Some people were asking about how I was intending to bend the 50x50 box section for the lighting support gantries. I made a start yesterday. Here are some pictures!
The bending jig is a piece of channel bolted to the bed of the flypress. The flypress just converts the kinetic energy on the big red ball to a squashing force, but importantly there is an adjustable collar that restricts the maximum stroke. I’ve set it to just impart a little bit of bend each time.
We’re going to need bigger pins…
That’s better. 20mm pins, sleeved with a couple of different bits of tube that conveniently fit inside each other.
So I put chalk marks at even intervals along the tube, and squish it a little bit at every mark. It dents the tube a bit (not so much of a problem for solid) but ends up with a smooth-looking curve.
Each time I run the tube through the jig, I move the collar on the press up a bit so it bends a little further each time.
Gradually we sneak up on the right curve, measured against Dermot’s template.
Until we’re there.
Repeat times four, or until it’s dark.
