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Kupe's Zodiac 650B
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Date:  3-23-2013
Number of Hours:  3.00
Manual Reference:  6-W-1
Brief Description:  Left Flap Hinge

Today I drilled out the left flap hinge that connects the flap to the wing. The hinge is riveted to the bottom of the flap leading edge where an overhang flange of the flap skin tucks in between the vertical skin and the flap ribs. This gives the hinge additional strength at the attach point. Tucking that overhang in between the flap skin and the flap ribs was a lot like hanging wallpaper with one hand tied behind your back. Eventually I figured out that a flat head screw (#12, 3 inches long) could be used to simultaneously pry, pull, and twist all the pieces into the right places.

The rivet line in the hinge is interesting. The first 3 rivets on each end are 20 mm apart, then the rest of the rivets are spaced 40mm apart EXCEPT there needs to be a rivet hole going into each rib across the flap. So a quick marking of the rip positions on the hinge, followed by careful application of the rivet spacer (or rivet fan - see image 3) allowed me to keep the rivets evenly spaced along the entire hinge while also aligning with the existing rib rivet lines.

Lining up the hinge with the flap for the actual drilling was a challenge too. When installed, the hinge is not flush with the bottom of the flap - it's elevated 2-3 mm above the bottom. Luckily, a stack of 3 spar doublers is 3mm thick, so it was a straightforward task to tape down the flap with duct tape, tape down the doublers in position to hold the hinge, then tape the hinge into the doublers and start drilling.

Once I had the hinge drilled out, I marked a line to cut off the excess hinge. The hinge web is cut off using tin snips, and the hinge pin excess is removed with a hacksaw (see image 2).

With the hinge in place I drilled everything out to A5 rivet size for final assembly. Then I cleaned up the shop for the first visit from my EAA Tech Rep. It was a great meeting where I received a ton of good tips regarding deburring techniques, uses for a Dremel, additional tools I might want and a host of other random topics.
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A nice, clean, evenly-spaced hinge rivet line.

A nice, clean, evenly-spaced hinge rivet line.

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Getting ready to hacksaw the hinge pin to the appropriate length after trimming the hinge to fit.

Getting ready to hacksaw the hinge pin to the appropriate length after trimming the hinge to fit.

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