws with a serrated
or knurled surface on one face and a smooth surface
on the opposite side. Always use the smooth surface
sides for gripping aircraft work. If you wish, you can
radius one edge of the vise-jaw-insert and use it as a
utility bending block. A separate bending block, how-
ever, lends greater versatility and it permits a choice
in the bend radius used.
Bending blocks should preferably be made of steel,
or of aluminum alloy if only small parts will be bent
with them. I find the most practical size for my use is
one approximately 8 inches long made of a piece of VK
inch a l u m i n u m alloy plate. Its width is 3 inches al-
though sometimes it seemed that a 4 inch width would
have been better. It really depends on what size a piece
of metal plate you can find in the junk yard. A piece
of steel plate measuring % inches thick by about 4 inches
square would be adaptable to most small bending jobs.
Prepare your bending block by grinding or filing a
radius along one edge. You might consider preparing
a different radius for each of the four edges. Unless you
require some specific radius I would suggest one edge
be radiused to 1/16", another to '/»", and the remaining
two to 3/16" and '/i". Make templates as shown in Figure
4 to check your radii for accuracy. Punch marks on the
ends of the bending block will identify which is which.
That's right, one punch mark for the 1/16" edge, two
marks for the VH" edge, etc. See Figure 4.
The most effective bending block will be one that
has its edge beveled so that it will allow the metal to
be bent slightly beyond the 90 degree point. Metal has
a spring-back tendency. Beveled bending blocks will
naturally be limited to only two different radii per block.
A good bending block is a handy thing to have around
the shop and it should serve you well through a couple
of airplane and boat projects. If, however, you need a
bending block for only one or two bends in light metal,
you may do as well with a block made of hardwood.
Using a wood bending block for making more than a
few bends, however, will result in its radius becoming
larger and larger because the wood will flatten slightly
with each part bent.
IMPORTANT REMINDER: Never make a bend in
a metal part u n t i l its edges have been filed and/or sanded
to a smooth finish. Saw and file marks certainly increase
the risk of cracks p a r t i c u l a r l y in parts subjected to
heavy load reversals and vibration.
So much for the basics. More about bend allowance,
setback, bend radii, the sight line and difficult bending
problems next month.

PUNCH MARKS USED TO

IDENTIFY RADIUS
iEVEL

1/4
BEVELED EDGES ARE
NECESSARY TO OBTAIN
90° BENDS

0 DRILL HOLE FOR

. - - ,, RADIUS NEEDED
/i (1/8"-3/16"-ETC)
2)CUT AWAY AS
SHOWN
3/16 BENDING BLOCK TYPES TO CHECK
BENDING BLOCK
RADIUS

MAKE BENDING BLOCK

OF STEEL OR ALUM.

ALIGNMENT AND CLAMPING HOLES

WORK TO BE BENT

ALIGNMENT AND CLAMPING BOLT

BOLT

FIGURE 4.

BENDING BLOCKS

SPORT AVIATION 15