I have made 8 flights in my great planes PT 60. Today was flight #8. It was a little windy but I thought managable. Immediatly upon rotation my planeacted like it hadleft rudder. Not alot, but noticable enough to have to compensate for it. Iwent around the patch 3-4times before deciding to bring it in. I overshot the first attempt and hadto go around. The secondattempt was good. I brought it into the pit areaand had a seat to catch my breath. That flight was alot of work. Now letslook at my rudder trim and see what is up. DANG...my topCA hinge is brokeclean in two. The rudder top is leaning into the slipstream. Man did I ever dodge a bullit today.

Sounds like you were very lucky! I have only used Ca Hinges on 2 planes. I just don't trust them for some reason. When I did use them I also pinned them, but when the tend to break is at the center, so pinning is a waste of time. Lot's of pilots use them with no problems at all. I just go by my own gut instinct, and use the nylon or Robarts. I'm glad you landed safetly and discovered the problem early.

They are more hit and miss than the traditional pinned hinges. CA hinges aren't all created equal, some brands suck worse than others suck.
I'll never use them in anything over .15 powered any more.

You're right, although many have used CA hinges without any trouble, somehow I don't trust them either. If anything, they do not bend as easily as other hinges and I get a feeling that the servos have to work harder just to overcome the stiffness of the hinges.

For ARF's, since in most cases long slots are already cut for CA hinges, I usually install flat nylon hinges in them (the ones with the metal pin in the hinge, it only takes a little work to adjust the slots for them.) I am using the pin type hinges for the kit I am currently building, like both types.

All of my planes, even my two pattern planes, have CA hinges. If they are installed correctly, and are of good quality, the are just fine.

CGr.

I 've been replacing the stock arf ca hinges with [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMUV1&P=SM]Radio South[/link] hinges. They seem alot tougher. And with the roll you can cut what ever size you need.

I broke 3 on elevator and 2 on aileron on my TF P51 and changed them all to Robart hinges. I also fly the C$@P out of my 4*40 and have never had a problem. My take on it is we use too much CA thinking more glue is better. This causes the middle of the hinge where it bends to get brittle and break. I still use CA hinges but I only put 2 drops per side, 4 per end, 8 total. I also dab the center of the hinge with Paper towel to wick out any left over during the whole process. I have never had a problem since. Still like the Robarts though for anything special. Even using only 8 drops total I have never had one that I could pull out and I pull hard, also never had one break since.

If installed correctly most of them are fine. I have used them on a lot of ARFs I have assembled for other people without problems but I use Robart or Dubro hinges on my own planes. One of the problems I have seen with the CA hinges is people that go back and try to add more glue. For one reason or another they tend to loosen up with the second helping of glue?? I think it is Ken or Minn that has posted CA hinge instructions here on RCU. Been a while sense I have read them but as I recall there were some instructions posted.

Over-gluing is 1 problem. The other problem could be with hinge slots that aren't in perfect allignment [cock-eyed] on planes that use lots of throw. There could be a shearing, or tearing action going on?

I use them in all my 3D Profiles 47" 65", and my 80" Yak profile powered with a YS 160 and do all the violant manuvers with no problem what so ever 3D rates 65 degrees elev. 45 degrees rudder and 45 degrees of ail. My OMP 65" Profile Yak was built in early 2004 and I am still flying it today the Plane has well over 1000 hrs of flying time and the CA Hindges are just fine.

So far I haven't had any problem with Hanger 9 or Seagull CA hinges that come with the ARF. I have bought Great Planes CA hinges and they seem to hold up well so far, as well.

I use them in my .60 and .90 planes. My planes are over a year old with more than 40 flights so far. If they ever do decide to fail, I'll let you people know.

