Aileron hinge question?
 

Hi, Im building a Eagle 2 trainer. The plane came with plastic aileron hinges. I have some CA hinges and was wondering which would be a better hinge... thanks in advance

RE: Aileron hinge question?
 

Actually the hinges supplied, if true hinges are the very good. However, the CA hinges work just fine and are much easier to install. Just test them, when you are done to make sure they are secure, by pulling on the hinge fairly hard. If they fail, it is better to have had them fail on the ground, then in the air. Do you know how to install them?

RE: Aileron hinge question?
 

Mode One--- Yes I know how to install them both it just seems that the CA hinges might be better... what do most people use on the aileron? The ones supplied are just plastic no metal pin in the hinge. Which would last longer? thanks again

RE: Aileron hinge question?
 

IMHO, throw away the nylon pin style hinges or plastic hinges and get some fiberglass CA hinges and ALWAYS PIN YOUR HINGES IN PLACE. I have had the nylon pin style hinges and the plastic hinges tear and seperate when put under high stress.

Dill a small hole in the center of the hinge slot of both surfaces, this will help the CA spread to the entire hinge/balsa joining surface. The hinge slot should look something like ---0--- Insert the hinge into one surface and push a small T-pin down through the surface and the hinge. Cut off the excess pin sticking out on both sides. Saturate the hinge with thin CA by squirting it into the hole that was drilled in the center of the slot. The fiberglass hinges will absorb the CA and help to strengthen joint and by glueing after pinning the CA will help strengthen the balsa around the pin. Follow the same steps on the opposite surface when joining. Pull the control surface into a full up or down position to make it easier to access the drill hole.

I use this procedure on all of my airplanes (.40 .60 & .90 size) and all surfaces. I have not had a control surface seperate since using this method. (knock on wood) If you follow these steps, I can almost guarantee that you will not have a control surface failure due to a hinge seperation.

Tips on flutter: Ensure that your control surface attach point gap is as tight as possible and be sure that the control horn/clevis attach point is directly over the hinge point.

RE: Aileron hinge question?
 

Can't fault Lowflyby's methods. However, I'm unsure what he means by fiberglass CA hinges. I use Great Planes CA hinge material. I think all of them a pretty similar. Great Planes are plastic with a fiber material on them that I would guess allows CA to hold firmly.

All hinges can fail. I always seal the hinge gap on the ailerons with covering material ironed down into the hinge gap.

RE: Aileron hinge question?
 

Mode One...the GP CA hinges are what I was referring to. I was under the impression that they were made of fiberglass material.