Hinge Brackets

How do you guys corrosion protect the holes that are final drilled in the hinge brackets? Are these steel? They are powder coated, but that is removed when you final drill the holes... I don't think alodine is supposed to do much (anything?) for steel, otherwise I'd just dab some of that in there...

Not doing anything myself. I don't think you need to worry about it. The rivet will get so smashed up into the walls of the holes that I doubt you'd get any meaningful water in there that might cause a problem. I suppose you could dip your rivets into primer before putting them in, but I doubt very many builders would be doing this.

Others care to comment? I already riveted mine on (both HS and VS today)--I hope it was not necessary to do anything with them.

Steve

Actually after sleeping (or not sleeping on it), I kind of wish I had brushed some primer in the holes on the hinge brackets before riveting them. Although I don't think it is probably really necessary, given how much the rivets expand in the holes, it would not have hurt anything and perhaps might have provided some peace of mind. Fortunately, I'll always be able to inspect them, and should be able to tell if any corrosion starts there.

In general, anything that goes someplace that will be unseen does get primed, mostly for my peace of mind.

Have you found any good brush-on primer for applications like this? (I too am not sure about alodine's effectiveness here.)

Steve

HELLO, In production aircraft it is a standard practice to prime any fastener hole in steel fittings as well as installing the fastener wet (primer or a prc type sealant). You should always prime the mating sufaces as well. This prevents dissimillar metal corrosion. Such as a steel fitting with an aluminum alloy rivet installed.

Good point. I'll be making a trip to home depot to pick up a little can of rustoleum or something similar to dab in those holes...

Thanks for everyone's comments.