What are y'all using for hinges?

I've been slitting the balsa and using cellophane,
or whaterver it is these days, from cigarette packages.
It works OK. But it's a bit stiff. And tends to
wrinkle if I put a drop of CA on the joint that's a bit large
or wicks more than expected.

Thinking about going to tissue and Amberoid.

But I'd like some input before I "improve" what seems to sorta work.

--del

Some like cheap cellophane tape but the stuff I got did not have enough stick-um. About a quarter inch wide or less.

Thread on taping:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=88885

I first started using Walmart gift wrap tissue and thinned elmers.
About 3/32" was just right for coils I was using. They kept breaking on crashes so I started using figure 8 thread hinges.
The springback is not quite as good with the thread but it
is a more loose free swinging hinge. I tried model tissue and this was too stiff. I have seen kevlar thread mentioned as being long lasting.

This is a bit of work, the results are great, but no centering force is built in like the rubber band method. By the way, I think it may have been developed by Fritz Mueller, and is intended for sheet style tail feathers. Lets say for a rudder, I cut out two sets of identical parts from 1/32" sheet (light!), but chris-cross the grains. Tack one set down with the proper hinge gap. Then I use 1/8" strips of tea bag material (un-used of course) about 3/4" long and glue them in place with a type of glue that will not wick out into the gap area. I use a glue stick, but Ambroid or Wilhold will do fine if you let a bit of it sit out for a while and thicken so it is not too runny. Then run a bead of glue around the outline...don't get too close to the hinges...and a few chris-crosses in the middle areas. Put the top pieces on (cross-grain) and weight down until dry. The hinges are almost friction free, and the cross grain construction goes along way to help avoid warps. Now the work part...you have a tail surface that is 1/16" thick that probably only needs to be 1/32". Get out your sanding blocks and work down both sides evenly to the desired thickness, don't forget to sand with the grain or you will tear it to shreds. Also lay some balsa of the proper width in the hinge gap to keep from tearing the hinge while you are sanding.

Dave Wulff

Tea bags, well I never.

I have used mylar film in a similar way but am still looking for a super convenient method when not using 2 ply balsa or foam.

Graham

Shame on me for forgetting those hinges of yours. In the case of the guided mite they really add to the model.

Do you round or bevel the edges of the wood before hinging?


Graham

edit: oops it isn't a guided mite but that lovely pusher.

All: well I said it was a bit of work, but it is invisible, and very flexible.

Graham: Surely there must be at least one un-used teabag in England. Seriously, I find it similar to heavyweight silkspan but much stronger.

Ralph: Nothing wrong with the fifties, I just don't have enough hair left to get a "DA" or make much use of "butchwax" anymore, though I guess it would help hold my hat on in the wind.

Dave Wulff

Good old scotch tape for small stuff and clear mylar packing tape on larger models works for me. Easy to change suffaces if needed too.

Ralph
Thats where I learned how to do the tissue hinges. They work great even if the edges are not rounded.
I found walmart tissue to have the least centering force but kept breaking due to my inexpewrienced flying ability. I guess I could use stronger model tissue and crease at the appropriate place to gain strength. That is when I learn to fly and start using tissue hinges again. They are much easier to do than thread figure 8 hinges.

If you have a bad 3.5in floppy from your computer you can use the disc material inside the plastic casing.

I have been considering light plastic tube and pin options. Does anyone have any tube and pin solutions, plastic or metal?

John, than you might as well use the hinges in your LHS for slow fliers. They are small light and cheap. But I know its not as much fun as making them yourself.

Aoout the pin & tube idea: I have had good luck with .030" CF rod turning in 1/16" aluminum tubing for the bearings. There is a little slop, but not much. It is extremely free moving, and the weight is almost nothing. The CF rod is stiff enough that it only requires two bearings, one at either end. I weighed some for an aileron setup, and the total weight of a 6" rod and two bearing, one 1/4" and one 3/4", was something like 100 mg...

Wow friends! Thanks for all the ideas.
Y'all have given me much to contemplate.

Tonight, on the new model, I used the same old cigarrette
pack plastic, but this time I used Amberoid instead of CA
to stick the plastic in the slots in the surfaces.
Seems to work. And seems quite flexible. (The control
surfaces moved when I blew at 'em from about 2 feet away..)

And, I gotta start cutting strips of paper outa tea bags...
Last time my wife asked "What ere you doing?" she walked away
shaking her head... Maybe harvesting hinge material from
tea bags will bring back that magic moment...

--del

FWIW, I have been using pinned hinges on my micro models after trying most of the old and new hinging tricks. ( I never thought of tea bags though!) I use the insulation off of pieces of scrap wire for the hinge sleeves and use fine music wire for the pins. One handy feature is the ease of installaing and removing the control surface even after the model is finished. The picture shows some hinge installations in 1/32 balsa panels using insulation from #32 wire and MW pins. The parts are small but with some patience and an eye-loop they align and install easily. I use CA applied with the end of a sharp toothpick to run a glue bead along the length of the sleeves on top and bottom where they fit up against the panel edges. I put a small 90 degree bend in the pin and add a dab of model cement (Duco or Ambroid) to hold it in place. Even on larger installations the wire insulation makes good hinge sleeves. The blue/white model has a combination of center pinned hinge and outboard rubber hinges. The red/white and the yellow ones have pinned hinges only. I have found that magnetic centering on the actuator coils is eliminates the need for the elastomeric (rubber band) centering. Incidentally, the bottom rudder hinges on all of the installations shown have a lower hinge wire running through a fine hole in the fuselage and also mount the steerable tail wheels. The black parts are .010" pins and the red are .008" pins. The music store has guitar strings in these small sizes. They usually have a good selection of plain music wire guitar strings from .008" dia up to .024" dia in .002" or .003" size increments. It is always good quality music wire and inexpensive. And they have a neat little thimble in one end to pin them up on the wall for handy storage.