I bent a new torque rod today. Made the arms longer. Yeah definitely striped the pivot bolt hole in my bender. That's fine, it was only a proof of concept anyway. But I sure love bending wire this way. A steel or aluminum base would be the best, but Maple might be OK also.
The wire I have is a bit old and rusty so I cleaned it up before installing it.
I also came up with a new method for me of drilling my torque rod holes. I cut 2 pieces of ply and clamped the control surface up in a vise on my drill press. Had to add a piece of 1/4" scrap at the bottom between the 2 pieces of ply. The control surfaces are 1/4". Checked level length wise with a bubble. set the drill stop, and the holes came out 100% perfect. I will remember this trick. No idea why I it never occurred to me before. Iv'e had those tools since the '80s.
The 2 elevator half's lined up perfect.
I started to work on the Pacific Ace I'm also build now, but ran out of time. Had errands to run.
Ken
2 projects underway at the same time
I did this yesterday. That'l hold 'em in there!