redneck elevator hinge

You might also want to consider Tyvek. I think it would be a little more resistant to fatigue failure than dryer sheets. Finding small amounts can be difficult, but a good bet would be a shipping envelop found at the post office. A second source is Tyvek house wrap. If there is a home being constructed nearby, the builder likely would give you a couple of square feet -- would make a lifetime of hinges.

My source is a pack of Tyvek diskette sleeves that I've held onto for years. These are extremely tear resistant and will endure a lot of abuse before failure.

More importantly, the hinging technique is a nice innovation and with a little beveling would give an airtight hinge gap.

roddie wrote:That's pretty cool Joe! I'd like to try that with silk. You could actually paint the pieces prior to assembly to keep paint out of the hinge.. although the paint might help to strengthen the weave of your dryer-sheet material. The sheets that I have, tear pretty easily.

Yeah Roddie silk would work better and I will try that too. I Just dont like to cut hinge slots and was trying to come up with an alternative. I was surprised how quick and easy this method was, Thanks for the input

andrew wrote:You might also want to consider Tyvek. I think it would be a little more resistant to fatigue failure than dryer sheets. Finding small amounts can be difficult, but a good bet would be a shipping envelop found at the post office. A second source is Tyvek house wrap. If there is a home being constructed nearby, the builder likely would give you a couple of square feet -- would make a lifetime of hinges.

My source is a pack of Tyvek diskette sleeves that I've held onto for years. These are extremely tear resistant and will endure a lot of abuse before failure.

More importantly, the hinging technique is a nice innovation and with a little beveling would give an airtight hinge gap.

Yeah Andrew tyvek would work well , I will look for some and try it too. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hey! They're all great ideas !   I have plans to use some 2"wide fiberglass drywall seam tape. The stuff is strong, flexible and open mesh for the glue to bond to. I also have plans to use the carbon fiber tow I got from Fred to make a set of sewn hinges.

OH PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT! IE: use CF TOW for a sewn hinge

UNLESS!!! you very very carefully use only aliphatic or OTHER than CA glues

CF TOW is good for a lot of things----- and one of its very cool characteristic abilities is to wick or capillary action ALL of any thin glue along its entire length.... think about that for a second

I do not do sewn hinges for only one reason...I am much too old to make them look real pretty... but if I did, they would always be done with waxed dental floss

The sandwiched solid hinge line with ANY fabric is very good idea -----EXCEPT you MUST find a way to finish the surfaces without adding the covering (paint/dope/mono) into the hinge line ----and gaining stiffness

MY dad used to do this ( sandwich method) with the early 60s kits and cloth hinges by using a crayon to add wax in the middle so as to NOT get a dope build up and the associated stiffness...real fiddly but he and I made it work

In My Opinion hinges need three (seemingly mutually exclusive) characteristics....
1. fully free moving
2. gap-less
3. Look good

On the other hand

If YOU do not compete, you do NOT need the best of the best....then... most of the time the very least amount of parts in ANY hinge system ---that is free moving--- and positively keeps the solid and moving surface aligned----works adequately for us weekend warriors ---who just want to spew glow fuel exhaust and have fun

I have several planes that fly just fine with typical 3 to 7 Robart hinge point-- or DuBro/Klett pinned hinges per moving surface

And two or three 1/2As with cloth done exactly as per plan.... so IMO.... a gap less sealed hing line is NOT a big deal....

BUT I do subscribe to the notion that ALL Hinges MUST be self falling and as free to flex as physically possible

Thanks for that info Phred! I don't have any carbon-tow.. but it's good to know about it's wicking-properties with thin CA.

A second Thanks to you Fred. I will use the CF tow for something other than sewn hinges. I do like the idea of using waxed floss for its flexibility and resistance to paint adherence.

I cut up a cat litter bag once for foamy hinges. It worked pretty darn good... but not much sticks to plastic.

Phil

Tyvek can also be had at local automotive paint suppliers as we wear Tyvek paint suits.

getback wrote:I like the idea and look of the sandwich hinge , not so much on the drier sheet though. Mt last few hinges were sewn with upholstery thread after all the prep and painting was done > this way the sting don't get stiff , unless it wicks when sealing the holes with thin CA , the Med CA will work but can leave a glue bump if not careful.

I CA harden the holes before sewing. Then just a dot of epoxy or white glue on the knot, which is on the underside of the surface.

getback wrote:I like the idea and look of the sandwich hinge , not so much on the drier sheet though. Mt last few hinges were sewn with upholstery thread after all the prep and painting was done > this way the sting don't get stiff , unless it wicks when sealing the holes with thin CA , the Med CA will work but can leave a glue bump if not careful.

Eric , I used a dryer sheet not thinking it would be strong enough,but like roddie I like to try to use things around the house. Turns out after the superglue dried , it became very strong, I tried to pull it apart with a fair amount of pressure but could not. I'm puting it on my new cardboard wing stunt man

Just thinking after reading this thread: Pinned hinges from Dubro etc. would be a very simple install on 1/2a elevators if you just glued them to the BOTTOM of the stab and elevator. Sure they wouldn't be centered but there would be no hinge slots to cut and they could be installed after painting the surfaces.

706jim wrote:Just thinking after reading this thread: Pinned hinges from Dubro etc. would be a very simple install on 1/2a elevators if you just glued them to the BOTTOM of the stab and elevator. Sure they wouldn't be centered but there would be no hinge slots to cut and they could be installed after painting the surfaces.

Another version of that is to use a ribbon (or dryer sheet) on the bottom. Be sure to use a taper instead of rounded and that the taper allows as much "up" as you need for full elevator movement. That process worked well on the old Scientific "Hollow Logs".

George

getback wrote:I like the idea and look of the sandwich hinge , not so much on the drier sheet though. Mt last few hinges were sewn with upholstery thread after all the prep and painting was done > this way the sting don't get stiff , unless it wicks when sealing the holes with thin CA , the Med CA will work but can leave a glue bump if not careful.

I put it on another stunt man that I am building and no It did not get stiff at all. I am very happy with it. I will post a pic of the completed airplane latter