Conference vmszoo::rc

    Imagine a hollow alum. tube the same length as the surface to be
    hinged, outside dia. of tube slightly smaller than the thickness
    of the two surfaces at the hinge point.
    
    Now imagine vertical slots cut in the tube, as many slots as the
    number of desired hinge points, each slot slightly wider than a
    4-40 screw. The length of the slot is cut as far around the dia.
    of the tube as necessary to provide the required surface travel
    up and down.
    
    Now imagine a nylon or teflon rod slipped inside the alum. tube;
    a nice loose fit (but not sloppy) so that the rod will rotate inside
    the tube freely.
    
    Now image that instead of a continuous lenght of rod , it`s actuaally
    cut into one inch segments (could be diff. length) as preferred.
    Each segment is positioned directly behind each slot, (4 slots,
     4segments, etc.
    
    Now drill a hole in each nylon segment to accept a 4-40 screw(4-40
    is just an example actual size depends on dim. of surface thickness
    etc.)
    
    Insert the screw thru the slot in the alum. tubing, screw it into
    the nylon segment which is residing within the tube and then cut
    off the head of the screw!
    
    Now position the surface to be hinged so that it's leading edge
    is alinged with the screws protruding from their slots and drill
    holes in the surface at the correct points and insert headless screws
    with suitable adhesive (epoxy) The leading edge of the hinged surface
    will have been concave radiused to fit closely around the alum.
    tube with out binding or gaps.
    
    Now glue the alum. tubing to the concave radiused trailing edge
    of the fixed surface, and voila ! you have an arrow shaft hinge.
    You also have the greatest waste of time devised by the mind of
    man. If you must do this Kay, ask yourself WHY? and think about
    other gapless methods such as Granite State brand iron on cloth
    hinges, which I used sucessfully after spending over 20 hours 
    with the arrow shaft construction. GOOD LUCK.
    
    
            Terry
    

Here's what I did (ONCE ;^)

I took two brass tubes the length of the surface that I was hinging that fit 
one inside the other and cut the larger into several segments. The outer 
diameter of the outside tube was the same as the thickness of the surface. 
Before cutting the outside tube I wrapped it with sand paper and sanded the 
edges to be hinged so that they ended up like this:

			========( O )=========
			stab ^    ^    ^ elevator
				 tube

After cutting the outside tube into segments and deburring the ends I glue them
onto the two surfaces in an alternating manner and use the inside tube as a 
hinge pin for alignment while drying. I took the design from a standard door 
hinge with the hinge plates being the flying surfaces. If you use this on a 
split elevator and you use brass tubing for the outside tube you can solder
your control horn into the center. I didn't worry about electrical noise with
the metal to metal movement but the "pin" could be replaced with a dowel.

Made a nice flush hinge on a C/L stunt ship with a full 180 degrees of movement
(that's what I always demand in my C/L stunters ;^)

    So, has anyone tried any arrow shaft hinges in the last 7 years?
    
    Updated comments??
    
    I re-realized why I was procrastinating on building the ailerons on
    my Nieuport-11..  I hate the entire setup!
    
    The way it works is that a torque tube runs from the center of the wing
    out to the aileron.  This tube is then built into the aileron.  Turn
    the tube in the center, the aileron moves.  
    
    However, the hinges that they use are very suspect.  Simply, they just
    have a stiff piece of wire around the torque tube.  The ends of the
    wire are threaded into holes in the wing.  I guess the theory is that
    the torque tube will do a lot to keep the aileron attached and the
    wire just makes sure it stays in place.  
    
    Problems: I don't trust it, it is not scale, other Nieuport-11 people
    have had problems.
    
    So, I am thinking I may use the arrowshaft concept.   I think it can
    be made to look more scale and at the same time, provide a bit more
    security.
    
    Anyone else out there ever hinged an aileron like this??
    
    Cheers,
    jeff
    
    
    

I made an arrowshaft style hinge once. I found it to work well but I wasn't
too crazy about it. I liked the gaplessness of the hinges but didn't feel the
attachment was very secure. You'll probably have to go to tubes rather than
actual arrowshafts since the inside diameter of the arrowshafts was
inconsistant when I looked at them.

Jim