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Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: Allen Eshleman on August 02, 2021, 11:00:00 AM
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I have heard of "taping hinge lines", if elevator or flap hinge lines have too much space between them. How is it done?
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...and with a small dowel...
I use a i/2" wide piece of hard 1/32 balsa rounded. Makes a great flat piece to push the tape onto the flap. As for electric, they don't get oil under them but neither do the IC if you really smooth out the edge and put a light coat of clear over the seam.
I am still looking for a good way to seal imbedded flaps. Maybe somebody will make a "Hinge Line sealing tape" with no sticky stuff in the center. But, since payback on investment in manufacturing would be about 200 years you would have to be crazy.
Ken
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I have heard of "taping hinge lines", if elevator or flap hinge lines have too much space between them. How is it done?
The way to tell if the hinge lines have too much space between them is to attempt to move the surfaces -- if they move, there's too much space and you should tape the hinge lines.
(Except -- Brett Buck has claimed that it's not too much gap, but too much variation in the gap. And the effect of that variation goes down dramatically with gap size. So if you did something really odd, like space your flaps 1/8" away from your wing TE, then maybe you wouldn't need tape. Or maybe you'd just lose, who knows?
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I have heard of "taping hinge lines", if elevator or flap hinge lines have too much space between them. How is it done?
Your hinge line does have too much space in it. Define "too much" as "any at all". With zero clearance, it it binding up, with any, it's bigger than an air molecule.
Sealing hinge lines is very important, we don't bother flying the airplane without the seals. Usually you use tape, but you can do other things, too, like build them in (which is how Dennis Adamisin did it). This is how I do it:
https://stunthanger.com/smf/stunt-design/hinge-options/msg99465/#msg99465
The airplane is ideally built with this in mind, leaving sufficient space to easily apply the seal. It's compatible with the single hinge pin, you end up with the tape crossing the gap attached to the pin.
Brett
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Thanks for these explanations and descriptions, and for referring me to that other thread. I would like to see a visual example. Could someone post a picture of their plane where it can be seen? Thanks