Ok. I'm new at this, so I hope everyone will be kind to the new guy! I need to remove what is left of my elevator after a less than perfect landing. What's the deal on trying to remove ca hinges? After all the griping I've heard about these puppys pulling out, mine seem to as solidly glued as anyone could want.

Although I have not had to remove any yet (they are usually beyond that), from what I read, the general suggestions are to cut the old hinge, trim them smoothwith the edge, and install new ones next to the old ones.

Hope this helps.
Les

I'm far from an expert, but believe it may be best to just cut them off and install new ones next to the old ones.

Anyone else?

Thanks guys. Once again I was looking for something complicated when the obvious, simple answer is the best.

ditto to the above posts. You don't want to do it too many times as you start to run out of fresh wood!

A # 11 And pratice will work ,
Watch your fingers

I had a crash and had to fix an aileron's CA hinges. I ended up using Robart hinge points. I was going to do what everyone else here has suggested.... but like capthis said.... "you could run out of fresh wood to use". My situation was this. The aileron I had to cut new slots in, was the aileron that was SOOOOOO dense and hard when I built the plane, I liked to never got the slots cut. Add to that...... what you could run into ... when applied, CA will travel through the wood grain. The balsa....right next to the old hinge, MIGHT be VERY hard from CA "moving". Here is the hinge page on Robarts site.
http://www.robart.com/New%20Pages/Hinge.html
I used the 1/8" size on a 40 size plane. They were a little too big.... but that is what I had.
I think the 3/32nds size might work better for a 40 size plane. Epoxy can be used but other glues can be easier to use and clean with water. You might want to do a search. I have seen a lot of discussion on different glues for these hinges....lownslo......

Bob

To reword what has already been stated (and to explain why) Either cut new slots next to the old ones, or use hinge points.

Here's why:

CA hinges MUST be attached with THIN CA.

Thin CA works on a capillary principle, That is, it need the pores in the wood to seep into (one reason it likes your skin so much). But once a hinge has been applied and removed, the pores are already sealed by the old CA, so you either need fresh wood, or (if that would place a hinge too close or too far from the end of a control surface) drill a hole where the old hinge is, and epoxy in a hinge point.

Minnflyer,

Do you know if Zap Hinge Glue works on CA Hinges? I hope so...because I just used it and put in small pins as well...and I have no way of checking without removing the pins..

go to the store in kingston buy new hinges and just cut new slots and forget it..and next time land more safely.lol..

I just did the old CA hinge repair job. They can be pulled out rather easily. Very carefully cut both sides away from wood. Then, cut a small notch on both sides of hinge at about the mid position. Insert small needle nose pliers, grab hard, and pull. I had 4 hinges (8 sides) removed in 30 minutes. The slots left over fit Du-Bro pin hinges perfectly. Slide a little epoxy in the slot with a broke-off #11 blade, wipe away the excess, push in the hinge, join the surface, do a trial wiggle, and enjoy.

You know, I don't think EZ hinges are really that easy. From now on, I'm a pined hinge man.

If you replace CA with hinge points, do you use the same number of hinges? I have an SIG LT-40 that snapped at the hinge point the two inboard elevator hinges. I assume I need to cut of the two remaining hinges and install new ones? What size should I use and how many? Can I drill a hole into the location of the old hinges or should I pick new locations?

I had one hinge on my trainer's elevator break. I can't really explain it other than to say that it was the hinge right next to the elevator control horn. The PT-40 has a single balsa strip as an elevator, and the control horn is near the middle.

Anyway, cutting and removing all the hinges (6) sounded like too much work, so I researched here and came up with:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/sear...0&sortMethod=d

This is what I have done and it's held up so far.

gus