My CA Hinges are Neeto

I have a doghouse from www.rcrunway.com
I'm running a .47 size engine.
The kit came with CA hinges(plastic core). The instructions recomend doubling them up(fiber.plastic.fiber.fiber.plastic.fiber). So far no problems. They hold real well.

I've seen many posts about CA hinges. As with any product not everyone is 100%. If that was the case why would we buy anything else.

-Rocko

To easily see the plastic sheet in the middle of the CA hinge on the Gp ones all you have to do would be to add a little epoxy or glue on the Ca hinge and let it harden and the make a little cut in it. Then rip that sucker and you will seea little plastic sheet in the middle...... I found out the hard way(almost......) I think ill give a littler haller to the Gp Tech support and find out what their explanation for this is......Raise hell maybe.........im open ears at this point b/c It's looking like ill go switch to Robart hinges or nylon hinges..... thanks
Nealio

It was a fresh Bottle of Zap so i dont think it was the glue.....most likely bad set of hinges or they could have been old....we'll see!

Then again i dont see how a hinge could get old..... at least a Ca Hinge.... That raises another question....How are they made?...It could of been a bad batch like someone(sorry, not looking at your response just remember it!!) said earlier.... [&:]

Sounds like it might have been a combo of things quite possibly. By you using the fresh glue...Zap at that...thats pretty good stuff too, you eliminated that as suspect I believe. What about the wood itself...is it hard...maybe harder then usual? How did your slots cut? Normal pain in the butt slots, or very much pain in the butt slots?
I'm going to have a look at some GP hinge material I have on hand...just very curious now....and kind of just throwing out ideas for you also.... I do hope you find out why they let loose though.... keep us posted.

<ahem>hinge points<ahem>

Hi,
I am currently painting the TF T-34. I have the CA hinges installed in the flight controls and have covered them with masking tape to protect them. Several times when I've removed the masking tape, it has delaminated the CA hinge. It pulls the outer surface off, leaving a clear plastic inner surface.
I don't have a lot of confidence in these and will replace them with regular hinges.

Jim

Im not the only one!!!!!!!Well the wood was not hard like a hardwood it was the balsa that came with the kit that goes inside the trailing edge of the wing(if you have the kit you know..) Its pretty wierd....I will have to say they must either have been a bad batch or just bad luck....hehe
Hinge points hmm who said hinge points..............I'm getting some guys dont worry.. if they nylon ones fail, im going to those...from what ive heard they are great! thanks a bunch.. soon to post pics

Jim and E*nealio,

One question: did the hinges come precut or did you have to cut them out of the 2" x 9" sheet?

Well, make that 2 questions: Do you have any of the hinge material left over?

Ed M.

I would like to see a picture of what failed just for curiosity. Not saying it can't happen, but I just haven't seen it and would like to see what failed.

By the way, for those of you paying a fortune for CA hinges, watch ebay. I bought a bag of 1000 for about $10 a couple years ago. They are too big, so I usually end up cutting them in half, so I virtually have 2000. I will never run out. They have been great.

Alright ill go get some hinge material that i have( i have mutiple sheets ly'n around so in a couple minustes ill have em up...They came in sheets they werent precut but i traced em out from the plans.....

[img]P1150070.JPG[/img]
The part sticking up is the fiber which pulled right off

This Olympus Camedia wont open the folder i had my pictures in so i'm ganna have to figure this out so it might be a while......(+how the heck do i post em..the pics)

you have to upload them -not use the image tags. The image tags link to images that are online some place. You can't use the quick reply box. Click the reply button and you'll see the upload button.

If I can get the photo attached, you will see that some of the outside material has been pulled away by the masking tape I had on it for painting.
Jim

I have installed different brands of CA hinges in different planes (GP, sonictronics, and radio south) and none of them have failed so far. I seal all my hinge gaps with clear monokote. I have not tried the ca hinges from ohio superstar yet, but have heard that they are also good.

Sorry guys but I too have just experienced two sets of hinge failures.

I have a Hanger 9 Cap 232 120 size Matt Chapman Edition that I had just completed a few 3 weeks ago. On the 3rd flight I lost all the hinges on one of the ailerons. I was able to land her with no damage so I took her home and replaced all the hinges on that aileron. Two flights later and I lost all the hinges on one of the elevators. Again I was able to bring her down with out any problems. The hinges I was was using are the pre-cut Great Planes CA hinges. New bottle of thin CA and the fit of the hinges were just a tad bit from flush.

The problem was not that the plastic separated from the fiber ( maybe on two hinges) but what had happed was the hinge itself split into two halves. Since that last incident, I have not flown and had just received my order of nylon pinned hinges. I don't think I want to chance another failure.

Question: What is the best method for installing nylon pinned hinges? The ones I have are the Great Planes Medium nylon hinges. Some people say that I could just use medium CA and everything will be fine. I tried looking how to get epoxy into the slots but I just don't have any type of syringe that can fill up the slot. I am worried that if I use epoxy, I won't be 'bonding' enough of the hinge surfaces to the trailing edge and control surface. Any help or 'tricks' would be appreciated.

John

I'll use Robarts in anything above 90

The top pic is almot exacly like the Ca Hinge example i was going to post.....Crazy as it seems but the only diff is the fiber came all the way off....
ON my pinned hinges which are exactly like Johns I Put milled fiberglass in some 15 min epoxy and then soaked som left over Zap from my Ca hinges on em. I also drilled a hole through the top part and put a toothpic em to (just in case) keep them from sliding out...
Good luck and hope nobody will have the experience of landing a plane with one elevator and one aileron again!!!

Did you mix epoxy and ca ?

Jim and E*nealio,

I have posted many times on here that I like the GP hinge material. I tested some I have on hand and can't duplicate what you are seeing. That does not make me right. If you will drop me a private mail with your address I will send you a stamped self addressed envelope if you will send me some of the defective material so I can test it. If its bad, I have a lot of retractions to make and will gladly do so. If bad I will also furnish the results with GP and the board.

Ed M.

This is an excellent proposal. I am looking forward to the results

i use dubro hinges and occasionaly robart, but i imagin that the dubro are very similar if not exactly the same as the GP and the only time i had a failure is when i needed to take an aliron off and i al maost had to take a crow bar to it... (figurativly speeking)

you didn't pin em with the toothpicks did ya...

well, still for $15, thats still excellent. only get 15 for $6 in the great white north.

pinning dubro hinges--drill two small holes side by side into each flap and stick a round toothpick with a bit of yellow glue on it thru the hole. CA would work too. cut and sand flush. cover. works for me. but everyone has their own method.

i have been using the hanger 9 hinges that came with my funtana for all of my planes surface controles and i have never had one fail im very impressed with them if your worried order some of them.[8D]



happy landings