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Hinge adhesive

Cam7nut

Member
I'm looking at using Sikaflex 292 under hinges before riveting to fibreglass in lieu of tank sealant. It would be for hinges on my gear leg fairings, cowls and wing tips.

Have any of you had experience with this marine adhesive?

Thanks,
Cam
 
I'm looking at using Sikaflex 292 under hinges before riveting to fibreglass in lieu of tank sealant. It would be for hinges on my gear leg fairings, cowls and wing tips.

Have any of you had experience with this marine adhesive?

Thanks,
Cam

When I installed the hinges to the cowl of my RV-6 over 20-years ago and 3,200 flying hours ago, I used epoxy and very thin layer of glass mat between the hinge and the glass.
 
West with a bit of flox is fine - rough it up well.

And drill extra holes in between the rivet holes to let the epoxy flox mixture squeeze out a bit. I put a bit of a countersink on both sides of these extra holes to give the epoxy something to grip on.
 
Thanks for the replies. Think I'll check with my local West Systems supplier for availability of G-Flex.
Cheers.
 
An alternate viewpoint.....

Bonding hinges to the older cowl when it was made from wet lay-up polyester resin was the recommended standard.

With the newer prepreg. epoxy cowl, the material is much harder / stiffer and holds up very well just riveting with AD rivets. Any failures in the hinge are rarely related to the attachmetn of the hinge to the cowl. It is usually a failure of the hinge loop.
Bonded or not, will not make any difference on whether that occurs, but if the hinge is bonded, replacing it is much more difficult.

None of Van's prototypes have the hinges bonded on.
 
Bonding hinges to the older cowl when it was made from wet lay-up polyester resin was the recommended standard.

With the newer prepreg. epoxy cowl, the material is much harder / stiffer and holds up very well just riveting with AD rivets. Any failures in the hinge are rarely related to the attachmetn of the hinge to the cowl. It is usually a failure of the hinge loop.
Bonded or not, will not make any difference on whether that occurs, but if the hinge is bonded, replacing it is much more difficult.

None of Van's prototypes have the hinges bonded on.

Wow, I love the counter perspectives on this site. I came to this thread to find the best way to bond hinges, and am leaving with this insight which I intend to listen to. Because I am the guy that would need to redo them later.

I offer a sincere thank you!
 
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