A Tip On Applying Cloth Hinges

[Mike Griffin]

I buy the material for making my cloth hinges from Aircraft Spruce.  What I buy is the light weight Dacron.  They use this material to cover ultra light aircraft.  You buy it by the yard and a yard is a lifetime supply and it does not cost much at all.

The only aggravation that I ran into was that it wants to fray on the edges.  What I discovered was that if you dope the material first, when you cut it, it does not fray.  The material comes folded so what I do is cut a strip while it is folded about 2" wide.  That gives you a good long strip to work with.  I then unfold that strip, lay it out flat and dope it with Nitrate dope by brushing the dope on and saturating the cloth and it only takes a few minutes to completely dry.  I then lay the strip out and cut the desired length of hinge I want on my cutting mat using a straight edge and store them in a container or apply to the stab or flaps if I am ready to use them.  I find that a sharp #11 blade and a straight edge (ruler) is much better than using scissors.

If you use cloth hinges you might already know this but thought I would put it out there for those who maybe did not.  Hope this helps

Mike

[Damian_Sheehy]

Mike, that's a useful tip that is not mentioned in the instructions I received. The instructions appear to favor nitrate, but that could be subject to interpretation. Personally, I think nitrate is stickier and I haven't had trouble with applying butyrate on a nitrate base.

I believe the material is Uncertified Lightweight http://www.ceconite.com/fabrics.htm, that's based on a comparison of a the ready-made hinge and a factory sample. This material is also sold in rolls of tape of various widths of 1/2" up in increments of 1/2" or so. But, I'm not sure if the tape is supplied in the lightweight grade.

[Joseph Patterson]

    Thanks Mike, it was a good tip for me!
           Doug

[KenP51]

I don't use cloth hinges But I use plenty of fabric for covering. I avoid fabric fray by using cheap hair spray before I cut the cloth. Like I said cheap and real fast. I don't see why it would not work for cloth hinges, just a different application of fabric.

Ken

[ron young]

Thanks Mike i was unsure wich dacron material to use after your first post this i believe 1.7oz. is what you are using great info for a struggling rookie builder
Ron

[Mike Griffin]

Here is a link to what i am using

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/cs/dacron/peelply3.php

Really light weight

Mike