My Dremel tool hinge slot cutter.

Thanks. I have those saws but they cut to wide a slot for these little 1/2A hinges. But they would work on larger size balsa with heavier hinges. I used the thinnest sized cutting disk that I had on hand.

That's the cats ass , Bee careful those things can get on you quick ! I am going to stitched hinges as much as possible although they takes awhile longer // and I think they look better / have used the plastic inserts and they are nice but I think better for larger models

getback wrote:That's the cats ass , Bee careful those things can get on you quick ! I am going to stitched hinges as much as possible although they takes awhile longer // and I think they look better / have used the plastic inserts and they are nice but I think better for larger models  

Yeah Eric, If your talking about dremel's and their accessories. Wear eye protection when using them. A friend of mine describes dremels as the most dangerous tool in your workshop.

I have an airplane (The blue razorback Mustang) with stitched hinges and they work very well. Cloth hinges came with this kit, but I don't like to use them.

I tell you Rene, this arraignment has cured 90% of my build nightmares.  I used to hate cutting hinge slots.  I tried everything, even bought the Dubro hinge tool, IMHO a waste in the extreme.   Now using this system cutting slots is a pleasure.  I don't like cloth or stitched hinges, they just don't look "normal” or work as easily as hinges.  Even with the thin balsa used in the Bipe kit it worked perfectly.



I used it on my Cyclone build.  I attached all the horizontal stabilizers hinges first using a drop of CA then inserted the hinge, then followed the same procedure with the elevator.  After curing I gave the elevator a good pull, much in excess of any flight requirements and there was no movement.  I had thought of pinning each hinge but gave that up as unnecessary.  

Building it was easy.  I just took an old 1X4 and a piece of laminate (Pergo in this case)  flooring, counter sunk a couple of screws, located a hole in the center and drilled a hole for the positioned Dremel,  Found a couple of  plastic PVC straps that fit my Dremel and attached it securely.  Eventually, I will build a nicer one with a larger stage.

Yes, you can move the mandrel or simply loosen the straps and move the Dremel up or down.  Just be sure that east/west is level with the plane of the stage.  

The Pergo flooring is perfect for this application, thin, solid, and as flat as the earth before Columbus.  The clamps are cheap, and sometimes Lowes/Home Depot has laminate flooring samples free or for next to nothing.  

Sorry, I rambled a bit here.  

I like this the more I see it and will probably end up building me one , the stich hinges are nice but take a lot of building time that I just don't seem to have  I can also see a sanding drum on top for some quickie sanding and shaping could happen with a little tilt Thanks Bob good stuff !  a cheapie from HF would work so i would not have to keep removing it for other jobs , Eric

I swapped the DC powered Dremel for an AC Craftsman.  More torque, faster cuts.  



So far I have not had to replace the cut-off disk.  If there is a down side it's that the disk does not cut deep enough to use the longer hinges.  I just cut them round to fit the circle the disk cuts.  In my other thread we discussed using the Dremel saw blade.  I tried it with one of mine and it cut's to wide.  The disk is perfect.  I will still use it for the larger hinges.

As mentioned I used it on the Cyclone too. Gave a nice tight fit after inletting the H/Stab a bit:



This is the other side of the flooring:



Sometime I will build a whole new one, maybe using this piece of flooring, although I have larger.  But this one works so well that I have no incentive to replace it.  

If you all come up with something better, not hard to do....  Post it, I would probably incorporate your ideas into my new one.  

And yes, using a sanding drum instead of the cut-off disk would work great for sanding too.
Bob

So your NOT using a saw blade ? is it a cut off wheel ? the one on the Lf.  

Yes, the possibilities are endless.  Add some inexpensive accessories and it becomes a hinge cutter, grinder, sander, router, plunge router (if you do the plunging) and maybe more.



Anything with the name Dremel on it is expensive if bought individually.  Best to by in kits or in conjunction with other Dremel tools.



With apologies to Roger, this inexpensive "Dremel" cost just $39 with all the accessories.  It works well, but is my last choice mostly because it's such a pain to remove from the case.  



A Rotozip would work, but along with a full sized router mounted on a router table it would be overkill for our purposes.  

Eric, the only thing I have tried so far is the disk.  But any one of those cutters in the yellow box ($5) offers possibilities.

Kari/roddie, a Rotozip would work well for plywood, if you get the kit it has all the accessories that you would need. But my plunge router mounted on a Vermont American router table works better.

I like it Fred, and not one to miss out on a good idea I found one on ebay for $29.01.  I will leave my old made up Rube Goldberg effort out in the garage and use the new one in my warmer basement.  I like the fact that it will attach to the bench.  

I will be needing it soon for this used and abused model.....



BTW 706jim, I'm still using the original cut-off disk on mine.  You just have to be careful not to overload it.

BTW X2 - The image host-it function here does not work.  I had to use photobucket.

Bob

Yes, I have used the host an image function here many times and it has always worked perfectly, now when I click it I just get a blank screen. Picture courtesy of photobucket.



I think that movable fence is going to come in handy for a lot of our modeling work.

Bob