Hinges and covering a plane is not a fun thing for me, building is. Now I am an old guy of 70 so I try to make my building as easy as I can. I cover my planes with vinyl because it is easy to do and strong. Now to the hinges. After playing around with these home made hinges I found this one to be the easy one to make. The hinge is made from an aluminum 8-32 X 3/4 socket head screw. About $8 a pack of 25 from Mcmaster Carr, they have some in nylon also $6 per 100. I made a drill gage to drill a 3/32 hole through the head for the 3/32 music wire hinge shaft done, now was that not easy. Drill a hole in the balsa with a 1/8 brass tube drill. Don't try to push the screw into the hole screw it in, I did one and did not put glue on it and it never came out. Now you will need a short piece of music wire about 2 in. to line up the screw with the hinge line and to make sure it is screwed in so the shaft is flush with the balsa I use a slow cure CA glue on the treads, any kind of slow cure glue will work. You will see in the pictures there is no gap on the hinge line. No V on the balsa, if you need more throw sand the edges a little. Put the screws were you want no hole to line up with on the other piece. I am going to try 1/16 music on my next plane.
ken

A few more pictures

Now that's a pretty cool Idea, I'll have to put that into the old file for future reference..  Thanks for the hint! 

Craig.

You could use smaller screws that already have a saftey tie wire hole put in them.[8D]

Great idae!! For each s cale it is used on you just select the right size screw and wire pin! LOVE IT!!!

I did check that out Vicman but could not find any in aluminum. On bad balsa I did put thin CA in the hole and then slow cure CA on the threads. Here is a picture of a rudder with my no gap hinge.
Ken

Are you worried about 'metal to metal' contact producing radio interference?  Are the  nylon screws strong enough to resist wear?

I have not had a radio problem yet and I use gas engines with EI. I don't see a problem with the nylon, nylon makes a good bearing in this type of use. I am going to make a mock-up using the nylon screws and give it a test.
Ken

Can you share more information about the vinyl covering? Never heard of it.

Probably sign vinyl.

I have a bunch of it from when I used to build SPADS. I still use it on top of monocote ocassionally. Some of the colors match monocote exactly.

This looks really cool. How do you secure the music wire? Is it just a friction fit, is it glued, or is there something securing it so it can be removed?

Nice work.

Tony, what you would want to use is called calendered vinyl and it is a vinyl used to make signs, it is used a lot on cars and trucks. It has an adhesive back so you just stick it on and use a little heat to make it tight. I get it in 10 yard rolls by24 in for $20 to $25. It is a 2.8 mil. Its easy to use and is strong and the weight is a little higher than film.
Mclina, so far friction has been working but as they ware in they may need a lock. Wheel collars can be used for that or a piece of heat shrink on each of one screw.
Ken

Very COOL! Box car opened up a new world here.

Thank you for the kind post Loud.
Tony, look at the rudder in post # 6 that is vinyl covered.
Another thing I have done is made push-pull controll rods for the tail wheel spring loaded.
Ken

Harbor Freight has their mirco mill on sale http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47158
I have one of these and is great for thing like making hinges, $219 is a great price for this tool.</p>

Ken</p>

Not knockin ya boxcar, but you have ALOT!!! of free time on your hands to come up with all of this great stuff. The one thing I like is the adustability of the fine threads on the screws, it'll allow you to fine-tune the hinge line. Maybe some nylon bolts in the future to keep the weight down and the friction.

You are right Planebuilder, being 70 years old and not a lot to do on the farm in the winter but water and feed the livestock. I have some 8-32 nylonsockethead screws coming to try out . The aluminum screws I used are real lite.
Ken

And if that one's not small enough for ya...

http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/images/Jordan06.JPG

I got the nylon socket head screws today. I got 100 6-40 for $6 and 100 8-32 for $6, now that is a lot of hinges. The one on the left is the 6-40 next to it is the 8-32. To night I will make a mock-up and post pictures . I am going to use 1/16 music wire for the hinge shaft to see how that works.
Ken