Retrac gear doors

[LRFitch]

Guys, I recall there used to be a couple sets of "how to" pieces on hinging gear doors on fiberglass fuses. They seem to be in the "lost in last hack" world. Can anyone share how this hinging can be done? My Discus has gear door hinges that are simply made of nylon airplane hinges that are epoxied in place. One or more of the four hinges break loose nearly everytime I fly the airplane. More than willing to tear out all the current hinges and torque rod springs, and install something that will work, and stay together better.

HELP,
Larry

[oldstuff]

one method used by stephane R I bought a dg303 from him, it had what looked like bike inner tube. the size was about 3/4 x 1" ,two per side held on with ca glue on each side of the hinge line . they held on great even through a bad crash. maybe stephane can supply more details ,because I need to hang my doors also, DAN

[French1]

You are correct Dan,

I use some inner bike tube, glue with CA on the doors, two 3/4in pieces are enough for each door. I glue them on the door with CA, then wet the remaining par with CA and put it in position by stretching a little bit the tube. The built in elasticity close the door by themselves.

Simple and easy

[LRFitch]

French 1,
Can you help me understand what you mean by " then wet the remaining par with CA and put it in position by stretching a little bit the tube". Not quite sure I get this part. It does sound simple, if I can do it correctly. I went to a bike shop and got a free inner tube (with a couple holes) that should work OK.

Thanks,
Larry

[French1]

First I glue the piece of tube to the doors (half of it so it overlap the gap between the door and the fuselage), then I apply some CA on the remaining part of the tube, put the door in position and glue the tube to the fuselage at the same time that I stretch a little bit the tube. As a result the built in tension of the piece of tube keep the door close,

I will try to post a picture to give a bit of visualization to what I say

[LRFitch]

Stephane, I get what your trying to say, but not sure how I would glue the tube hinge to the fuse while slightly stretching the tube. I have the first set of hinges glued to one door, but not sure about the stretch and glue step to mount the door in the fuse.

Thanks for the help,
Larry

[Bob B]

This link from the U.K. scale soaring site will give you all the details on the "inner tube" gear door system.
Good luck,
Bob

http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/GLASS/Hints%26Tips/Retracts/Retracts.html