Scirocco14

OK, I found several packs of Klett hinges in some stuff I bought recently. Ilike using "old school" pinned nylon hinges, and like the feature of removable pins on the Kletts. It would make things easier to assemble after covering/painting and repairing control surfaces. But my question is this: how do you keep the pins from working their way out and falling out during flight?

I feel stupid but can't figure it out...

Thanks,

Mark

gene6029

You need to bend over the ends of the pins on each side of the hinge, or use one continuious pin to pass thru all the hinges & bend over the ends....Gene

Jim Thomerson

The ignorant wise man asks questions. The ignorant fool makes statements. Mark, you are in the first category.

Scirocco14

Ah, makes sense. The pins in the hinges now aren't long enough to do that, but it's easy enough to get some wire the same diameter and make new pins.

Thank you!




Mark

JustPlaneSweet

I use a single piece of wire through all the hinges in a control surface. A 90 degree bend on the end is buried into the balsa. Also works to fill in the hinge gap.

Stan

Scirocco14

That's a clever idea!! Thanks!

Mark

Avaiojet

I've never used a single piece of wire. How would you hide it? Would you knotch the entire length to recess the wire?

I recess the hinge, half and half, on both sides of each surface. Yes, you have to cut some wood for this.

I then install, (epoxy,) the pin side first with the pin placed into the wood. The other side of the hinge is attached and hanging.

Sure, I've used toothpicks for extra strength, but the hinge does have holes in it.

I epoxy the control surface to whatever number of hinges I use. I put the epoxy into the hinge slot.

I knew guys that used them frequently/always, in fact, on all our pattern ships back in the 80's, and I never seen one pull out. These guys were dead fussy about gaps! Fussy about everything in fact.

If you choose, with heat, you could reactivate the epoxy and easily remove the control surface. There's a diagram and instructions, on the back of the package.

Both these models have Klett hinges installed. I took the photo of the two types of Klett hinges for the Thread. The other photo shows a recent application of Robart pin hinges. This allows for a more scale look. Both are great hinges.

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

I used Klett Hinges all of the time when I could still get them. What I did was:

1. Glue the hinges in the two surfaces with the wire in place with the short end pointing so that I could later remove it.

2. Remove the wire and finish the surfaces.

3. Mate the surfaces inserting the wire in the hinge.

4. Push the wire short end down into the wood, thereby holding it in place.

5. Later if I needed to remove the wire, I would pull up the the short end and slide it out of the hinge.

I never had one come apart in the air.

Bruce

Scirocco14

Thanks, Bruce. Do you slot the wood first before pushing the wire in ?

Mark

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

No, I never had to slot the wood when pushing in the short end. It made its own slot as it went in. One thing, you should cut the short end of the wire so that it does not stick up above the control surface. Also, I always coated the wire with vaseline when I glued the hings in.

I am in the process of refinishing a Svensen Wayfarer Bip I built 35 years ago using Klett hings. I had no problem removing the control surfaces by pulling the pins.

Bruce

GSNut

My Feedback: (8)

The single wire hinge pin works well with the various DuBro sized pinned hinges also........though I dislike toothpicks to nail the hinges with, I use this method.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7976350/tm.htm