Builing a VectorFlight 66" Edge and am thinking about using the CA hinges that came with the plane. What is the experience with CA hinges vs more conventional types? Any thought of the hinges that come from Vector Flight?

The CA hinges that come with the VF edge are pretty good. I did put double the amount of hinges on that plane for extra security. Think I used 4 on the rudder and 3 on each elevator half.
Ca hinges have a bad rep with some people but, personally they all worked for me. The key is to install them correctly. If they are not installed correctly they probally will fail eventually. In the RCU magazine they show you the right way to install them. Once you cut the slot for the hinge drill a small hole in the center of the slot, so the THIN ca could easily wick into the hinge.

I just did CA hinges on my 65" CMPro extra, and used the guide on the site from the magazine on how to install them, and its good and strong, but i will never be using them again, the CA is too hard to work with being so thin, you are constantly trying to stop the stuff from running all over the place... its consistancy is that of less than water i reckon and wherever there is a gap it goes. I spose thats what its designed to do, but make sure when you work with it you are super careful on how you apply it. A good thing to do is grab some olive oil from the kitchen, and with a paint brush run a thin amount over all the area around the hinge slots and all the way along the joints so that if the CA does run it wont stick.

If you insert one of the small tubes like comes with thin Zap in the neck of the bottle you can get very accurate small drop placement with the CA and not have any cleanup.

Ed M.

What ya mean tubes? Sounds like a good idea, wouldn't mind using that idea to when i get to my elevator and rubber hinges.

I use CA hinges in all my planes. Never had a problem. I think most of the bad rap for CA hinges comes from poor installation on behalf of the builder.

I agree, in fact I WROTE that article in RCU Magazine for that very reason. rcfury mentioned drilling the hole as one of the keys to proper installation, that is true, but what is much more important is deflecting the surface more than it will deflect in flight.

I have planes that are more than 10 years old that still fly with the original CA Hinges.

Here's the article:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...TOKEN=23572438

Keep a little acetone ready when installing CA hinges. If the CA runs out on the wing the acetone
will remove it if you get it off fairly quick. Works on monokote , would probably not be a good idea
on a painted finish , acetone WILL remove paint !

tommy s

I have had C/A hinges fail on two planes.
Both on the rudder and both after 200 flights.
When I fly, I do use a lot of rudder trying to correct for wind.
Other than that, no problems ever.

I use alot of rudder as well . We got plenty of wind here too. I have had the jointed and barndoor style hinges fail on me several times. Yes,,, I've had a couple of CA hinges come loose too. But I could land the plane and fix the problem if I remembered to throw some CA in my tool box. When the latch style hinge pulls out or locks up it's all over. At least in my cases.
I was not a big fan of the CA hinge until several veteran builders showed me the way. Although,,,, certain large pattern planes , etc must have the Robarts, etc style hinge I've been told.

I've had two failures both being the result of the hinge breaking rather than pulling out of the balsa. The CA seemed to caused the plastic of the hinge to become brittle and over time crack and break apart. I'm now using traditional hinges...if I did something wrong please let me know....I'm got a butt load of CA hinges collecting dust.

It seems that most CA Hinge failures are due to breaking rather than pulling out.

But both problems are usually linked to the same cause.

To illustrate the problem, first imagine this:

You have cut the slots, and put the elevator and hinges in place, but you have not glued anything yet. Then you push the elevator against the stab to remove any gap.

Now... with one finger, push the elevator down just past where it would normally deflect giving "Full Down" - Then, do the same in the UP direction.

Now look at the gap

Is there a gap? 99% of the time there will be, yet if you raise and lower the elevator again it won't grow any larger.

The reason for this is that even though you (Or the Manufacturer) has sanded a bevel on the LE of the elevator, it's not perfect and the elevator is pushing itself away from the stab.

To over emphasize this point, look at the picture below. You can see how the imperfect bevel pushes away from the stab. Granted, the lack of bevel in the picture is to over state the point, but it still happens on a smaller scale (Note: There's little or no point in trying to make your bevels perfect for too many reasons to list here, just accept the fact that you must work with this principle)

Ok, so let's say you want your model to be perfect. You cut the smallest hole possible in your cowl - Only to discover that your engine overheats cause it doesn't get proper cooling.

And you keep your hinge gaps as small as possible - Only to discover that your hinges are either breaking or pulling out

Now let's refer to the above scenario:

Every time the Surface flexes, it tries to push away from its mating surface. So:

A) If the hinges are not glued properly, they will pull out.

B) If the hinges ARE glued properly, they will break

This is why it is imperative to flex the control surface MORE THAN IT WILL MOVE IN FLIGHT - and then NOT close the gap before gluing

A small tube about 2" long with a diameter that it will fit down into the hole in a CA bottle, so you can imagine how small the center hole in the tube is. Zap sends them folded over in the cap with their thin glue or you can buy them separately. Allows exact placement of very tiny drops of thin CA.

Makes me think of a discussion I was having on here about the correct amount of CA to use on each side of a hinge. He was using one to two drops, while I was using five or six. Didn't think about it at thhe time, but I bet he was not using a tube. The total amount of CA we were using was most likely close to the same.

Ed M.