Fluting and straightening the ribs

These are fluting pliers and the resulting fluted rib. What is fluting you may ask? This is a process where small crimps are made in the flange of each rib to help bring the flanges to 90 degrees perpendicular to the web or main flat part of the rib, and to correct the bow in the web or flat part of the rib that results from bending the top and bottomflanges of each rib. The process of attempting to bend two 90 degree flanges on a thin piece of aluminum causes the larger flat part of the metal to bow in one direction. Fluting the flanges is necessary to straighten the bow in the metal by counter-acting the bending moment that occurs. Easier to see than to explain. Since I have already straightened all the flanges and fluted all the HS ribs, I will try to show a pic of the Vertical Stab ribs later on so you can see how pronounced the bow really is, and how fluting works to straighten it out. It really does work nicely.