Play in wing tip hinge install

I have the right wing tip hinges installed on the wing and tip. With it installed I have a noticeable up/down play which appears to be from the space between the hinge eyelets. The up/down play measured at the aft portion of the tip is 4-5 32nds.

Will this play become a problem when flying if allowed to work back and forth over time?

Will this play cause any issues with aligning the wing tip trailing edge with the neutral position of the aileron?

Has anyone else had this and been able to tighten up the hinge eyelets?

wing tip hinge

I had the same issue, the following post really helped.


rocketbob

I had the same problem. Because of the fore-aft play of the hinges, I could move the trailing edge up and down easily. The solution was simple. Before riveting the hinge onto the tip, pick a spot on the hinge close to the middle. Take a ball peen hammer and peen a spot on the hinge flange to stretch the hinge a few thousandths. Be careful, it only takes a few whacks with the peen to stretch the hinge longer. I just opened my bench vice up with the hinge eye down and used that as an anvil.

My hinges are already riveted and epoxied on. They aren't moving and the hinge on the wing is also riveted on. Other ideas on how to stretch one of the eyelets?

bumping up in hopes someone has an idea on how to eliminate the play in my hinge install for the wingtip. Need some kind of spacer or way to stretch an eyelet so the two hinge halves do not move when together.

You could drill out and replace a small section of the hinge on the wing both top and bottom. Those small sections could be offset a few thousandths to take up the slack and prevent movement.

This is just a thought off the top of my head... If the plan is to make one portion of the assembly "stiffer" so it can't move, maybe just misaligning one of the eyelets slightly would suffice? That way the pin would bind on the top of one eyelet, but the bottom of the next eyelet over. A few thousands of an inch would be enough to tighten it up, without adding lots of drag to the pin?

Just remember "LOOSE" items on a 200 mph aircraft lend them self to flutter. I cant under stand why some people like to change things on vans airplanes. there's lots of thing I read about on this web site that just scares the heck out of me. I now understand why an old EAA member, when I first joined, took me aside and told me NOT to fly with 95% of member pilots! They are dangerous. In our chapter alone, we have lost 4 in the last 5 years. And 3 others survived hairy 1st flights, One was a Harley mech who thought he knew better than the engine builder and built his ignition system from old Harley parts. Guess what!? Engine all but quit after take off! He was 25' in the air, He was a fresh light sport pilot with virtually NO more training than he got at the flight school. He survived the landing, bought a few runway lights for the airport, a new pair of underwear and little damage to Soneri. He know says "I think I fixed it" but hasn't tried to fly since. Its called experimental not suicidal.

I doesn't look like you have the rib installed in the wing tip yet. That should help considerably. I also used the hinge installation method and get a very slight amount of play. It does not move in flight. I did tighten the hinge up by squeezing the eyelets along the entire hinge, which helped considerably. It sure looks nice and is easy to remove with the hinge, but if I did it again I would build it to plans.

I removed the last couple eyes on the bottom hinge and then adjusted the new piece to tighten it up. Seems to be working fine. It also appears that once the ribs are in it will not move as much either.

As far as why? I normally do not deviate form the vans plans at all, but knowing that I will be putting an APRS tracking device in there I wanted this to be removable.

Thanks for the help

My fix

I realize this is an old thread, but may help someone in the future. I also had a loose fit on the right wing tip and already had both halves of the hinge riveted in. I tried some .091 oversize pins--helped some, but didn't cure the problem. The issue with the hinges is there is some horizontal play between the eyelets on the two halves?about .032? gap when one end of an eyelet is butted against the opposite side eyelet. My solution was to add another piece of hinge butted opposite from the existing hinge. I drilled out 3 rivets holding the hinge, then I cut off 3 eyelets with the dremel. I used some scrap hinge which I flipped upside down?I wanted to keep the old hinge piece (less eyelets) in place. The part flipped needs a .060? spacer to keep the eyelets in line. I installed some dummy hinge with a pin to keep everything lined up, then I used side clamps to secure the new hinge piece as well as a small screwdriver blade jammed between the eyelets to hold the piece in place. I match drilled using the wing tip and existing hinge as a guide. After it was all clecoed together, I checked and sure enough, no play in the hinge! I squeezed in some -6 rivets and called it good.