dacron hinges

[Bootlegger]

  How many of you fellows use Dacron hinges, and where do you get them? What kind of "life" do you get from them?
 I have a sheet of Dacron that I got from Aircraft Spruce about 15 years ago, and I , well my wife, is cutting some now.

 I use 1"x1" on the stab, and 1"x2" on the flaps, of course they are butted up to each other so that the hinge line is sealed.

 Post your experience with them...

[FLOYD CARTER]

The Dacron material from Aircraft Spruce is also called "Ceconite".  Sold, I believe, in 3 weights.  The thinnest, used for ultralight planes and gliders, works well for hinges.  It has a very tight weave, so clear dope has trouble soaking through.  For that reason, I attach them with Ambroid.  This seems to work better than clear dope.

Floyd

[mike londke]

I used them on my last build and am very happy with them. The ones from Tom Dixon. I put mine on with nitrate.  Like Ty said they almost disappear when applied correctly. http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=38490.0;attach=159230;image

[Motorman]

You guys are sending me back to my youth. My experience is dope gets in the hinge and stiffens them up.

MM

[Jim Kraft]

If done right they are the freest hinges you can make. I have been using the ones from Tom Morris also and have never had a failure or a stiff hinge line. And as said will seal the hinge gap. I do put mine on with thin butyrate dope which will soak right through them. That is about 20% dope and 80% thinner. I dope the hinge line up well before attaching the hinges so the dope thinner has something to stick to. I put all of the hinges on the movable serface first, and then attach the hinges to the wing or stab.

[FLOYD CARTER]

When I did fabric job on 3 planes, (Aeronca Champ, Cessna 140, Focke-Wulf 44J) the Ceconite cloth comes in "Griege", meaning not yet shrunk.  It shrinks a LOT with a heat gun.  They also sell Dacron tape in rolls, which is already shrunk.  This is for doping onto overlapping seams after most of the shrinking is done with heat.  The tape seems like the best way, because it will not shrink with heat (it doesn't take much heat to do it).

Floyd

[Bootlegger]

 Thanks guy's, Ty I look forward to seeing you in Oct at the contest, if we have the turn out that we had last year it will be nice.

 Hopefully there will be more show up.

 Again guy's thanks for the info...

[billbyles]

When I did fabric job on 3 planes, (Aeronca Champ, Cessna 140, Focke-Wulf 44J) the Ceconite cloth comes in "Griege", meaning not yet shrunk.  It shrinks a LOT with a heat gun.  They also sell Dacron tape in rolls, which is already shrunk.  This is for doping onto overlapping seams after most of the shrinking is done with heat.  The tape seems like the best way, because it will not shrink with heat (it doesn't take much heat to do it).

Floyd

Consolidated Aircraft Coatings, which now holds the STC for what used to be called "Stits Process" and is now called "Poly-Fiber" covering process also owns the "Ceconite" covering process.  The fabric for both processes is the same material except for the FAA-PMA identification stamp on the fabric at regular intervals.  The fabric covering materials for both processes is heat shrunk, and per the STC to meet the legal standards for both they must be shrunk to the temperature specified in their respective STC with a properly calibrated iron; NOT with a heat gun.

The Dacron tape is also NOT pre-shrunk and that is pointed out in bold print in both the Poly-Fiber (page 50) and Ceconite (page 46) STC manuals, stating "Never use an iron hotter than 225 degrees F on a tape!"

[Serge_Krauss]

I got some in the scrap box at JoAnn fabrics. Tom's work great and save a few minutes of work.

[FLOYD CARTER]

Try shrinking 400 sq.ft. of wing area, plus much more on fuselage with an iron.  Even my wife's household iron takes forever.  I got by with a heat gun (or maybe it was a hair dryer?)

Floyd

[Randy Cuberly]

Try shrinking 400 sq.ft. of wing area, plus much more on fuselage with an iron.  Even my wife's household iron takes forever.  I got by with a heat gun (or maybe it was a hair dryer?)

Floyd

I'd be willing to bet that Bill B. has done a lot more than 400 sq ft of the stuff?   

Randy Cuberly

[Mike Scholtes]

I used a commercial grade hand-held iron with good calibration to shrink 400 feet of wing covering plus probably another 200 or so of fuselage and tail section pieces on my L2 Taylorcraft and can attest it works fine. Covering was Stits Poly-Fiber. Best part was hand-stitching the fabric to the wing ribs, solo with no helper. My model plane experience actually helped visualize what needed to be done, that plus the detailed application requirements in the handbook. A heat gun on a project this size would probably not result in even rate of shrinkage across the large area being treated. Have seen and participated in lots of fabric-plane recovers and never saw a heat gun in use.

[Sean McEntee]

Thanks for the thread. I'm building an Arthur Alfieri "Ruby" and plan on "kickin'no it old school" to include cloth hinges. Lotsa good tips here.