Brief Description: Created Bend Allowance Spreadsheet
After reading Tony Bingelis' book on airplane construction techniques, I realized that I could produce better straight bends on ribs and doublers if I calculated each bend allowance myself. Instead of needing to make form blocks for straight-sided ribs, I should be able to make those with the bending brake if I could accurately calculate where the sight line should be relative to the bend radius and allowance. Because the Bingelis book gives a fairly thorough description of the elements of bend calculation, I was able to create an Excel spreadsheet that gives critical dimensions based upon the assumptions I provide on flange width, web width, degree of bend, bend radius and thickness of metal. This is going to be a very helpful tool. (Time: 3.0 hours)