Pete

Never had anything BUT ca hinges.. never had a problem once.. if they're installed correctly and are good quality.. they are very safe and reliable

I think I read 4 postings here that say,"if installed correctly".  This being my first A/C with CA hinges, and this being only its 8th flight, I have to assume I did something wrong during the install.  But the biggest mistake i made and the one I need to make sure everyone who reads this is aware of, is my pre-flight.  I obviously missed a broken hinge during pre-flight.  That is a HUGE miss. 
I have already replaced my rudder hinges with Robart nylon hinges.  The  epoxy will set tonight and tomorrow will be an ops check.  But you can bet I will check my A/C out alot better from here on. 
As to wether or not my install was correct on the CA hingee, I can only say that the reason I installed CA's to begin with was because I read a posting here in RCU detailing how to install them.  There was a gap of several weeks between the reading of the post and the actual installation.  So maybe I goffed it up anyway.  At any rate, I will stick with what I know.  Which is nylon Robarts. 

HEY THERE CHIEF, THEM CA HINGES ARE STRONG AS HECK. PROPER INSTALLATION IS KEY AND YOUR PROBLEM MOST LIKELY REVOLVES AROUND THE HINGE SLOTS BEING OFF- CENTER... AT LEAST ONE. WHETHER YOU CUT THEM OR NOT, I'LL BET THAT IS THE CASE. AS A MATTER OF FACT, I HAVE A TWIST 40 I RECENTLY ASSEMBLED AND AFTER GLUING IT, I NOTICED THAT THE RUDDER, AT THE TOP, IS SHANKERRED A LITTLE BIT. I'M GUESSING THAT A SLOT IS OFF. THE GUYS AT THE CLUB TOLD ME TO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT, BUT I KNOW THEY ALL APPRECIATE SEEING A GOOD CRASH TOO... NOT THAT THEY WOULD WISH IT ON ANYONE. I'M GOING TO FIX IT.... HOPEFULLY BEFORE IT BREAKS IN FLIGHT !! THE ONLY OTHER FACTORS ARE TEMPERATURE... EXTREME HEAT WILL TEMPER / HARDEN THE HINGE. TOUCHING THE HINGE WITH A COVERING IRON OR MAYBE USING A HEATGUN NEAR THE AREA COULD HELP CAUSE TEMPER FAILURE. AS FOR EXTREME COLD, I DON'T THINK IT'S GOOD TO FLEX ANY SOLID MATERIAL WHEN IT'S FROZEN. I HAVE SEEN HINGES PULL- OUT TWICE. THE CAUSE OF BOTH WERE FROM THE BUILDERS USING THE WRONG THICKNESS CA. THE ONE FELLA'S ELEVATOR HALF PULLED OUT IN FLIGHT AND 'DOWN WENT FRASIER'. WHEN WE INSPECTED IT, YOU COULD SEE THAT THE THICKER CA HE USED ONLY MADE IT IN A LITTLE BIT.... AND TO ADD TO THE STRENGTH OF THE CA HINGES ABILITY, HE GOT NINE YEARS OF FLIGHTS WITH IMPROPERLY GLUED HINGES. AS FOR THE OTHER GUY, I THINK HE CUT HIS SLOTS WITH A BUTTERKNIFE.... YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID. YOU SHOULD WATCH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpwEv...layer_embedded ===== IF THAT DOESN'T TAKE YOU THERE, GO TO = YOUTUBE = AND TYPE = Installing CA Hinges = VIDEO FROM = rcuniverse . THE END OF THE VIDEO SHOWS JUST HOW STRONG THEY ARE. WELL I HOPE THIS HELPS AND I WISH YOU A HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

Richie you may get your point over better if you turn your caps lock off. Most I know will not read your post as its difficult and some consider it yelling.



As for using true Ca hinges, they are one of the greatest advancements that came along about twenty years ago and I have been using them ever since on many projects with no undue concern and great success.


John

I have ca hinges in most of my planes and I've NEVER had one fail. However, on a couple of my larger ARFs they came with 'better' hardware, Robart type hinges, which tells me they are preferred by the manufacturer. For example, here's a picture from my Aeroworks Yak manual for the rudder.