Formers

[Mr.c19590]

Does anybody know how to make formers [ like what kind of tools do you use too make them ] any help would be appreciated. 

[strat-o]

You need to have at least a top-view and a side-view.  Measure the height  of the fuselage where you would like your former from the side view and then measure the width from the top-view.  Draw a box as wide as the width and as high as the height.  Now, if you are using a free tool called Inkscape you can check out how to use their Bezier curve tool and make the curve from the top to the point of maximum width of one of the sides in one go (usually).  Then make another Bezier curve from the bottom to the same point on the side.  Finally Mirror the two curves and you have your former.

Sometimes your curve has a bit of complexity so you may have to make shorter Bezier curves to get the shape you desire.

Marlin

[PB_guy]

Do you mean - how do you transfer a pattern for a former to balsa? You can photocopy the part, cut it out with a pair of scissors, tack glue it with gluestick to the balsa with the grain oriented in the right direction and then cut it out slightly oversize with a razor blade or scalpel or X-acto knife. Then use sandpaper glued to a piece of wood, or an emory board to sand the piece down to final size.
ian

[applehoney]

pin prick former outline onto wood

[VictorY]

I like to make all of my cutouts for longerons and other sticks that pass through bulkheads and formers by making the side cuts with a razor saw that don't go quite as deep as you want the final notch to be. Then use a chisel or some other tool to remove the unwanted part and finish off the depth with a sanding stick made from the same width material as the cutout. Sandpaper on the bottom side only. This allows you to make very precise square corner notches. You can even make a depth gauge on the sanding stick so it's a no brainer to repeat the same dimension notches over and over again.

[Mr.c19590]

I want to thank everyone for there reply to my question on formers, you guys are great .