Preparing AST Hinges

With temperatures hovering just under 100 degrees with a fair amount of humidity and it being a Holiday, not much RV-12 production was accomplished at DOG Aviation today. That said, the plans were perused to get an idea of upcoming tasks and a little time was spent researching where solid rivets can be installed in the place of the LP-4 blind (pop) rivets. There was only one part that was actually worked on today and that was the hinges for mounting the anti-servo tabs.

The anti-servo tab hinges are made from two aluminum piano hinges which come in the kit as a 36” long hinge. The hinge wire is pulled out of both hinges and then all 4 pieces are cut down to 32 1/2" long.

                                                               Marking the cut line on the hinge pieces.

                                                                    Cutting the hinges on the band saw.

After the pieces were cut to the proper length, they were filed smooth and a slight radius put on the edges. The next step will be to use a drill guide supplied by Van’s to drill holes into the hinge material. The drill guide ensures the holes to be drilled are at the proper locations so they will match up with the pre-drilled holes in the anti-servo tab skin they get riveted onto during final assembly.