Saville

Saville

Well Known Member
On my -8, the upper and lower cowl horizontal seam is held together by the piano wire/hinge fastening system as I expect most RV's are.

Seems to work ok but it's really difficult to know for sure that the pin is actually inside the hinge leaves towards the after end.

Does it weaken the holding power of the system if one were to remove one of the hinge leaves maybe 4 or 5 leaves forward from the back? I could *just* make out the pin entering the leave after the gap and I'd have some confidence the pin is engaged everywhere.

Or is there a better way?

Thanks!
 
It would not be a problem to be missing one loop out of the piano hinge.
But I don't really think you would need to.
Make sure there is enough of a shallow conical point on the hinge wire so it can start into each loop even if slightly mis-aligned.

Mine pulls together like a zipper with very little effort. I spray a little LPS-2 on them to lubricate.
 
scsmith said:
It would not be a problem to be missing one loop out of the piano hinge.
But I don't really think you would need to.
Make sure there is enough of a shallow conical point on the hinge wire so it can start into each loop even if slightly mis-aligned.

Mine pulls together like a zipper with very little effort. I spray a little LPS-2 on them to lubricate.
Click to expand...

Yeah I use both of those techniques. But the last 6-8 inches are a hard push and once I saw that the wire missed.
 
On any of the longer hinges I use a little BoeLube on the pin prior to inserting it. Works great.
 
Witth the cowl off, slide the pin in like a normal installation and see if it is long enough and how it fits or catches..... the end might need more taper. It's missing every other eye so it catch a little, that is normal. Do this on the mating hinge also.

If the pin misses the next eye, the seam of the cowl should be out of alighn by at least 3/32.
 
Saville said:
On my -8, the upper and lower cowl horizontal seam is held together by the piano wire/hinge fastening system as I expect most RV's are.

Seems to work ok but it's really difficult to know for sure that the pin is actually inside the hinge leaves towards the after end.

Does it weaken the holding power of the system if one were to remove one of the hinge leaves maybe 4 or 5 leaves forward from the back? I could *just* make out the pin entering the leave after the gap and I'd have some confidence the pin is engaged everywhere.

Or is there a better way?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You wouldn't necessarily have to remove a whole loop; drilling a hole in one might be enough.
 
gasman said:
Witth the cowl off, slide the pin in like a normal installation and see if it is long enough and how it fits or catches..... the end might need more taper. It's missing every other eye so it catch a little, that is normal. Do this on the mating hinge also.

The pin is pretty well tapered...nice long taper with a rounted tip. That's not the problem.

If the pin misses the next eye, the seam of the cowl should be out of alighn by at least 3/32.
Click to expand...

Not always true. One loop was really mis-shaped....so much so that I had to re-work it.
 
If you're pins are hard to install, you can purchase slightly undersized piano wire that will work. Search the threads.

I turn mine in with an electric drill and they go in easy.
 
If the pin is sometimes missing an eye during insertion now, you'll virtually guarantee it missing eyes if you remove an eye that's not the last eye in the run. Removing an eye gives the pin another 1/2" to deviate from its assigned path.

FWIW....
 
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