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Old 05-10-2009 | 12:58 AM
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planebuilder66
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From: Middletown, CT
Default RE: Heads up, CA hinges

OK, here's my opinnion, in the picture you have a assortment of different types and makes of hinges, all will work, but let's just start with my own preferences and why, CA hinges can be thin, thick course fibered or fine fibered, the ones in the picture with the slot have 2 things going for them, they are thin( not as stiff when glued) and they eliminate the need for drilling a hole in the slot to let glue seep into the hinge and wood, the GP are strong ( much stiffer when glued) and have good texture for the glue to bond to. Then there are the pinned hinges, size dictates gap, honestly, I like the sig ones but use the dubro due to the sig (larger one) having a enormous hinge pin and that causes a large hinge gap, which causes lowered control response. I just remove the pins in the dubro hinges and install a music wire binding them all together. Also, you must epoxy these in place and anything over a 60 sized model, I suggest pinning the hinge to the balsa for security. Now I get to the two favorite hinges, the ones I mainly use, the Klett style and the robart hinge points. The klett style are easy to install, flex very nicely, and are very long lasting, the robarts are a little more work but can provide scale hinging to surfaces with the tightest gaps possible, as long as you build it into the structure. I show the 3 flavors of robart hingepoints to prove that they fit a large range of models, the large ones are 3/16" and the microp ones are 1/2A sized, about a 3/32" drill bit to install. I just ordered a ton of robarts and klett style, but goldberg doesn't make them any more, I believe radio south or sontronics does the design now. I'll look it up. But yes, I won't use CA hinges due to them breaking over time and age is the biggest factor on them, heavily used or not, they will fail in time. I only use them when I don't care how long I own the plane or if I can't install another type of hinge du to lack of backer blocks for the other types of hinges.
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