Zodie

Took a while to get things going on the fuselage. I spent some time cleaning up the shop. Decided to go a head and repaint the floor. It is amazing how much better the shop looks. I decided incorporate the fuselage access door just aft of the steps. This calls for some Z angles. I don't have a brake so I decided to make one. After much net surfing and pondering I found a wood brake on www.ch601.org/tools.htm.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/murray.j/tools.htm

I decided to make one similar but smaller.

Here is the finished product. Only took about 2 hours to build. I used Maple that I had laying around from a wood working project. I found a piece of Channel and 3 knobs. I did need to pick up 3 hinges. It is 42 inches long.

Here is another view. You can see the hold down and channel in the bench that work well to secure it.

Here is an end view. The bottom piece is 5 inches wide the top is 4 and beveled at about 30 deg. I then rounded it to a 1/8 radius for the bend radius of the .025 2024.

Here you can see more detail of the assembly.

I put 3 hinges and a slight bevel in the movable front. This allows it to go over center.

Here is the first bend for the Z. The putty knife works well to pry it up and slip it in. I have a line marked on the AL to line it up

The first bend. WORKS GREAT.

Second bend. I put a piece of scrap (from the bevel cut) to support the flange.

Then bend again.

Worked like a charm. I have used steel brakes and this has a little more give but works well for thin AL. Total cost about $9 from Home depot. Well I had a bunch of the parts around any way.

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