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Should the gear fairings be formed with or against the grain? Also should the be an initial bend with a rod between two 2x4's to start the leading edge radius? If so, what size radius?

I sent this to tech support yesterday, DSat. but I'm getting antsy waiting.

BV

I put a request in about bending with or against the grain in the past for other more structural parts and was told, nothing on the Sonex requires the grain to be considered. All parts can be made bending any way I can fit the part on the piece of metal. That said, I still try to bend against the grain.

It does not look like a dowel should be put between the metal prior to bending it. Looks like it is bent around the gear leg and pined in place. I am not that far along myself so this is just a guess.

Mike

They are non-structural, so you should anneal them; apply heat with a torch to give an easier and smoother bend. You'll have to wear gloves to work the metal. I don't think it much matters about the grain.

For some hints, start at this link here, and look at the following few pages:
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 272&row=31

I had to shorten my fairings CONSIDERABLY from the plans templates. I'm not sure where you are in your build, but the geometry of your gear will change drastically when the airplane is fully assembled and all the weight is on the gear. So I would recommend doing the gear leg fairings at the very end of the project.

bvolcko38 wrote:Should the gear fairings be formed with or against the grain? Also should the be an initial bend with a rod between two 2x4's to start the leading edge radius? If so, what size radius?

I sent this to tech support yesterday, DSat. but I'm getting antsy waiting.

BV

Here is what I did. Glued an old 1" diameter broom handle to wood and screwed scrap wood to bench and threaded rod to pull it down. No heat treating needed this way.

I used the same method as pictured above, 1" dowel from home depot, 2x4's screwed to the table, and bolts at either end to screw the dowel down into the mold. Worked great to set the radius. I did not however anneal, and the end result was still very springy and still takes a bit of effort to insert the hinge pins (I used 2 pins inserted from the middle of the fairing as suggested by many others here.) My fairings also ended up a good deal (i.e. an inch or 2) shorter than the plans. I used poster board to create an initial template, cut the almuminum sheet a bit large, and trimmed from there after my bend was made.

I just bent mine around a broom handle....and like Mike, I had to shorten it a lot from the plans length.