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I've started tinkering with drawing parts from the blueprints for a Spitfire Mk V. I am looking at this drawing for a support strut and I am wondering how one might actually manufacture it. In other words what would be the steps?

enter image description here

My current guess based on what I am assuming are the material specs in the upper left corner are

  1. Cut the 2 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 24 gauge in half to get 2 X 1 1/8" x 1 1/2" pieces. If I did the math right, the interior circumference will be in the 1.41" ball park.
  2. Roll these pieces tight enough to make a cylinder 1.5" long that you can just barely squeeze inside the Dural tube.
  3. Make sure the inserts are flush with the ends.
  4. Bend the pipe with inserts to create a curve with a 5" radius
  5. Place the bottom end in a press of some sort to flatten the end so the flat portion winds up in the middle of the pipe.
  6. SOMEHOW crimp the top end so that it generates a flat portion similar to the bottom but is done in a way that is off center slightly? so that no potion of the pipe is past the ten degree line?
  7. Drill two 1/4 holes. one in each end.
  8. Cut the rounded ends somehow.

Could someone shed some light on how step 6 would be achieved and how steps 7/8 would normally be done? I keep thinking a stamp of some sort could do it all in one step, but I am not educated in metal fabrication.

I am hoping that by better understanding the manufacturing methods to get to the end product, I will have a better understanding of how things should be drawn up.

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  • $\begingroup$ I was wondering if it would have been Stamped and Die like the bottom end and then folded/bent heated and "smooched" to get that 10 degrees in. $\endgroup$
    – Forward Ed
    May 25 at 3:34
  • $\begingroup$ This is mass production so for every stage there's a fixture and special stamp and die equipment for that exact job. The rounded ends you're talking about and probably even the holes are all probably stamped, not drilled or cut, and this could possibly happen in the same stage that ends are flattened or be on of the progressions in a set of progressive dies. With those custom stamp and dies, step 6, 7, and 8 are no biggie. $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    May 25 at 3:35
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    $\begingroup$ You probably also wouldn't roll sheet metal to make the tube. That sounds really ackward. You'd just start with a tube and use a press to fit the end in on step 2. $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    May 25 at 3:36
  • $\begingroup$ I was going by the dimension in the upper left corner. If sounded like the main body started as a tube and the reinforcing inserts started as a sheet. $\endgroup$
    – Forward Ed
    May 25 at 3:38
  • $\begingroup$ There are things called progressive dies and whether you can do the top end in one die or a progression of dies is up to what the material can handle. $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    May 25 at 3:38

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