[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by T^2

Why not just make some ribs separately, and then rivet them on?

You certainly could, and achieve the same effect. At least with our metal sponsor, the difference between bending a part with ribs and bending one without ribs is just bolting tool "17b" to the brake press instead of "17a". Adding ribs this way is marginally lighter than separate pieces and takes up less space. For a 1/16" radius bend the ribs extend probably 3/16" up the surfaces of the metal whereas separate ribs would have to have mounting holes somewhere. Also these holes have to be cut and it will take some time to manufacture and install more pieces. Again, these differences are very subtle, so do what you'd like.