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Cowl Horizontal Hinge

D

DaAV8R

Well Known Member
The plans indicate the horizontal cowl hinge should be cheated upward at the rear to facilitate cowl removal. I am using extruded hinge at the horizontal split and raising the hinge enough to hide the eyelets.

Does the hinge need to be cheated up at the back of the cowl? If I install the hinge parallel with the horizontal cowl split will I experience binding when removing the cowl?

Thanks.
 
I installed an extruded hinge with a longer leaf on the lower half that I've offset upward to avoid seeing the knuckles through the cowl split line. The offset is the same along the entire length and I have no problem removing or installing the cowl.

IMG_9600.JPG
 
DaAV8R said:
If I install the hinge parallel with the horizontal cowl split will I experience binding when removing the cowl?
Click to expand...

Yes.
To remove the top cowl the aft sides need to be spread apart slightly. If the hinge line is centered, some of the top cowl hinge will be behind the bottom cowl, which makes it impossible to spread the cowl.
The ideal is to shift the entire hinge upward as already mentioned. This works fine with the hinge supplied in the kit and is what is documented in the RV-10 plans (and the RV-14 when the finish kit gets released).
 
Not in a bind

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

Scott??We appreciate your willingness to help us. It would be very difficult to explain to my buddies that I spent X years of my life building this airplane but after all those years it was not possible to remove the cowl :D
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
Yes.
To remove the top cowl the aft sides need to be spread apart slightly. If the hinge line is centered, some of the top cowl hinge will be behind the bottom cowl, which makes it impossible to spread the cowl.
The ideal is to shift the entire hinge upward as already mentioned. This works fine with the hinge supplied in the kit and is what is documented in the RV-10 plans (and the RV-14 when the finish kit gets released).
Click to expand...
With the -9A, can the entire supplied hinge be cheated upward for its entire length too?

Robert, service is difficult through the oil door! I'm glad you'll have a removable cowling.
 
rightrudder said:
With the -9A, can the entire supplied hinge be cheated upward for its entire length too?

Robert, service is difficult through the oil door! I'm glad you'll have a removable cowling.
Click to expand...

Yes.
I install them with the loop side of the hinge flange 1/16" above the edge of the bottom cowl. This will push the rivet edge distance down to a minimum but it still works just fine (it is a lot of rivets for the small amount of load induced on the hinge).
When you finish with an even gap between the top and bottom cowl of about .050 or so, the overhang of the hing will close off the gap.
 
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