Hi All,
Recently i was thinking of making low cost hinges from my old junkies, and while searching i found some unused CD cases which can be used as hinges. i have tested the same in my E-starter where i have replaced original rudder and elevator with balsa. performance was fantastic. here is the image for same. sorry for low quality mobile phone picture.



Sandeep

Sandeepm

Not able to see the picture.... But anyway, it is imperative to use plastic for hinges as a low cost solution... considering so many "Flip_tops" people work with in common cosmetics.

In SPADs (Simple Plastics Airplane Designs) with corro plast, the hinges are formed by removing the top of one flute.

But anyway, it is appreciative, how people think of using common stuff for simple applications instead of using expensive hard to get stuff

Saju

Hi Saju,
Thanks for the appreciation.
i have made one setup to test the stability and toughness of hinges made out of CD Cases.
the setup consists of one home made 555 IC based servo driver. one 9 gm servo modified for continuous rotation. two 2"x2" balsa piece used as elevator, one push rod and one horn.
there were 66 flips recorded/minute and the setup was run for 60 hours without break using two pack of 4.5 volt 1500 mah battery. the hinges was found to in perfect health.
here is the video for same.



Sandeep

Hi Sandeep ,
Just noticed this post and the VDO , this is great stuff real ingenuity 
I am sure it will be worth it experimenting with such day to day material.

After this I am seriously considering the use of hinges from small plastic boxes in which they give ink catridge etc.

One thing great on this forum is many here are looking at economical ways in this hobby  unlike the ARF Glow flyers on the other so called forum .
Sai

Nice to see a positive reply from u.
see i have checked one plastic box what u r taking about but the hinges part are not so good what i have tested. what i can guess that those boxes are not made from virgin plastic granules but recycled one and the same is marked also at the bottom on the box (sign of recycle). i am also talking to one of my friend in Delhi who has plastic injection molding machine and he is in this business since last 15 years. he told me that all depends on material which is used, when i gave him e.g. of my CD case hinges, he confirm me that those material as hinges can be used very easily for a long time without failure.
Sandeep

Hi Guys,
You can also make hinges from old floppy discs it was featured in an England's RC mag, cut a pcs from around the edge of an old floppy (black plastic protective casing for the brown bit inside).
The size to cut is aprox 1cm wide by 1.5cm into the casing. When you open it up, you get double the length, trim to requirement.
Regards
Deepak

Hi all,
as I mentioned in an earlier post in this forum, Try hinges cut from the internal disk of floppy diskettes ( the part to which the data is actually written ). I have been using them for many years in my foam models and I am sure they would outlast the model itself. I use foam safe thin CA to fix these hinges.
---Rao.

Hello and regards to all the aeromodellers here , m new to this forum, I see some gr8 ideas for hinges here. I have been using 80 micron lamination sheet, its tough and strong, just sand out the glue on its back side with fine sandpaper and its ready for use, install it like an ordinary CA hinge. Cloth hinges(ribbon or bookrum) r great too just tht u have to use fevicol on em instead of CA,have used em a lot with good results.
                                                        Injun joe.

hi sandeep bhaiya
i am using your trusty hinge instead of the foam hinge on my f22 elevons
thanks for the idea

next time i shall use X-ray films as i have heard a lot of good things about them

Floppy disk magnetic strip is very good light weight and strong hinge for Foamies.

I have succeeded with it on my F-22 raptor!

OHP sheets - ie, the transparent sheets used to give presentations with an overhead projector are the cheapest (a4 size costs approx rs 2/=) solution for reliable and economical hinging. Jus cut it in to strips of 1inch width and u r gud 2 rock n roll. ca, epoxy or even rubber paste(used to paste shoes) available in hardware stores works jus fine:)

Great feat Sandeep! I mean you just not found a novel idea, but you put the right end - you stress tested the hinges and did  complete job. Many hit upon an idea and don't test like you did! I mean all the time you hear about 'Test flight' , 'Test launch' of R&S stuff. I guess a proper testing as important than developing/inventing a thing!!

Kudos!! A small video of the making the hing would help dumbo like me . Its a food for thought from beginners like me, not to be dependent on either LHS or FHS (foreign hobby shop) all the time and invent if things go 'out of stock' locally 

I have one more idea for making a good hinge using scrap at a very low or negligible cost

just cut a gel pen reffil int half and[if u wish] divide it into 3 roughly equal parts and put a toothpick inside them[3 small parts or 1 1/2 part of refill] and lock the toothpick from both sides using tape/thread/glue so that the  parts couldn't move out

then if u have made a three segment hinge then glue one to the control surface while the other two are glued to the fixed[stabilizer horizontal or vertical or the wing] and the it is ready.Use a many as reqiured

If u have made a single segment one then just using some other material to join the two ends of the toothpick to one part and glue the refill to the other part

since both toothpick and refill are free to move about,this always works and is very durable and has negligible effect on the performance

-Ankur
ankgr8

Hi Ankur,
What i can understand is that you are talking about conventional available Hinges type? (metal hinges used in doors)can you please upload some sort of video or pic to explain this clearly?
Sandeep

yes in some sense,it is nearly similar but it could be made easily[in  our homes --it is a diy ] and is light weight and i will soon post a pic  when possible

anybody else with some other ideas
i'll post pics of my handmade/homemade hinges soon

guys,

Recently when I was searching for an indian alternative to those 'NYLON STRAP TAPES' (used as hinges for foamies abroad), I found- 'HOSPITAL PLASTER' made of cloth, and its very strong adhesive plaster.

Available in any medical store. Here are the quick pics from my computer table.

Will not the plaster look ugly? Just my personal opinion.

Yeah, it do looks ugly! It looks ugly when you donot cover it with paint or covering film , and when you touch it with dusty hands ! It looks ugly  !

Hey, lemme post pics of my ME-109 EPP, where I used these guys to hold my ailerons and elevator