trottle

What is the best way to make a hing slot, I know they have the hing slot cutter you can buy from tower hobbies but trying to cut cost, I was hoping someone out there had ant ideas! THX Chuck

vinnie

My Feedback: (1)

Trottle,
if you're using CA hinges a sharp #11 Exacto knife blade will do the job. Just go slow and don't let the grain of the wood force you into a crooked slot.

SpockF4

Chuck,
Do yourself a favor and get the hinge slot cutting tool. It will be the best few $$ you ever spent if you plan on doing a lot of building. The time and aggravation saved is well worth it IMHO!

flap

And after you get the slot cut, install pinned hinges.

WreckRman2

My Feedback: (5)

I agree... hell I think it's worth it even if you are only cutting one airplane.

ssmith

I bought a cheap hinge cutter from Tower. Only cost $3 and works great. Much easier than an exacto. Here's the link:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXE229

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

If you're cutting costs, The #11 blade is the way to go.

Lay the stab (or whatever) flat on the table. Now, get a pencil, or a straight-bodied pen and lay it flat, and draw a line (it doesn't have to come exactly to the center, just close). Then, flip the stab over and do it again. You'll wind up with 2 lined near the center and you can just cut the slit between them.

Mystic6

My Feedback: (1)

MinnFlyer, I'm not sure what you do for a living, but whatever it is you should have been an instruction manual writer & illustrator!! Your on-the-spot illustrations are worth more than a thousands words sometimes. Thanks!

LQUAN

My Feedback: (17)

If you already have a Dremel tool, you can use that to cut hinge slots as well. I don't have the fancy GP hinge slot cutter. I'd rather invest into a Dremel tool and a good set of cutting bits. I just use the small carbide (about 1.5mm dia) to gut out the balsa to fit Great Planes pinned-hinges. It takes about 1 minutes to make one slot.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks Mystic. Actually I'm a Photo-Retoucher/Illustrator for Catalogs and Web Sites.

My technical illustrations are done exclusively for RCU.

.

pinball-RCU

On the issue of the Xacto knife versus the Slot Machine (I own both)... It depends on what you're cutting. If you're cutting soft balsa, the Xacto knife will work. It will take a little longer, but it's not unpleasant. After you cut forward with the sharp part of the blade, force the blade backwards, and the backside of the blade will create exactly the right width slot.

If the balsa is hard, or if you're cutting hardwood, then I would agree the Slot Machine is worth the cost even for a single airplane. Practice a little on scraps, it does take a while to get the right technique.