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Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / October 2005Floppy hinges
I have several times seen reference to using the `floppy' material from floppy disks as hinge material. Anyone tried it for hinges, which glue... C.A ? I guess it would be a good idea to roughen up the surface before gluing hinges made from this material ? Reg Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme!  SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" >I have several times seen reference to using the `floppy' material > from floppy disks as hinge material. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Reg what's the difference between using a floppy disk and a Mylar strip both are cheap, have you never recycled something in one of your models ,mind you,you might be right in this case as I would have thought if you have any hinge gap what so ever this would flutter like hell > Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> >> Reg I've heard that the material from floppies in somewhat thinner and better suited to park flyers that have weak and floppy surfaces themselves. Cheers -- \_________Lyman Slack________/ \_______Flying Gators R/C___/ \_____AMA 6430 LM____ / \___Gainesville FL_____/ Visit my Web Site at www.LymanSlack.com > Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! >I've heard that the material from floppies in somewhat thinner and better >suited to park flyers that have weak and floppy surfaces themselves. Unlikely: Mylar is VERY tough. Even floppy disk material will cope with all that a hinge would ask of it,(if it is in fact polyester). the problem would be the lack of rigidity when pushing the hinge into balsa. J. (Ex DuPont* employee) * Inventors of Mylar > I've heard that the material from floppies in somewhat thinner and better > suited to park flyers that have weak and floppy surfaces themselves. Good comment. The material is thin, but seems very strong. I have umpteen of the things kicking about that I no longer need. Gonna have to try it... if its O.K I have hinge material for life >:-) I don't fly anything that is very fast so that might help ! If, as the other post from funflyer mentioned, the hinge gap is kept close then I don't anticipate a problem. The material (mylar?) is thin so would only need a very fine knife cut to accomodate it, far less than the slit needed for the `fuzzy' cyano hinges I normally use. I reckon it would be good for anyone building lightweight stuff with thin spars, the hinge would be much easier to do. Reg I would say that you would need almost no gap and very light surfaces. This stuff is very thin and wouldn't give much resistance to flexing at the hinge line. Also, how would you know if you have good adhesion to the oxide coating? SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > >> I've heard that the material from floppies in somewhat thinner and better [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Reg > I would say that you would need almost no gap and very light surfaces. This > stuff is very thin and wouldn't give much resistance to flexing at the hinge > line. > Also, how would you know if you have good adhesion to the oxide coating? I had wodered about the points you make. Today I tried a test piece. Cut the slots with a No 11 blade. The hinge material slides in to the slot with no problem. Someone mentioned that the flexibility may be a drawback when trying to insert the hinge... I reckoned that could be a problem. However, in practice there is no difficulty. I made a normal hinged test piece... similar to an aileron hinge setup. Using just two hinges I found that a very close hinge line is achieved, with virtually no gap. I thought up/down flexing of the hinge material in the gap between wing/aileron would knacker the idea. In fact the hinge is soooo easy to make (compared to my usual `fluffy' C.A hinge material) and thus the gap is so small that there is no up/down play. I had also wondered about adhesion.. the floppy material is so smooth and shiny. For the test piece I didn't abrade the surface... just left it as it is and used thin CA. I can't pull the test piece apart, and I sure tried ! That's O.K on a test piece but there may well be a problem longer term if/when the oxide coating degrades..... ??? I have made another two test pieces and they were just the same. Flexing the hinge right back on itself results in the wood being ripped apart... the CA is holding hinge and wood together still. I only posted this 'cos I have seen it mentioned in more than one construction article and wondered if anyone had actually used floppy disk material and could save me the trouble of testing it myself. If it works long term then I reckon it's the easiest to use hinge material I have ever tried. Reg >> I would say that you would need almost no gap and very light surfaces. This >> stuff is very thin and wouldn't give much resistance to flexing at the hinge [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > >Reg Well done, that man. Ripmax and the model shops will be selling hinges off cheap! (Don't worry about the oxide layer). J. (Very pleased, knowing how overpriced Mylar is everywhere; great material, though). > Well done, that man. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > J. (Very pleased, knowing how overpriced Mylar is everywhere; great > material, though). Ahah. Lovely trick I saw on the E-zone was to get one of those thick keyboard mats and use a compass cutter, then sandpaper and a dremel, to turn up foam wheels..a disc of film covered ply on each side, a brass tube epoxied through the middle, and voila. Wheels for almost bugger all. > I would say that you would need almost no gap and very light surfaces. This > stuff is very thin and wouldn't give much resistance to flexing at the hinge > line. > > Also, how would you know if you have good adhesion to the oxide coating? Pull it and see. I actually scraped both sides with a knife and emery paper. >>I've heard that the material from floppies in somewhat thinner and better >>suited to park flyers that have weak and floppy surfaces themselves. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Reg I've used it on a 27" scale model. Its very very good, but hard to isntall due to floppyness :D > Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! Sounds like the articles that recommended it may have been written by those who live 40 miles or so away from the nearest hobby shop. Sounds also like lateral thinking to use what is a very tough material. Then again there are those who think American beer is drinkable ! Reg American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" >> Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Reg > American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. A large percentage of the world's population has Aids. That doesn't mean that the more discerning wish to emulate them >:-) Reg Ah, no REAL comeback I see. SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > >> American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Reg >Ah, no REAL comeback I see. Hmm, well yes there was: look up the word "discerning". Also more people drink water than american beer, because even the less discerning find it tastier. J. that's like saying "eat sh.t, 4 trillion flies can't be wrong" > American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. You are calling several million of your countrymen sh.t-eaters? SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > that's like saying "eat sh.t, 4 trillion flies can't be