My first fabricated tool! Radius Gauges for Checking Bend Radius

Living proof that I do not like cheap digital cameras very much. This is a bit blurry, but shows two different gauges that I made out of scrap aluminum sheet that Van's provides in the kit. They are used to ensure that the wood form blockes that are used to bend the ends of the aluminum support angle brackets on the front spar of the HS. This is thick aluminum, and you just can't take a piece of wood with a sharp edge on it and start bending the metal - it will fatigue and crack if not bent with a proper radius in the bend. The plans called for a minimum bend radius of 1/8 inch. A trick I learned from one of the sheet metal books I read was to take the scrap metal,drill a 1/4 inch hole in it, and then cut away the metal. leaving a 1/8 inch radius. The gauge can then be placed on two sides of the wood block, which can be sanded to the correct contour for radius needed for the bend.