Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / August 2009

Don't throw away those slotting tools. They're fine and doing what
they are supposed to do. Make tight slots. What you need to do is make
them widen temporarily so you can add your hinge to secure it.

At most hobby shops you will find brass items. Find a piece that it
thicker than your hinge and the same width. Slowly force it into the
slot you created and lever it up and down just a tiny bit. The wood
should yield enough to allow the hinge to be inserted and then begin
to recover, gripping it as it does.

If you use glue to install the hinge, remove it and repeat the
stretching again before you glue it in place. If you pin the hinge and
cut the pin, do that and you have your hinge mounted.

One nice thing about the slotting tools is the jig that aligns the
slots for you. The scraping tool to clear the wedge left behind is
ingenious and useful for so many other things in building.
--
Ray

I use a five inch long piece taken from a hack saw blade.  I grind one end
to about a forty five degree angle to form a pointy tip with the teeth
running all the way to the tip.  Use an exacto blade to cut a slot for the
hinge and then the hack saw blade to widen the slot.  The resulting slot
will be just the right width for the hinge toung.