Monokote hinge how to.
03-04-2003, 03:34 AM
#1
Monokote hinge how to.
Some people have asked about monokote hinges on sailplane wings. I will try to explain what I do as best I can.
First, my Flaps and ailerons are cut out of the wing. The appropriate wood is added to the TE of the wing and the LE of the controll surface. The TE of the wing is left square on both. No taper or rounding. The LE of the aileron is sanded at about a 45 degree angle, so only the top of the aileron touches the TE. I cover the back of the wing, and the front of the aileron with the color I am going to use and go just around the edges. Nothing else is covered at this point. Then I put the aileron on by laying it on the top of the wing as if it were connected like it was supposed to be but bent all the way up till it touches the wing. I put about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch by the leangth of the aileron of monokote on to hold it on. This is ironed on to the LE of the surface and the TE of the wing and overlaps to the flying surface just a bit. THen I put the aileron in the full down position. This will not go more than about 45 degrees because of the sanded LE of the surface. I put a piece of monokote the same size on the top of the surface, splitting it evenly between the wing and the surface. After both the aileron and flap are on, I cover the wing so you can't see the hinges very well. I will talk about the flap in a minute, after I put some pictures of the aileron on.
First, my Flaps and ailerons are cut out of the wing. The appropriate wood is added to the TE of the wing and the LE of the controll surface. The TE of the wing is left square on both. No taper or rounding. The LE of the aileron is sanded at about a 45 degree angle, so only the top of the aileron touches the TE. I cover the back of the wing, and the front of the aileron with the color I am going to use and go just around the edges. Nothing else is covered at this point. Then I put the aileron on by laying it on the top of the wing as if it were connected like it was supposed to be but bent all the way up till it touches the wing. I put about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch by the leangth of the aileron of monokote on to hold it on. This is ironed on to the LE of the surface and the TE of the wing and overlaps to the flying surface just a bit. THen I put the aileron in the full down position. This will not go more than about 45 degrees because of the sanded LE of the surface. I put a piece of monokote the same size on the top of the surface, splitting it evenly between the wing and the surface. After both the aileron and flap are on, I cover the wing so you can't see the hinges very well. I will talk about the flap in a minute, after I put some pictures of the aileron on.
03-04-2003, 03:37 AM
#2
Monokote hinge how to.
The upper picture is the bottom of the wing. There is a gap, but the monokote fills it at the top. This picture is of the top of the wing. You can see that there is no gap. I set it up so the ailerons go up more than down. This is supposed to be less drag according to the pros.
03-04-2003, 03:41 AM
#4
Monokote hinge how to.
Here is the flap from the end. I do the same thing here. I cover the TE of the wing and the LE of the surface. TE is the Trailing Edge and LE is the Leading Edge. I cover them just a bit onto the flying surface so there is no balsa showing when the hinges are done.
03-04-2003, 03:51 AM
#5
Monokote hinge how to.
The flaps are different. You want them to work both ways and have them hinge at the top when they reflex and bottom when down. Keep them both square like in the picture. On this you you can see the shape of the hinges under the covering. Remeber, I cover after they are hinged. I measure the thickness of the TE of the wing at both ends of the flap. Take a piece of monokote and measure it and cut it that thickness plus about 3/4 inch. You will need two pieces the same. You are going to glue them together sticky face to sticky face. You only glue them at together in the center, leaving the 3/4 inch on each end. You will have a joint the thickness of the aileron, with 3/4 inch sticky on opposite sides. I have 2 pieces of plexiglass. I mark a line 3/4 inch on one, lay the monokote on the lower one face up, with 3/4 inch under the upper piece of glass. then you only have the amount sticking out that you want to glue to. Peel the back off both. You can lay the other one face down on it, right to the glass. Get it to iron on smoothly. don't worry about gluing the one face down to the glass. It comes off very nice.
03-04-2003, 03:58 AM
#6
Monokote hinge how to.
The above picture is of the surface at 0 degrees or flaps in the neutral position. You can see the hinges. You will cut your strip you made into about 1.5 inch or 1 inch strips. You will glue these on the wing first or the flap first, but all on the same one. You start with one, put the part of the monokote that is glued to the other piece on the TE of the wing, and glue the one end that shows the glue to the bottom of the wing, the two parts of the monokote glued together will be in the gap and will not stick to any part of the surface in the gap. Only the bottom of the wing. The other side of this will go to the top of the flap surface. Lay in the next hinge and it will glue only to the top of the wing. Keep doing this, rotating between the top and bottom. Once you have them all on, put the flap on and hold it tight to the wing. You will have the remaining part of the hinge sticking out on opposite sides of the wing. Glue them to the flap, keeping the gap tight. Once you get them all glued on to the flap, you will be able to move the surface 90 + degrees both ways. this picture shows the surface when it is deflected.
03-04-2003, 04:02 AM
#7
Monokote hinge how to.
Some people cover it first, I cover it after I hinge it to hide the hinges. The ones that do it last use different color hinges for an added effect. Have been using these for about 15 years. They work great. Hope the explanation helps. It is hard to see the hinges because they are under the covering, but you can look hard and see them. They are every inch or so on each surface. The other part of it is attatched to the opposite side of the other surface. Hope that helps you with monokote hinges.