wrong" > >> American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. > You are calling several million of your countrymen sh.t-eaters? At least there's one less over here now you've gone home (and increased the average IQ in both countries as a result). >> You are calling several million of your countrymen sh.t-eaters? > >At least there's one less over here now you've gone home (and increased the >average IQ in both countries as a result). LOL! J. >You are calling several million of your countrymen sh.t-eaters? No, but they know what a sign of moronity it is to top post. J. can all you children put the toys back in your prams and just stick to the subject, as I would rather see usefull posts on the group rather than name calling, its getting way to personal, before sombody takes offence PLEASE Only to the anal among you. SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > >>You are calling several million of your countrymen sh.t-eaters? > > No, but they know what a sign of moronity it is to top post. > > J. > American beer is consumed by more people worldwide than any Brit beer. Thts the root of most of the worlds problems then..;-) >Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! Nothing wrong with that!! Recycle, recycle. Don't you get a buzz out of making use of something another person thinks is useless? J. (Betraying a Yorkshire background here..) By cheap, I am referring to tryiong to use something that is probably not the best suited for the job just because it is available. The floppy material is extremely thin and would not hold a good, rigid hinge line unless the gap was extremely small. Add to that the unknown qualities when bonded with CA over the oxide coatings and at the flex surface. I'll let others "experiment" with their models at stake. Proper hinge material isn't THAT expensive. Yea, I get a buzz doing some of those things but I like to think that I have learned just a little in 45 years of designing and building models. SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > >>Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > J. (Betraying a Yorkshire background here..) >By cheap, I am referring to tryiong to use something that is probably not >the best suited for the job just because it is available. The floppy [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Yea, I get a buzz doing some of those things but I like to think that I have >learned just a little in 45 years of designing and building models. Maybe.....but Stalin spent his whole life designing communism, and look where it got him. J. > By cheap, I am referring to tryiong to use something that is probably not > the best suited for the job just because it is available. The floppy [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Yea, I get a buzz doing some of those things but I like to think that I have > learned just a little in 45 years of designing and building models. Try it Paul. Its actually VERY good. It 'fills the gap' (haharhar) between using film covering as a hinge, and stiff furry hinges. > Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! The cheapest hinges I know of are made from strong thread - the moving surface is attached to the fixed one by sewing using a stitch which is taken between the two surfaces - giving a sort of figure 8 when viewed from the end. It's my favourite hinge for almost any model - no slots to cut and as near as is possible to get "friction free"... ...but then, I'm a Yorkshireman:-))) Malcolm Well, one does not have to be a "Yorkshireman" to appreciate a good thing! ;-) I'm a Torontonian, one of the baser elements of Canadian society, and yes, I have sewn many a hinge and agree with you 100%. Gord Schindler MAAC6694 >> Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Malcolm I used those quite a bit on 1/2A CL models 40 years ago. It was considered near state of the art at that time! SignaturePaul McIntosh RC-Bearings.com "when steel just isn't enough" > >> Sounds like carrying CHEAP to the extreme! [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Malcolm The film used as a base material for floppies is in fact polyester film. Mylar is DuPont's brand name for polyester film. Here in the states ICI once made a polyester film branded Melinex which was also used as a base material for various magnetic media. The two brands are essentially the same material. If I recall correctly, the film used for 3.5" floppies is a three mil thickness or something close to that. The oxide coating would be my worry in using as a hinge. If you wish to try it, I suggest first removing as much of the coating as possible. It should be coated on only one side and that will be the dull side. H Davis >I have several times seen reference to using the `floppy' material > from floppy disks as hinge material. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Reg > If I recall correctly, the film used for 3.5" floppies is a three mil > thickness or something close to that. The oxide coating would be my worry [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > H Davis You do recall corectly:) I have used floppy material extensively over the last 10 years or so. It does last forever and the fix is good if you pin them - I always do as well as CA em. I have an ac here that was built 9 years ago - has over 500 flights and is still going strong:) Having said that, yes - it's a pain to insert in balsa! sc >> If I recall correctly, the film used for 3.5" floppies is a three mil >> thickness or something close to that. The oxide coating would be my worry [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > I have used floppy material extensively over the last 10 years or so. GREAT stuff, pleased to hear that. > It does last forever and the fix is good if you pin them - I always do as > well as CA em. Thank you. I hadn't got round to thoughts of pinning it... its the obvious answer. Just that never having pinned a hinge before the idea hadn't yet popped up. No doubt a couple of Guinness would have helped the thought process... I blame dehydration >:-) > I have an ac here that was built 9 years ago - has over 500 flights and is > still going strong:) > > Having said that, yes - it's a pain to insert in balsa! It looks good to go ! I now have enough material to make hinges for ever. Having come across the idea in more than one place I was sure it must have been used before and found O.K. Regards, Reg > The film used as a base material for floppies is in fact polyester film. > Mylar is DuPont's brand name for polyester film. Here in the states ICI once [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > H Davis Thank you for the above comments... I know a little more now >:-) My concern was the coating, however, the next poster has eased my mind somewhat. Regards, Reg Never thought the day would come Reg when you were coming unhinged... DN > Never thought the day would come Reg when you were coming unhinged... > > DN Strewth mate, I get in a right flap some days >:-) Reg >The film used as a base material for floppies is in fact polyester film. >Mylar is DuPont's brand name for polyester film. Here in the states ICI once >made a polyester film branded Melinex which was also used as a base material >for various magnetic media. The two brands are essentially the same >material. Indeed, and you will find that Melinex is now made by DuPont.# J. > I have several times seen reference to using the `floppy' material > from floppy disks as hinge material. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Reg yes, yes. |
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