Control Horns

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Like many builders, I really had no clue how I was going to make the formed control horns. Fortunately over the years I had gleaned enough information from other builders to be ready to give them a try.

My first attempt was to simply make two bends. In the following pictures you can see the bends making facets not a smooth curve.  

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Though it wasn't exactly like the plans I thought it turned out ok IMG_0396.JPG (124505 bytes) 

However, someone said they though I could do better.  Well, who could turn down such a challenge.

My next attempts match the plans much better and wasn't that difficult.  Like every thing on this plane it just takes time. Here is how I do it.

These are the tools I used IMG_0033.JPG (152439 bytes) they consist of two bending blocks, a 1/2-inch round bar, pen, bronze bar and hammer (not pictured) to form the metal.  I use the bronze bar to form the metal because wood splinters to easy and bronze is softer then steel so it doesn't leave a mark when you pound on it.

After cutting out the horn I first drill the holes and make the cuts for the flanges that need to bend out.  As you can see I didn't do so well at following my line on one corner.  I fixed it by drilling the hole a little larger. 

I then mark the location of the bends. I added a little bit of extra material in the leading edge to help get the curved shape.  Maybe 1/16th of an inch.

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I then bend the two flanges out.

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Next I  bend the leading edge.  It needs to be bent around a large radius so I made  a 1/4-inch radius on my bending block (ground on a grinder then smoothed with sandpaper).

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Line up the bend line on the horn with the start of the radius on the block. In the picture you can see that I am above the line on the one end.  I realized I had forgotten to to take this picture.

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