Cloth Hinges in 5 minutes.

I have a roll of electric motor rewinding tape that I used to make cloth hinges. I am not sure what the cloth is made out of but I think it might be fiberglass cloth. It is designed to wrap the electrical wires on the inside of an electric motor that is being rewound to hold the wires in place. When the motor is finished the tape and all the wires are varnished. The glue is designed to disolve into the varnish and become part of the varnish. The electric motor is baked in an oven at 400 degrees for about 12 hours to dry the varnish. I bought a more than 1/2 used roll of 1" wide tape at a motor rewind shop for $2.00. I stick the tape to a scrap piece of plywood then cut it into 1.125" long pieces. I pealed the pieces off and stuck them to my stabilizer. I have never made cloth hinges this quick before it took me less than 2 minutes to cut the pieces and stick them to the balsa stab. The tape is very thin, it feels like it is a little thicker than a sheet of paper. It is a very tight woven cloth. The threads on the edges will not come loose so you do not have to deal with threads hanging out the side or ends. I clamped the elevator in place, the glue on the tape is on the wrong side for sticking it to the balsa elevator. I held the tape down to the balsa elevator and applied some thin CA glue. It was stuck tight in 10 seconds. I turned it over and did the other side. Next I applied thin CA glue to the cloth on the stabilizer. The entire process took about 5 minutes. After I was finished I though this is not going to work because the glue on the tape was very gummy and sticky on the elevator part of the cloth where the glue is on the top side. I figured the glue is probably gummy and sticky under the tape on the stabilizer too. After about 15 minutes the glue was dry and hard. No more gummy stick tape glue. Another 30 minutes later I decided to see if I could peal off the cloth hinges. I figured if I can peal the cloth off then that would prove it is not going to work. I can not peal it off, no change of getting it off now without ripping off a layer of balsa. The hinge works great excellent, the elevator moves up and down very nice. I did a test to see if I could rip the tape by hand, no way this is strong stuff. Check out the pictures. You can see the wood grain of the balsa through the tape. After the stabilizer and elevator have been covered I don't think the cloth hinges will be very visible.

And this stuff is available just where ? ? ?

Until just now, I thought the best cloth hinge material was un-inked typewriter ribbon (nylon ribbon about .004 thick), and I have a bunch of it. But it's only 1/2" wide, and takes forever to do flaps.

Do you have a dependable source for this material?

LAST EDITED ON Jul-27-04 AT 10:41 PM (CDT)
 
If Gary's tape is fiberglass, I don't expect it would be a good thing. I'd try to ID the material with the flame test. If it isn't bothered, it's FG. If it melts, it's Nylon, Dacron, Polyester, etc. If it burns, it's linen or cotton, or some other natural fiber. So, how do you get uninked typewriter ribbons? Come to think of it, I'm not real sure you can still get typewriter ribbons...I haven't bought one in at least 10 years.

By the way, a superior glue for fabric hinges is "Fabric Cement" (duh!), available at your local aircraft supply store. It's for attaching Ceconite and Linen coverings onto light aircraft. I've known guys who used it to build models (on wood/wood joints, also thinned to apply covering...much stickier than butyrate dope), and it seems/looks/smells similar to Duco Cement (and "Tarzan's Grip" glue, for the Ozzies out there). Check for compatability issues. I recall a problem with Ambroid/Aerogloss from the 1950's. Steve

If in fact the material is Fiber glass, I would be very cautious on using it for hinging material. My personal experience with glass hinges has been far less than satisfactory.

I suggest trying the material on a "beater" plane over something other than hard surface flying area. Also rly about 25 to 30 flights before making a final decision.

Bigiron

I just did the flame test. The tape will not burn. I think the tape is fiberglass and that probably is not good. My hinges are built so I think I will continue but first I will add a few more hinges that are made of nylon for safety. I will keep an eye on the fiberglass hinges to see how they hold up. I wish I had some more of that kevlar thread, I will order some from WWG.